On October 7, 1962, Bruce Berger and three friends embarked on what may have been the last trip taken through the Colorado River's Glen Canyon before the floodgates were closed at Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell began to fill. After thirty years, one can grieve for what was lost and then, like Berger, take another look around. The Southwest Berger sees is an unusual, even odd, place, with inhabitants that are just as strange. In this collection of essays he introduces us to people and places that define a region and a ...
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On October 7, 1962, Bruce Berger and three friends embarked on what may have been the last trip taken through the Colorado River's Glen Canyon before the floodgates were closed at Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell began to fill. After thirty years, one can grieve for what was lost and then, like Berger, take another look around. The Southwest Berger sees is an unusual, even odd, place, with inhabitants that are just as strange. In this collection of essays he introduces us to people and places that define a region and a way of life. We meet eccentric desert dwellers like Cactus Pete, who claimed to have mapped the mountains of Venus long before NASA penetrated its clouds. We chart the canals of Phoenix, which have created a Martian landscape out of an irrigation system dating back to the ancient Hohokam; stay at a "wigwam" motel in Holbrook, whose kitsch appeals even to Hopis; and dim our lights for the International Dark-Sky Association's efforts to keep night skies safe for astronomy. Focusing on the interaction of people with the environment, Berger reveals an original vision of the Southwest that encompasses both city and wilderness. In a concluding essay centering on the sale of his mother's estate in Phoenix, he concedes that "our intention to leave the desert alone has resulted, unwittingly, in loss after loss, simply by our being here." Sometimes there are losses--a canyon, a house--but Berger attunes us to the prodigies of change.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Size: 5x0x8; Softcover in Very Good condition. Clean pages. Good binding. Minimal wear to the exterior. Carefully packaged to avoid damage in shipping.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good. Inscribed "For Andrea and Jim, And for the once and future Glen-Bruce Berger 5/17/00". Bruce Nicolas Berger (born August 21, 1938) is an American nonfiction writer, poet and pianist who lives in both Aspen, Colorado and Baja, Mexico. He is best known for a series of books exploring the intersections of nature and culture, usually in desert settings. Berger's book The Telling Distance: Conversations with the American Desert won the 1990 Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction.
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Seller's Description:
Like New. Inscribed "For Betty, The water cure-Bruce Aspen 4/19/02". Bruce Nicolas Berger (born August 21, 1938) is an American nonfiction writer, poet and pianist who lives in both Aspen, Colorado and Baja, Mexico. He is best known for a series of books exploring the intersections of nature and culture, usually in desert settings. Berger's book The Telling Distance: Conversations with the American Desert won the 1990 Western States Book Award for Creative Nonfiction.
