Additional information
by Keith Heyer Meldahl (Author)
"Unfold a map of North America," Keith Heyer Meldahl writes, "and the first thing to grab your eye is the bold shift between the Great Plains and the Rocky Mountains." In this absorbing book, Meldahl takes readers on a 1000-mile-long field trip back through more than 100 million years of deep time to explore America's most spectacular and scientifically intriguing landscapes. He places us on the outcrops, rock hammer in hand, to examine the evidence for how these rough-hewn lands came to be. We see California and its gold assembled from pieces of old ocean floor and the relentless movements of the Earth's tectonic plates. We witness the birth of the Rockies. And we investigate the violent earthquakes that continue to shape the region today. Into the West's geologic story, Meldahl also weaves its human history. As we follow the adventures of John C. Fr mont, Mark Twain, the Donner party, and other historic characters, we learn how geologic forces have shaped human experience in the past and how they direct the fate of the West today.
Front Jacket
A virtual road trip through geologic time that opens ancient windows on how the West was made. Meldahl is the ideal tour guide, blending history and geology to explain the rocks and topography of the American West and how geology shaped its settlement--David Montgomery, author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
The geology of the western United States is as fascinating, yet as enigmatic, as that of any region in the world. Keith Meldahl not only makes it comprehensible, he makes us want to hit the road to see it for ourselves. If you are curious about how our unique American West got to be the way it is, read this engaging book.--James Lawrence Powell, author of Dead Pool and Grand Canyon
This book is far and away the most readable and geologically informative about the West. A real tour-de-force.--William R. Dickinson, University of Arizona
Meldahl effectively integrates human history with the much longer, and still active, geologic history.--Eldridge M. Moores, coeditor of Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology
9780520259386|JF|A very good read! Lots of parasite stories told in a compelling way.--Dickson Despommier, Emeritus Professor, Columbia University
In her newest book, Rosemary Drisdelle gives us a fresh and exciting spin on the past and current history of parasites; a far too often disdained and ignored presence among us. Drisdelle's anecdotes make one of society's most dreaded entities accessible as well as enjoyable. Parasites and its historical insights have the ability to change society's view of and response to parasites amongst us.--Richard Saffern, bedbug.com
9780520259430|JF|Reflecting America's complicated and often confused cultural identity, laws have long regulated who can and cannot make, sell, distribute, purchase, and drink wine. Richard Mendelson's compelling legal history is detailed but never dry because it reveals as much about Americans' attitudes towards themselves as about their understanding of wine.--Paul Lukacs, author of American Vintage: The Rise of American Wine and The Great Wines of America
This concise yet well-documented history of how the wine industry has fared, and ultimately triumphed, through temperance, Prohibition, and convoluted control systems makes an enjoyable read for any serious oenophile.--Philip J. Cook, author of Paying the Tab: The Costs and Benefits of Alcohol Control
9780520259447|JF|This is an extraordinarily compelling story. It is a bold and innovative retelling of the German and Japanese effort to reconstruct a national history. The Quest for the Lost Nation is a model for comparative history--and should serve as an incentive for a new generation to do more of this kind of work.--Michael Geyer, University of Chicago
Comparative and transnational, The Quest for the Lost Nation brilliantly illuminates the predicaments of postwar historical thinking in the aftermath of what was for both nations, Germany and Japan, an unmitigated catastrophe. Even as intellectuals called for a wider, even global purview, it was the defeated nation that served as the locus of critical thinking about the immediate past. A timely and original work.--Helmut Walser Smith, author of The Continuities of German History
Conrad demolishes the now frequently invoked contrast between an active German confrontation with the Nazi past and an ostensible Japanese hesitancy (or worse) to face history in the crucial decade and a half following 1945. The Quest for the Lost Nation is a probing and highly significant study.--Andrew Barshay, author of The Social Sciences in Modern Japan: The Marxian and Modernist Traditions
9780520259454|JF|Parenti and Ebach provide a fine introduction to the aims and methods of comparative biogeography, and the difference that it makes to our view of the world. Energetic and sometimes provocative, this book shows us how we can start to untangle the interconnected threads of biotic and planetary evolution to more clearly understand how earth and life evolve together.--Sir Peter Crane, FRS, Yale University
9780520259461|JF|Bendor's Bounded Rationality and Politics provides an adept and illuminating critique of existing theories while also introducing new models and concepts that are sure to remain part of the conversation for generations to come. This book will reinvigorate the field of political science.--Daniel P. Carpenter, Harvard University
Bendor's scholarship is top drawer. Excellent. These essays are not only intellectually deep, but also engaging and powerful.--Scott Page, University of Michigan
9780520259478|JF|Bendor's Bounded Rationality and Politics provides an adept and illuminating critique of existing theories while also introducing new models and concepts that are sure to remain part of the conversation for generations to come. This book will reinvigorate the field of political science.--Daniel P. Carpenter, Harvard University
Bendor's scholarship is top drawer. Excellent. These essays are not only intellectually deep, but also engaging and powerful.--Scott Page, University of Michigan
9780520259508|JF|This book addresses one of the major problems facing global health: leadership without cooperation. --President Jimmy Carter
The fight for global health equity is a struggle that we can't even think about winning without the right partners. This book presents very important lessons about collaboration, including some that we learned from working together on MDR-TB in Peru. Anyone who wants to succeed in global health, to work effectively for social justice, should read and know how to practice Real Collaboration.--Paul Farmer, author of Pathologies of Power: Health, Human Rights, and the New War on the Poor
Collaboration is imperative for success. The complexity of global health problems far exceed the capacity of individual organizations and governments to deal with them effectively. This book provides invaluable guidance for the leadership, managerial, organizational, and political competencies needed to achieve that critical collaboration."--James E. Austin, author of The Collaboration Challenge
"This book should be required reading for everyone who works on health or development or in a large organization or bureaucracy.--Alison Drayton, Former Guyana Delegate to the United Nations
Back Jacket
A virtual road trip through geologic time that opens ancient windows on how the West was made. Meldahl is the ideal tour guide, blending history and geology to explain the rocks and topography of the American West and how geology shaped its settlement--David Montgomery, author of Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations
"The geology of the western United States is as fascinating, yet as enigmatic, as that of any region in the world. Keith Meldahl not only makes it comprehensible, he makes us want to hit the road to see it for ourselves. If you are curious about how our unique American West got to be the way it is, read this engaging book."--James Lawrence Powell, author of Dead Pool and Grand Canyon
"This book is far and away the most readable and geologically informative about the West. A real tour-de-force."--William R. Dickinson, University of Arizona
"Meldahl effectively integrates human history with the much longer, and still active, geologic history."--Eldridge M. Moores, coeditor of Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology
Author Biography
Keith Heyer Meldahl is Professor of Geology at Mira Costa College in southern California. He is the author of Hard Road West: History and Geology along the Gold Rush Trail.
