For me another classic is 'Cadillac Desert' by Marc Reisner.
Just read the Emerald Mile - great read. I was interested in the story of running the river, but the story of the dam and its near failure was the best part.
For anyone interested in the engineering of the dam, it’s well worth a read, and youcan skip the parts about the boats if you want.
Re:Glen Canyon Revealed
by __mharrison__ on Wednesday February 01, 2023 @08:34PM
(#34620857)
I was going to recommend The Monkey Wrench Gang.
But Desert Solitaire is wonderful. One of my favorites...
I read desert solitaire on a road trip (ironically) through arches natl. park and colorado. Really fantastic book -- his thesis can be summed up in a page or so, but his passionate ideas are nearly viral.
I especially enjoyed the contrast between really beautiful descriptions and anecdotes of nature and polemic political rants that go on for tens of pages at a time.
In the same vein, have a look at John McPhee's Encounter with the Archdruid https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encounters_with_the_Archdruid
A third of the book follows David Brower (Executive Director of the Sierra Club; Glen Canyon Dam opponnent) and Floyd Dominy (US Bureau of Reclamation director) as they float the pre-dammed Colorado River.
Also lets not forget the classic Desert Solitaire [1]. It too is well written and very interesting, in the book they take small inflatable boats and just float down Glen Canyon not long before it gets flooded.
[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15803144-the-emerald-mil...
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Solitaire