Clarence Edward Dutton
An Appraisal
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Wallace Stegner
Foreword by Phillip L. Fradkin
7¼ x 10¼, 23 pp.
Cloth $25.00
978-0-87480-865-0
Western America
A finger smashed in a car door and a missed geology examination at the University of Utah led Wallace Stegner to a special assignment about Clarence E. Dutton, thence to John Wesley Powell, and finally in 1954 to publication of what is arguably the single best nonfiction book dealing with the American West. Beyond the Hundredth Meridian remains in print fifty-two years after its initial appearance. Not many books have survived that length of time and thrived, despite competing works on the same subject.
This combination biography, history, and environmental primer written with the flair and the technical skill of a novelist who could masterfully evoke scenes and sustain a gripping factual narrative sprang from Clarence Edward Dutton: An Appraisal. Seldom has such a classic book had such a humble beginning.
The Dutton pamphlet was the product of a young English instructor at the University of Utah who was ambitious and desperate for recognition, a raise, and steady employment in the Depression years. It contains hints, in terms of style and content, of what Stegner would eventually produce. Dutton was Stegner’s first published work of nonfiction, and it lead him, along with Bernard DeVoto’s prodding, to the subject of conservation.
—from the Foreword
Clarence Edward Dutton: An Appraisal was first published by the University of Utah in 1936 and has since become a rarity on the antiquarian book market. It is reproduced in facsimile for this edition.
Wallace Stegner (1909–1993) remains one of the most distinguished writers of the American West. He authored essays, histories, novels, and short stories and was the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.
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