Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
This magesterial and thrilling history argues that the story of American mountaineering is the story of America itself.
In Continental Divide, Maurice Isserman tells the history of American mountaineering through four centuries of landmark climbs and first ascents. Mountains were originally seen as obstacles to civilization; over time they came to be viewed as places of redemption and renewal. The White Mountains stirred the transcendentalists; the Rockies and Sierras pulled explorers westward toward Manifest Destiny; Yosemite inspired the early environmental conservationists.
Climbing began in North America as a pursuit for lone eccentrics but grew to become a mass-participation sport. Beginning with Darby Field in 1642, the first person to climb a mountain in North America, Isserman describes the exploration and first ascents of the major American mountain ranges, from the Appalachians to Alaska. He also profiles the most important American mountaineers, including such figures as John C. Frémont, John Muir, Annie Peck, Bradford Washburn, Charlie Houston, and Bob Bates, relating their exploits both at home and abroad.
Isserman traces the evolving social, cultural, and political roles mountains played in shaping the country. He describes how American mountaineers forged a "brotherhood of the rope," modeled on America's unique democratic self-image that characterized climbing in the years leading up to and immediately following World War II. And he underscores the impact of the postwar "rucksack revolution," including the advances in technique and style made by pioneering "dirtbag" rock climbers.
A magnificent, deeply researched history, Continental Divide tells a story of adventure and aspiration in the high peaks that makes a vivid case for the importance of mountains to American national identity.
If you are having problem transferring a title to your device, please fill out this support form or visit the library so we can help you to use our eBooks and eAudio Books.
Maurice Isserman. (2016). Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering. W. W. Norton & Company.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Maurice Isserman. 2016. Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering. W. W. Norton & Company.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Maurice Isserman, Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.
MLA Citation (style guide)Maurice Isserman. Continental Divide: A History of American Mountaineering. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.
| Library | Owned | Available |
|---|---|---|
| Shared Digital Collection | 1 | 1 |
OverDrive Product Record
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0044-1/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0044-1/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0044-1/883/65D/5F/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0044-1/883/65D/5F/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- formats
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780393292527
- name: Adobe EPUB eBook
- id: ebook-epub-adobe
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: ASIN
- value: B00ZAT906Q
- name: Kindle Book
- id: ebook-kindle
- identifiers:
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780393292527
- name: OverDrive Read
- id: ebook-overdrive
- identifiers:
- mediaType
- eBook
- primaryCreator
- role: Author
- name: Maurice Isserman
- title
- Continental Divide
- dateAdded
- 2016-05-19T17:05:30.193-04:00
- contentDetails
- href: https://link.overdrive.com/?websiteID=141&titleID=2674389
- type: text/html
- account:
- name: Sacramento Public Library (CA)
- id: 1151
- sortTitle
- Continental Divide A History of American Mountaineering
- crossRefId
- 2674389
- subtitle
- A History of American Mountaineering
- id
- 88365d5f-100c-4528-9155-d83e88d1eb9e
- starRating
- 3.4
OverDrive MetaData
- isPublicDomain
- False
- formats
- fileName: ContinentalDivide_9780393292527_2674389
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 6008387
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780393292527
- rights:
- type: Copying
- value: 0
- type: Printing
- value: 0
- type: Lending
- value: 0
- type: ReadAloud
- value: 0
- type: ExpirationRights
- value: 0
- name: Adobe EPUB eBook
- isReadAlong: False
- id: ebook-epub-adobe
- onSaleDate: 4/21/2016
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=88365d5f-100c-4528-9155-d83e88d1eb9e&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- fileName: ContinentalDivide_2674389
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 0
- identifiers:
- type: ASIN
- value: B00ZAT906Q
- name: Kindle Book
- isReadAlong: False
- id: ebook-kindle
- onSaleDate: 4/21/2016
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=88365d5f-100c-4528-9155-d83e88d1eb9e&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- fileName: ContinentalDivide_9780393292527_2674389
- partCount: 0
- fileSize: 4615965
- identifiers:
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780393292527
- name: OverDrive Read
- isReadAlong: False
- id: ebook-overdrive
- onSaleDate: 4/21/2016
- samples:
- source: From the book
- formatType: ebook-overdrive
- url: https://samples.overdrive.com/?crid=88365d5f-100c-4528-9155-d83e88d1eb9e&.epub-sample.overdrive.com
- keywords
- value: mountains
- value: John Muir
- value: Adventure
- value: United States
- value: Yosemite
- value: manifest destiny
- value: West
- value: sports history
- value: transcendentalism
- value: john c. fremont
- value: White Mountains
- value: ascents
- value: climbs
- value: annie peck
- value: bob bates
- value: bradford washburn
- value: charlie houston
- creators
- role: Author
- fileAs: Isserman, Maurice
- bioText: Maurice Isserman is the author of Continental Divide and coauthor of Fallen Giants, a history of Himalayan mountaineering that won the prestigious Banff Prize for best mountaineering history in 2008, as well as that year's National Outdoor Book Award. He is Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.
- name: Maurice Isserman
- publishDate
- 2016-04-25T00:00:00-04:00
- isOwnedByCollections
- True
- title
- Continental Divide
- fullDescription
This magesterial and thrilling history argues that the story of American mountaineering is the story of America itself.
In Continental Divide, Maurice Isserman tells the history of American mountaineering through four centuries of landmark climbs and first ascents. Mountains were originally seen as obstacles to civilization; over time they came to be viewed as places of redemption and renewal. The White Mountains stirred the transcendentalists; the Rockies and Sierras pulled explorers westward toward Manifest Destiny; Yosemite inspired the early environmental conservationists.
Climbing began in North America as a pursuit for lone eccentrics but grew to become a mass-participation sport. Beginning with Darby Field in 1642, the first person to climb a mountain in North America, Isserman describes the exploration and first ascents of the major American mountain ranges, from the Appalachians to Alaska. He also profiles the most important American mountaineers, including such figures as John C. Frémont, John Muir, Annie Peck, Bradford Washburn, Charlie Houston, and Bob Bates, relating their exploits both at home and abroad.
Isserman traces the evolving social, cultural, and political roles mountains played in shaping the country. He describes how American mountaineers forged a "brotherhood of the rope," modeled on America's unique democratic self-image that characterized climbing in the years leading up to and immediately following World War II. And he underscores the impact of the postwar "rucksack revolution," including the advances in technique and style made by pioneering "dirtbag" rock climbers.
A magnificent, deeply researched history, Continental Divide tells a story of adventure and aspiration in the high peaks that makes a vivid case for the importance of mountains to American national identity.
- reviews
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
February 15, 2016
In this book “about American history, as seen through the prism of mountaineering,” Isserman starts with the Pilgrims in 1642; he then climbs his way through the years to 1963, which he calls “perhaps, the greatest year in the history of American climbing,” because of the groundbreaking routes being ascended in Yosemite and James Whittaker becoming the first American to summit Everest. There are tales of explorers such as Lewis and Clark; mountain men such as John Colter and Jedediah Smith; renowned nature-lovers Emerson, Thoreau, and Muir; and climbers Yvon Chouinard and Royal Robbins. Isserman brings these diverse stories together in a cohesive narrative with a strong combination of in-depth research and welcoming prose that even a climbing novice can understand. Though Isserman glosses over issues of the last 50 years (competitive climbing, sponsorships, ethics, the sport’s fragmentation), his passionate scholarship turns this specialized sporting history into an easily accessible account of the exploration, subjugation, conservation, and appreciation of the great peaks of the U.S. and the world.
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
Starred review from May 15, 2016
Isserman (history, Hamilton Coll.; coauthor, Fallen Giants) brings masterly storytelling and an eye for detail to the history of American mountaineering, beginning with the colonialists' first encounters with mountains in the 17th century and ending with the golden age of climbing in the mid-1960s. Chapters are all-encompassing narratives of prominent climbers and first ascents, allowing Isserman to pinpoint the emergence of modern mountain climbing, notably the Belknap-Cutler expedition in July 1784 on New Hampshire's Mount Washington. Additionally, the author traces the geologic history of America's mountain ranges and considers the changing nature of climbing, including the construction of hiking trails, the introduction of the sport's gear, and the expansion of adventuring beyond East Coast enclaves. Isserman's deft use of resources, archives, and firsthand accounts make this a wonderful gem of a work that readers can mine for inspiration. VERDICT This broad sweep of American mountaineering history will satisfy general history readers and outdoor adventurers alike.--Margaret Atwater-Singer, Univ. of Evansville Lib., IN
Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
- premium: True
- source:
- content:
February 1, 2016
This doesn't pretend to be a comprehensive history of American mountaineering. Although it starts in 1642, when Darby Field made the first recorded ascent of an American mountain, it ends in the mid-1960s, when climbing became, in the author's words, a mass participation sport in the U.S. In fact, the book is really about American history, as seen through the prism of mountaineering. Hence the title: not just a phrase used to denote the series of mountain ranges that break the North American continent into two sections (one where the rivers drain into the Pacific Ocean, the other where the water leads to the Atlantic), but also a phrase that calls up memories of Lewis and Clark, of American exploration, of conquering seemingly insurmountable odds in the creation of a nation. Isserman, the author of Fallen Giants (2008), about the history of mountaineering in the Himalayas, brings the same wide-ranging insight and engaging prose style to this follow-up. The result is an account both educational and, perhaps surprisingly, thrilling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)
- popularity
- 18
- links
- self:
- href: https://api.overdrive.com/v1/collections/v1L1BWwAAAA2I/products/88365d5f-100c-4528-9155-d83e88d1eb9e/metadata
- type: application/vnd.overdrive.api+json
- self:
- id
- 88365d5f-100c-4528-9155-d83e88d1eb9e
- starRating
- 3.3
- images
- cover:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-100/0044-1/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img100.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- thumbnail:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-200/0044-1/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img200.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover150Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-150/0044-1/883/65D/5F/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img150.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover300Wide:
- href: https://img1.od-cdn.com/ImageType-400/0044-1/883/65D/5F/{88365D5F-100C-4528-9155-D83E88D1EB9E}Img400.jpg
- type: image/jpeg
- cover:
- isPublicPerformanceAllowed
- False
- languages
- code: en
- name: English
- subjects
- value: Biography & Autobiography
- value: History
- value: Sports & Recreations
- value: Nonfiction
- publishDateText
- 04/25/2016
- otherFormatIdentifiers
- type: ISBN
- value: 9780393068504
- mediaType
- eBook
- shortDescription
This magesterial and thrilling history argues that the story of American mountaineering is the story of America itself.
In Continental Divide, Maurice Isserman tells the history of American mountaineering through four centuries of landmark climbs and first ascents. Mountains were originally seen as obstacles to civilization; over time they came to be viewed as places of redemption and renewal. The White Mountains stirred the transcendentalists; the Rockies and Sierras pulled explorers westward toward Manifest Destiny; Yosemite inspired the early environmental conservationists.
Climbing began in North America as a pursuit for lone eccentrics but grew to become a mass-participation sport. Beginning with Darby Field in 1642, the first person to climb a mountain in North America, Isserman describes the exploration and first ascents of the major American mountain ranges, from the Appalachians to Alaska. He also profiles the most important American...
- sortTitle
- Continental Divide A History of American Mountaineering
- crossRefId
- 2674389
- subtitle
- A History of American Mountaineering
- publisher
- W. W. Norton & Company
- bisacCodes
- code: BIO023000
- description: Biography & Autobiography / Adventurers & Explorers
- code: HIS036060
- description: History / United States / 20th Century
- code: SPO029000
- description: Sports & Recreation / Mountaineering
