This compendium makes a useful addition to the existing canon of personal accounts, age-yellowed histories, and helpful guidebooks to Washington State's Mount Rainier National Park. Kirk, who has written on both nature and history, lived in the park for five years, and has both climbed and circled Rainier. The book ranges widely, if not too deeply, into just about everything to do with a remarkable natural landscape capped by the highest mountain--from its base--in the lower 48 states.

Kirk ably considers all sides of the park: the local animals, the history and nature of volcanic activity, the politics of the name "Rainier," and the environmental changes wrought by a boom in the region's population. In the "Voices of the Mountain" sections of the book, first-person written and photographic accounts of Rainier experiences highlight human interaction with the mountain over the last century. Centenarian Floyd Schmoe writes about working in the park in the 1920s, and poet Denise Levertov, who never visited the mountain, writes of its effect on her each time she viewed its snowy peak from her home in Seattle: "always loftier, lonelier than I ever remember." Enlivened by photographs on each page, some from as early as the turn of the century, this book is a fascinating introduction to the mountain Native Americans called Tahoma. --Maria Dolan


From Library Journal
With 200 square miles of forest, 34 of which remain snow-covered year round, plus 25 glaciers, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State is impressive by any standard. What makes the park most remarkable is Mount Rainier itself. Almost mystical in its appeal, Mount Rainier has been compared to Japan's Mount Fuji. Natural science and Pacific Northwest history writer Kirk lived in the park for five years and has climbed Rainier five times. She provides dizzying coverage of everything from the geologic history of Rainier to tales of turn-of-the century climbing expeditions. However, Kirk's stated goal to write a "something-for-everybody book" has resulted in a little-information-about-a-lot-of-things pastiche: interesting but not completely satisfying. The 200 color photos are often exceptionally beautiful, and Kirk has provided an annotated bibliography. Recommended for larger public libraries, especially those in the West.AJanet N. Ross, Washoe Cty. Lib. Syst., Sparks, NV Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


Card catalog description
Mount Rainier is the fifth highest peak in the United States outside of Alaska, and it soars higher above its immediate base than does any other in the lower forty-eight. Its geological and glacial origins and current ecological health are described in the book, as is the century-old stewardship of Mount Rainier National Park. Its stories include accounts by Native people such as Saluskin and Wapowety, climbers from John Muir and Fay Fuller to Willi Unsoeld and Lou Whittaker, and entrepreneurs from the Longmire family to Paul Sceva. Here, too, are the tales of scientists and tourists, park rangers and volunteers. A wealth of illustrations span the decades. Some of the photographs are from albums of the 1912 and 1915 Mountaineers outings; others are by noted early photographers such as Imogen Cunningham and Asahel Curtis and by contemporary photographers such as Ira Spring. Paintings include a sumi by George Tsutakawa and a series specially created by Dee Molenaar.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Mount Rainier is the fifth highest peak in the United States outside of Alaska, and it soars higher above its immediate base than does any other in the lower forty-eight. Its geological and glacial origins and current ecological health are described in the book, as is the century-old stewardship of Mount Rainier National Park. Its stories include accounts by Native people such as Saluskin and Wapowety, climbers from John Muir and Fay Fuller to Willi Unsoeld and Lou Whittaker, and entrepreneurs from the Longmire family to Paul Sceva. Here, too, are the tales of scientists and tourists, park rangers and volunteers. A wealth of illustrations span the decades. Some of the photographs are from albums of the 1912 and 1915 Mountaineers outings; others are by noted early photographers such as Imogen Cunningham and Asahel Curtis and by contemporary photographers such as Ira Spring. Paintings include a sumi by George Tsutakawa and a series specially created by Dee Molenaar.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

With 200 square miles of forest, 34 of which remain snow-covered year round, plus 25 glaciers, Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State is impressive by any standard. What makes the park most remarkable is Mount Rainier itself. Almost mystical in its appeal, Mount Rainier has been compared to Japan's Mount Fuji. Natural science and Pacific Northwest history writer Kirk lived in the park for five years and has climbed Rainier five times. She provides dizzying coverage of everything from the geologic history of Rainier to tales of turn-of-the century climbing expeditions. However, Kirk's stated goal to write a "something-for-everybody book" has resulted in a little-information-about-a-lot-of-things pastiche: interesting but not completely satisfying. The 200 color photos are often exceptionally beautiful, and Kirk has provided an annotated bibliography. Recommended for larger public libraries, especially those in the West.--Janet N. Ross, Washoe Cty. Lib. Syst., Sparks, NV Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Booknews

Explores the history of a symbol of the Pacific Northwest and the national park that preserves it. Interspersed between information on the mountain's geological and glacial origins, its current ecological health, and the century-old stewardship of the park, are first-person stories by Native people, climbers, entrepreneurs, scientists, tourists, park rangers, and volunteers. A wealth of b&w and color photos and illustrations span the decades. Some photos are by noted early and contemporary photographers including Imogene Cunningham and Ira Spring. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)

Science Book & Fiction