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Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon

byMelissa Sevigny

Melissa Sevigny recounts the 1938 Colorado River expedition of botanists Elzada Clover and Lois Jotter, who became the first women to complete the journey through the Grand Canyon by boat. Facing dangerous rapids, unreliable equipment, skeptical reporters, and male companions, they collected and mapped plants across a landscape soon to be transformed by dams. The book combines adventure with the history of field science and women's struggle for professional recognition. Their specimens created an invaluable ecological baseline, showing how careful observation can outlast both prejudice and dramatic environmental change.

Publisher

Norton & Company, Incorporated, W. W.

Publication date

2023

Format

Print edition

Pages

304

ISBN

9780393868234