All are welcome to join the Museum and Bloomington Public Library on Tuesday, August 4 at 7:00 p.m. for the third History Reads Book Club for 2026, in person at Bloomington Public Library or online via Zoom.
This quarter's book to be discussed will be The Promise of the Grand Canyon: John Wesley Powell's Perilous Journey and His Vision for the American West by John Ross. John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon in 1869 counts among the most dramatic chapters in American exploration history. When the Canyon spit out the surviving members of the expedition—starving, battered, and nearly naked—they had accomplished what others thought impossible and finished the exploration of continental America that Lewis and Clark had begun almost 70 years before.
With The Promise of the Grand Canyon, Ross tells how that perilous expedition launched the one-armed Civil War hero on the path to becoming the nation’s foremost proponent of environmental sustainability and a powerful, if controversial, visionary for the development of the American West. So much of what he preached—most broadly about land and water stewardship—remains prophetically to the point today.
History Reads meets quarterly in February, May, August, and November. Meetings are at 7pm and are typically* offered both in the Conference Room at the library and online via Zoom. People can join a book club at any time and do not have to attend previous book club meetings to participate.
Registration is ONLY REQUIRED for online participants and can be completed by clicking here, in person at the Adult Help Desk on the library's second floor, or by calling 309.590.6168.
Contact the Adult Help Desk at 309.590.6168 or reference@bloomingtonlibrary.org to check out or reserve a print copy of the book. Digital copies of this book (eBook or eAudiobook) may be available through the Libby or Hoopla apps.