A BIOGRAPHY OF A MOUNTAIN: The Making and Meaning of Mt. Rushmore, by Matthew Davis (St. Martin's Press, on sale November 11, 2025, $30.00), is a powerful comprehensive history of Mt. Rushmore, written in light of recent political controversies, and a timely retrospective for the monument's 100th anniversary in 2025. Davis has penned an impressive work of narrative nonfiction, combining history with reportage, bringing this complicated and nuanced story of the famous, and infamous, mountain to life.From the lands origins as sacred tribal ground; to the expansion of the American West; to the complicated and larger-than-life personality of Gutzon Borglum, the artist who carved the presidential faces into the mountain; and, up to the politicized present-day conflicts over the site and its future, Matthew Davis paints a fascinating picture of perhaps the most debated monument in our nation. Gerard Baker, the first Native American superintendent of Mt. Rushmore shared this sentiment about the mountain with the author: "Well, most people want to come to a national park and leave with that warm fuzzy feeling with an ice cream cone. Rushmore can't do that if you do it the right way. If you do it the right way people are going to be leaving pissed." That perhaps sums up the complicated history of Rushmore better than any other, especially with talk of additional sculpture(s) added to the side of the mountain?

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