Empire of Shadows

Offering a reinterpretation of the 19th century West, the author casts Yellowstone's creation as the culmination of three interwoven strands - the passion for exploration, the violence of the Indian Wars and the "civilizing" of the frontier - and charts its course through the lives of those who sought to lay bare its mysteries.

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In a new reinterpretation of the 19th century West, George Black casts Yellowstone's creation as the culmination of three interwoven strands - the passion for exploration, the violence of the Indian Wars and the "civilizing" of the frontier - and charts its course through the lives of those who sought to lay bare its mysteries: Lt. Gustavus Cheyney Doane, a gifted but tormented cavalryman known as "the man who invented Wonderland"; the ambitious former vigilante leader Nathaniel Langford; scientist Ferdinand Hayden, who brought photographer William Henry Jackson and painter Thomas Moran to Yellowstone; and Gen. Phil Sheridan, Civil War hero and architect of the Indian Wars, who finally succeeded in having the new National Park placed under the protection of the US Cavalry. At the heart of the story is a great paradox: no matter how deeply flawed these characters may be as individuals, no matter how mixed their motives, the paths they opened led to one of the true glories of American history and the exploration of Yellowstone is a quintessentially American story, of terrible things done in the name of high ideals, and of high ideals realised by dubious means.
Empire of Shadows is a groundbreaking historical account of the origins of this majestic national landmark.