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Finding Everett Ruess: The Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer

by David Roberts

Other authors: Jon Krakauer (Foreword)

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21410125,402 (3.64)2
Biography & Autobiography. History. Nature. Nonfiction. HTML:The definitive biography of Everett Ruess, the artist, writer, and eloquent celebrator of the wilderness whose bold solo explorations of the American West and mysterious disappearance in the Utah desert at age twenty have earned him a large and devoted cult following.

??Easily one of [Roberts??s] best . . . thoughtful and passionate . . . a compelling portrait of the Ruess myth.???Outside


Wandering alone with burros and pack horses through California and the Southwest for five years in the early 1930s, on voyages lasting as long as ten months, Ruess became friends with photographers Edward Weston and Dorothea Lange, swapped prints with Ansel Adams, took part in a Hopi ceremony, learned to speak Navajo, and was among the first "outsiders" to venture deeply into what was then (and to some extent still is) largely a little-known wilderness. When he vanished without a trace in November 1934, Ruess left behind thousands of pages of journals, letters, and poems, as well as more than a hundred watercolor paintings and blockprint engravings.

Everett Ruess is hailed as a paragon of solo exploration, while the mystery of his death remains one of the greatest riddles in the annals of American adventure. David Roberts began probing the life and death of Everett Ruess for National Geographic Adventure magazine in 1998. Finding Everett Ruess is the result of his personal journeys into the remote areas explored by Ruess, his interviews with oldtimers who encountered the young vagabond and with Ruess??s closest living relatives, and his deep immersion in Ruess??s writings and artwork. More than seventy-five years after his vanishing, Ruess stirs the kinds of passion and speculation accorded such legendary doomed American adventurers as Into the Wild??s Chris McCandles
… (more)
  1. 30
    Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (amyblue)
    amyblue: Both books attempt to solve the mystery of how a young man disappeared in the wilderness on a quest for beauty and an authentic life.
  2. 00
    Bears Ears: Landscape of Refuge and Resistance by Andrew Gulliford (RiversideReader)
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» See also 2 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 10 (next | show all)
Amazing story, full of compelling twists and turns. I got a little bogged down in the middle and struggled with motivation to keep going, yet something kept drawing me back; perhaps a little too much detail.

It is a story of a teenager seeking independence and the struggle of his parents to try to bring him back to the fold and live the life they wanted for him, yet they continued to send him financial support, even during through the financially-tight depression.

So tragic that such a talented young man was apparently lost to the world. It is incredible the impact of this young man had to maintain public interest and countless efforts to find him for more than eight decades. ( )
  mapg.genie | Apr 26, 2023 |
I had never heard of Everett Ruess before this book, but now feel as if I've gone with him on part of his adventures. I appreciate how Roberts does his own research and doesn't rely on the opinions of others who have written about Everett before. The writing style is very good and draws the reader along through the details without languishing in them. Recommended for anyone who enjoys a biography and a bit of mystery.

This was an ARC First-Reads selection. ( )
  snotbottom | Sep 19, 2018 |
This is another book I feel quite lucky to have won through the first-reads program. I can honestly say (though I am loath to admit it) that I had no idea who exactly Everett Ruess was when I began to read this book. Worse, I hadn't read [b:Into Thin Air|1898|Into Thin Air|Jon Krakauer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320529390s/1898.jpg|1816662] yet either, though it has been on my to-read shelf for ages. I went into this book with no expectations, and came out of it a bit bewildered.

Having been to some of the places Ruess explored in his lifetime, and having shared in some of his fascination with the land I have to admit I was converted into a bit of Ruess fan. While I found Ruess' diaries grating at times, who doesn't find a seventeen year old or a nineteen year old a bit immature? Who hasn't been an ignorant teenager at one point or another?

The narrative was fascinating, and the author's insights into both Ruess' life and the lives of those who later wrote about him extremely informative. I feel that Robert's gave each theory about Ruess' disappearance a fair hearing, and actually dispelled some of the more fantastic rumours about Ruess' life and orientation rather neatly. The book came off as a note of love, and a worthy one at that.

By the end of the book I was thoroughly swayed by this "vagabond for beauty" and I have to admit that I will not only be passing this book along to some of my relatives and friends, but I will also be keeping an ear open for any news on the Everett case. While I do agree that "he just doesn't want to be found" the disappearance is part of the allure.

Everett lives, indeed.. Or perhaps more appropriately, Nemo lives. ( )
  Lepophagus | Jun 14, 2018 |
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Read the Rusho materials when they came out. The only criticism I have is the usual....better maps! Otherwise, Roberts is literate, knowledgeable, informed, and any other adjectives that apply making him the perfect person to write this book. Read the book in just over 2 days on my way to, and at the Grand Canyon's South Rim while Sarah is in training. ( )
  untraveller | Apr 17, 2018 |
I've read a number of David Robert's books and liked most of them (with a couple of exceptions) so I was happily surprised to find he was the author of "Finding Everett Ruess- the Life and Unsolved Disappearance of a Legendary Wilderness Explorer." The book had caught my interest a while ago due to the topic.

Everett Ruess was a 1930's version of Christopher McCandless... at the age of just 16, he started taking months long jaunts out in the wilderness of the southwest. He mysteriously disappeared in 1934 when he was just 20, and the youth's rapturous writings and woodblock prints of the natural world have build a bit of a cult around him. His body was never found.

Roberts does a pretty good job telling the story here... there were bits that were repetitive in the early narrative. The 1934 journal was lost! The 1934 journal was lost! His presentation of Ruess' story is mostly compelling though. I found I enjoyed the second half of the book more, when Robers focuses on the various searches for Ruess' remains over the years. Definitely a good read overall. ( )
  amerynth | Oct 1, 2015 |
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Krakauer, JonForewordsecondary authorall editionsconfirmed
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Biography & Autobiography. History. Nature. Nonfiction. HTML:The definitive biography of Everett Ruess, the artist, writer, and eloquent celebrator of the wilderness whose bold solo explorations of the American West and mysterious disappearance in the Utah desert at age twenty have earned him a large and devoted cult following.

??Easily one of [Roberts??s] best . . . thoughtful and passionate . . . a compelling portrait of the Ruess myth.???Outside


Wandering alone with burros and pack horses through California and the Southwest for five years in the early 1930s, on voyages lasting as long as ten months, Ruess became friends with photographers Edward Weston and Dorothea Lange, swapped prints with Ansel Adams, took part in a Hopi ceremony, learned to speak Navajo, and was among the first "outsiders" to venture deeply into what was then (and to some extent still is) largely a little-known wilderness. When he vanished without a trace in November 1934, Ruess left behind thousands of pages of journals, letters, and poems, as well as more than a hundred watercolor paintings and blockprint engravings.

Everett Ruess is hailed as a paragon of solo exploration, while the mystery of his death remains one of the greatest riddles in the annals of American adventure. David Roberts began probing the life and death of Everett Ruess for National Geographic Adventure magazine in 1998. Finding Everett Ruess is the result of his personal journeys into the remote areas explored by Ruess, his interviews with oldtimers who encountered the young vagabond and with Ruess??s closest living relatives, and his deep immersion in Ruess??s writings and artwork. More than seventy-five years after his vanishing, Ruess stirs the kinds of passion and speculation accorded such legendary doomed American adventurers as Into the Wild??s Chris McCandles

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