Painters of the Ashcan School: The Immortal Eight Book

This book is nothing like you'd expect. We brought it along on a journey from Connecticut to South Dakota, reading it aloud along the way to ensure we would have a clue what we were looking at when we finally reached Mount Rushmore. It proved to be a roaringly good account not just of how the project got going and who did it, but of all the money and politics that played a role. It's a stunning look at a bull-headed artist and the things he had to do to press forward in the face of stupid or greedy politicians, the Great Depression and all sorts of obstacles that by all rights should have ground the whole thing to a halt a dozen times. But in the end, there it is, an achievement for the ages that in some ways is utterly ludicrous and in others, just magnificent. Rex Alan Smith's book is, without doubt, the one you want to grab to bone up on the whole damn saga. It's funny. It's intelligent. It's insightful. It's just great.