Historian Donald Worster discusses John Wesley Powell’s 1869 journey down the Green and Colorado rivers and his trip through the Grand Canyon, the first recorded passage by a European American, on Thursday, November 18, 2010, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Worster, a distinguished professor of U.S. History at the University of Kansas, is the author of A River Running West: The Life of John Wesley Powell. The book details Powell’s entire life; but at the heart of the biography is Powell’s 1869 journey down the Colorado, which included harrowing experiences, lethal accidents, and breathtaking discoveries.

Powell served in the Union Army as a topographer and military engineer during the Civil War. He lost most of one arm at the Battle of Shiloh.

Worster is considered one of the founders of the field of environmental history. He is the author of several books, including The Wealth of Nature, Under Western Skies, and the Bancroft Prize-winning Dust Bowl.

A River Running West won several awards, including the 2000 David W. and Beatrice C. Evans Biography Award and the 2001 Spur Award for Best Biography given by the Western Writers of America.