"The Grand Canyon has inspired storytellers and mythmakers for centuries. Stories told of it in oral traditions, books, newspapers, and brochures have entertained and fired the imaginations of listeners and readers with descriptions of subliminal beauty and endless adventure. The best Grand Canyon raconteur of them all might be John Hance, the first permanent Euro-American settler at Grand Canyon, a river guide, and a teller of such tall tales that his talent for spinning yarns helped establish the tourist trade at Grand Canyon more than a hundred years ago. Yet, as Shane Murphy points out, Hance's name is now largely forgotten. Visitors to Grand Canyon National Park won't find a statue of Hance or a commemorative sign or plaque with his name on it. Those who ride the Colorado River through the canyon might learn a little about Hance from a guide when they descend Hance Rapids, the longest and steepest of them all. Otherwise the name John Hance, which was once synonymous with Grand Canyon, is no longer part of its story. Shane Murphy's biography is an effort to rescue Hance from obscurity. It provides insights into Hance's life before he went west with his family to strike it rich as a miner in Arizona Territory. More importantly, Murphy shows how Hance and his outsized personality brought the wonders of an equally outsized landscape to the attention of would-be travelers before the days of the National Park Service and the creation of Grand Canyon National Park in 1919"--