Join us at MLK Library,

as Matt Davis & Clint Smith discuss

A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mount Rushmore

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A comprehensive narrative history of Mt. Rushmore, written in light of recent political controversies, and a timely retrospective for the monument's 100th anniversary in 2025

An impressive work of narrative nonfiction, A Biography of A Mountain combines history with reportage, bringing the complicated and nuanced story of Mt. Rushmore to life, from the land’s origins as sacred tribal ground; to the expansion of the American West; to the larger-than-life personality of Gutzon Borglum, the artist who carved the presidential faces into the mountain; and up to the politicized present-day conflict over the site and its future.

“Well, most people want to come to a national park and leave with that warm, fuzzy feeling with an ice cream cone. Rushmore can’t do that if you do it the right way. If you do it the right way people are going to be leaving pissed.”

Gerard Baker, the first Native American superintendent of Mt. Rushmore, shared those words with Davis. From the tragic history of Wounded Knee and the horrors of Indian Boarding Schools, to the Land Back movement of today, Davis traces the Native American story alongside the narrative of the growing territory and state of South Dakota, and the economic and political forces that shaped the reasons for the Memorial's creation. Exploring issues related to how we memorialize American history, Davis tells an imperative story for our time.

Written with extraordinary detail and attention to the humanity of this history, A Biography of a Mountain will be published in tandem with the monument’s 100th anniversary.

Matthew Davis is the author of When Things Get Dark. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and others. He has been an Eric and Wendy Schmidt Fellow at New America, a Fellow at the Black Mountain Institute at UNLV, and a Fulbright Fellow. He holds an MFA in nonfiction writing from the University of Iowa and an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He lives in Washington, D.C.