“‘Why are these mountains here?’ Craig Jones asks about the Sierra Nevada. History and geology buffs alike will celebrate as he reveals the answers in this captivating book. With meticulous research and breezy prose, Jones probes both the human history of the Sierra Nevada and the cutting-edge geologic discoveries that inform not just our knowledge of these mountains, but the workings of the Earth itself.”—Keith Meldahl, author of Rough-Hewn Land: A Geologic Journey from California to the Rocky Mountains

 “We look up to the Sierra mountains because they are big and they are magnificent. But, as this book makes entirely clear, we look up to them because they are important, far more important than we might otherwise realize.”—William Deverell, Director, Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West

“Rocks don’t lie, but Homo sapiens haven’t quite grasped the full stories that mountains are silently telling us. The Mountains That Remade America redresses this, masterfully revealing human history as it intersects with geological history to show how they create the world we live in now. Focusing on the Sierra Nevada Range, Craig Jones finds startling new ways to consider events like the Gold Rush and the protection of Yosemite. The book is one revelation after another: compelling, deeply informative, new. Essential reading that will change the way you look up at a peak and down at a valley.”—Mary Ellen Hannibal, author of Citizen Scientist: Searching for Heroes and Hope in an Age of Extinction