Best and Brightest of His Generation

The Explorer King . Adventure, Science, and the Great Diamond Hoax--Clarence King in the Old West. By Robert Wilson . Scribner, New York, 2006. 317 pp. $26, C$36. ISBN 0-743-26025-2. King of the 40th Parallel . Discovery in the American West. By James G. Moore . Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 2006. 411 pp. $55. ISBN 0-8047-5222-2. Paper, $21.95. ISBN 0-8047-5223-0. The adventures and accomplishments of Clarence King\---|geologist, explorer, mountaineer, and first director of the U.S. Geological Survey\---|are the subject of two recent books.