Roadside attraction.

• Author: Greenblatt, Alan
• Position: Book Review

GREAT WHITE FATHERS: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore by John Taliaferro Public Affairs, $27.50

GUTZON BORGLUM WAS EXACTLY the sort of contractor who gives a client fits. He was always charming at first and made reassuring promises that he would get the job done in a hurry. But once he was on the payroll, he always ran behind schedule, always asked for more money, and always blamed someone else for the delays. He received one of the harshest pink slips of all time when he was fired from the project of carving a monument to Confederate heroes at Stone Mountain, Ga., his bosses citing his "offensive egotism and delusions of grandeur."

But Borglum quickly converted insult into triumph, packing his bags for South Dakota, where he landed the job of carving Mount Rushmore.

That, in a nutshell, is the story of Borglum's life, as told by John Taliaferro in Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore. The "classic Borglum" behavior was to "demand control, ruffle feathers, allege conspiracy, exaggerate evil--and lastly, foul the nest." Borglum was clearly a disagreeable sort, a deadbeat who was disloyal to his friends and consorted with the Ku Klux Klan. But there are plenty of bastards and difficult characters in the world, and not many of them have the perseverance, talent, and selling ability to make as big a mark as Borglum made.

Borglum initially promised he could finish Mount Rushmore in a year's time. (It took 14.) The idea of carving a massive sculpture of historical figures in the Black Hills originated with a local historian named Doane Robinson, who knew that South Dakota wanted a major attraction to put it on the tourist map. Robinson originally had in mind western figures such as Lewis and Clark, John Fremont, and Red Cloud. Borglum wasn't his first choice, but he improved on Robinson's vision with the idea of honoring truly national figures, starting with Washington. He also charmed the pants off Robinson and the other local power brokers. "I count it one of the great experiences of my life to have spent two days with a man of his genius and high character," Robinson wrote soon after.

Unfortunately for Taliaferro, the tales of Borglum's charms mainly take that sort of generalized turn. Borglum's shortcomings, on the other hand, have been passed down in technicolor detail. Much of the book is made up of Borglum's constant fights with both patrons and subordinates. He was an...