Presenting the first in-depth study of Thomas Moran's early western landscapes, Joni Louise Kinsey describes how the artist created three monumental paintings—<i>The Grand Cañon of the Yellowstone</i> (1872), <i>The Chasm of the Colorado</i> (1873-74), and <i>The Mountain of the Holy Cross</i> (1875)—that, in the aftermath of the Civil War, evoked the nation's spiritual journey and suggestsed its cultural upheaval. The author describes how the paintings reflected a new national identity of both failure and promise, and helped open the West for tourism and travel.