Six Wars at a Time: The Life and Times of Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mt. Rushmore

Historians Howard Shaff and Audrey Karl Shaff spent seven years retracing the steps of Gutzon Borglum and writing his definitive biography. In 1977 the Shaffs visited Mount Rushmore and began their journey that took them from California to Connecticut, Idaho to Texas - as they tracked down Borglum's far-flung papers, talked to those who knew him, catalogued his art and interviewed virtually every surviving member of Borglum's team of workers on Mount Rushmore. Their taped interviews, now housed at the monument and the University of South Dakota, comprise the only comprehensive oral history of Mount Rushmore and the sculptor. The Shaffs have also emerged as the acknowledged experts on Borglum's art, serving as curators for the largest collection of his work, housed st the Rushmore-Borglum Story in Keystone, South Dakota. The Shaffs now live at the KbarS Lodge in Keystone where they continue to write and work together. They have seven children. Painter, sculptor, political crusader, city planner, aviation enthusiast, critic and sportsman. Gutzon Borglum threw himself into life as it was lived in the halcyon days of the turn-of-the-century. his life was filled with romance, adventure, accomplishment and intrigue. It touched every president from Teddy Roosevelt to FDR, the artists, statesmen, politicians and celebrities of his time in a story that led to its inevitable conclusion at Mount Rushmore.