Last Frontier Books

The author presents a thoughtful and thought provoking look at an oft misunderstood concept: homesteading in the wilds of Alaska. The reader is held in awe at the tenacity of these latter day pioneers who have chosen a lifestyle far removed from the experience of most of us in the lower forty-eight.

Intimate but respectful study of a unique breed of modern day pioneers in one of the last really remote places in America. Well done glimpse into a world of determination and dreams that most can only imagine.

This is one of the finest books I have read about Alaska. This is a spare, unsentimental portrait of what life in Alaska is really like--both beautiful and harsh. This is not a book that romanticizes homesteading or the poverty of these homesteaders' lives; instead they come alive through the Brice's crystaline prose and her use of defining detail. Here is real life--people struggling to make lives for themselves in a country that is neither easy nor forgiving. The stark, black and white photographs that accompany the book add a beautiful and moving element. If you want to know what life on the frontier can really be like, read this book.

A refreshing story of one of the founding families of little Sitka-by-the-Sea and their experiences during a time of Alaskan history that is fast being forgotten as told by the woman who lived it. Hopewell is one of those irrepressible women you just love to read about!

Hopewell Rands was my Great Grandmother. I knew alot about her life but when I read this book I was in awe of her life and our family. I grew up in Alaska but in her early life it was just unbelievable how they made it and got along. I think everyone should read this book to bring some perspective to people's lives. I have let all my friends read this book as well, its not just for family.

Through the reading of this book it makes me better understand my family, Grandma Rands, and the hardships they endured in the austier frontier of Alaska. Hollywood too often protrays romance and grandeur but this book tells of the challenges of a young family in a cloistered communtity where everyday was an adventure as seen through the eyes of my Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, and Aunts. Grandma passed away at 97 years and this is her tribute to share with others.

A friend sent me this book and am I glad she did! It really gave me a broad view of Alaska and the women that have made it their home. It was great to read such a cross section of short stories and tales of our 50th state.

For anyone curious about the mystique of Alaska, this is a must-read. If you can't make a trip to Alaska, this is the next best thing. Not only for women, anyone will enjoy this book.

Ron Tyler's seminal work on the Big Bend of Texas is required reading for anyone who plans a trip to the "Texas Outback". This enchanting out-of-the-way part of Texas has invited explorers and adventurers for years and Tyler's historical treatment brings all the mystery and drama of the region to the surface for the modern traveler. The maps and historical photographs blend with the text to give the reader a "sense of place" that separates the Big Bend area from other southwestern landscapes. A must read for anyone interested in the remote lands of North America.

The Big Bend region of Texas is one of the most remote and least populated areas of the United States. From the center of Big Bend National Park at The Basin it is more than 100 miles by road to the nearest Supermarket in Alpine.

The author has compiled an authoritative history of the sparsely-populated Big Bend. The prose is scholarly rather than poetic, but the story is fascinating. Included in the book are maps, old photographs, a listing and description of historic sites, a thorough bibliography, extensive notes, and an index.

The Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca and his colleagues probably passed through the Big Bend in the 1530s; and the Spanish conquest began in 1580. Later the tide was turned as the Apaches and Comanches in the 18th and 19th century depopulated the Big Bend with their constant raids on Mexican settlements. In the 19th century the "gringos" arrived at the Big Bend and established ranches, mines, and wax factories -- the wax coming from the candelilla plant. One of the most interesting sections of the book concerns the conflict between Mexican revolutionaries and bandits and the U.S army in the early part of the 20th century during the era of Pancho Villa. The book concludes with the creation of Big Bend National Park in 1955.

The Big Bend is a tough country with a colorful history and this book is worth reading, especially if you plan to visit Big Bend National Park.

Smallchief

Just think, at any one space in time, inside your brain, 15 billion interactions are going on right now - thinking,feeling, sensing, caring, comparing, judging, deciding . . . I found this book to be very deep and comprehensive - certainly fascinating in that I will never look at the brain the same way again. This one is a real "keeper", to be shared with anyone that may be interested in this subject.

Explore the brain with neurologist Restak as a basis of our emotional and mental capacities, as it affects language, health, and personality. Explore it as...The Last Frontier in man's understanding of life itself.

Can we make a robot that can really think?
Can we discover how to turn off pain?
Can we retard the effects of age on the mind?
Can we eliminate some diseases by correcting malfunctions in the brain?
Restak, even more sharply than Sagan, puts into provocative focus what has been learned by psychologists, biologists and other scientists...he makes clear the true difference between computer 'thinking' and human thought: the mystery which some call soul.

This five pound coffee-table book is clearly the best ever done on the subject. Tons of beautiful color photos and lots of information on just about anything relating to the Old West. Spurs, saddles, guns, saloons and much more. Well worth the price.

If you're into the antiques of the Old West, this is the one book to have. It's beautiful and comprehensive.WORTH EVERY PENNY. Highest recommendation.

In the course of the last month, I've become a big fan of Elmore Leonard's Westerns. I'm new to the Western, late in the game. After a few L'Amour's, a friend put me on to Leonard. He's the very top of the genre, in my view. The dialogue and the action tell the story and make the points about toughness and character, not the sentimental interior thought process of the hero, so common in this genre; at least what I've seen thus far.
In The Law at Randado (one of the titles in this collection), Kirby Frye is young and green (as a deputy), but he stands up to the townsmen and Phil Sundeen, the bad cattle baron, much to their surprise. He reminds me a lot of the implacable Roberto Valdez in "Valdez is Coming" (I think Leonard's greatest Western), and there are similar qualities to the story. But this is early Leonard (1954), and he only gets better as time goes on.
We again meet the scoundrel Sundeen and see his fate in Gunsights, a much later book (1979).
It's going to be hard to go back to other Western authors having been introduced to Elmore Leonard this early on!

Although the author has tended to underrate his earliest work in the Western genre, later Elmore Leonard crime novels like CITY PRIMEVAL, KILLSHOT (a corker, by the way) and OUT OF SIGHT are certainly influenced by earlier books such as VALDEZ IS COMING. He will often include references to the movie Westerns that were made from his stories in the novels. The famous restaurant confrontation between Chili Palmer and a stuntman-bodyguard in GET SHORTY imitates a similiar scene in the Leonard-written Clint Eastwood movie JOE KIDD (which Chili, a true movie buff, remembers vividly). The very funny novel PRONTO gets even funnier when you realize that Leonard is, to a great degree, satirizing traditional Western heroics and the conventions of a genre that he truly understands and loves. I can't imagine any fan of Elmore Leonard's - or the American Western - being disappointed in THE LAW AT RANDADO (my personal favorite), HOMBRE (which won the Golden Spur Award for the 100 best Western novels of all time) or VALDEZ IS COMING. It's great to have these books back in print in any form (as well as the new set of Western shorts THE TONTO WOMAN) and collectors should move fast - these tend to be taken out of print very quickly. Don't buy one - buy all three!!

This true account of a miner's life in central Nevada around the turn of the previous century, written by one of the children of a large family. The miner was unusual in that he took his entire family when he moved to a new propsecting area. Details of life then you won't find in a history book. I felt like I was living right with them. Wilhelm discovers a high-grade lode in 1909. Better than fiction.

A family of approx 8 children & parents traveling in a covered wagon in search of gold mines and living off the land.Streams were clean and teaming with fish.Fowl and edible animals were plentiful--and no license required.No paved roads,only trails.Time frame 1895-1910.An excellent book for age groups 12 to 100.This book is non-fiction

Written by a distinguished author who's credentials, as far as the Antarctic is concerned, are probably second to none, this book takes a critical look at what it describes as "the world's highest, coldest and most isolated continent." Antarctica is the world's least known region and, thanks to the Antarctic Treaty, no country may lay claim to the land. Those who go there to work, do so within a system for international co-operation which is unparalleled anywhere else on earth.

Vitally important, because the region has a crucial role to play in determining the future climate of the entire planet, this author leaves nothing to the imagination as he completes a thorough appraisal of the region. After a chapter on how the continent was formed, we have an abundance of information on every aspect of the local geology, flora and fauna - from both above the surface of the seas and below, culminating in a chapter entitled "Man and the Antarctic" - a heading which speaks for itself.

Altogether an excellent, authoritative work from which I learned a great deal.

NM

Some of it is now a bit dated, but is nevertheless a valuable resource. If you think, or know someone who does, that space exploration is not important, read this book and give it to your friends and politicians. You will see why space exploration is quite important.