Last Frontier Books

This is a good book because it gives a lot of detail of what is going on in it.

This book is aimed at giving a brief picture of the Amazon to a young reader. It focuses on a few aspects, such as: the indians living in the Amazon, the gold rush around the southern Amazon, the river and its dolphins, and the rubber boom and the railroad built to transport rubber.

The book is written as a travelogue, describing the author's trip chronologically. It is simplistic, of course, as any book for children should be, but it provides some vivid pictures of the region. About half of the pictures are very good, the rest should have been reconsidered.

My main criticism is that he associates the colonists as being evil doers destroying the forest; it is hardly ever an evil vs good fight. Anyways, I would recommend it especially to a family with children planning a trip to the Amazon as a way to wet the appetite.

This book is a beautifully illustrated, fun, and interesting book. The pictures are so amazing and it feels like I am really there, (or wish that I was there). This book is a educational book because it has maps that show where the author, Peter Lourie, went when he was exploring. It tells what cities are there, and also where the bodies of water are. This is a fun book because the author, Peter Lourie, gives wonderful writing like this:
Now as we left the tribal outpost and headed back the way we had come, we glided down river with the soft, slow, ancient current.
An interesting part was when the Indians put the poison in the water where the fish would swim and it would be easier to catch the fish.

This is why this book is the best!

This book was a very interesting book. I thought it was really sad when Peter Lourie passed by the river side and there were little kids learning and it was their school. The children were sick and skinny. Peter Lourie explained that their parents were very poor and they didn't have any money to buy clothes or food. I thought it was really cool when they followed the guy that collected the latex. I thought it was interesting when he cut a V into the tree and the latex dripped into a cup. When I read that the gold was found in the river I thought how did the gold form. I don't know how it did but it was a pretty amazing thing. When Peter Lourie went to the Indians I thought it was really interesting the way they caught their fish they poisoned the water so the fish would go to shore and they would pick them up. If they were still able to move they would spear the fish. This book really taught me a lot I really consider you to read one of Peter Lourie's books!

I have two step-sons, ages 14 and 12. They are not avid readersbut were fascinated by this book. We are planning a trip to Brazil andamong the books I suggested for them was this one. I picked it up at on a recent trip to New York. My kids found it a great adventure book and motivated them even more to want to visit brazil.

A well researched book, more an academic work than a sensational biography
yet not lacking in action.

I learned quite a bit about my own family by reading this book. My great-grandfather Jonas Quimby Musgrave was George West Musgrave's uncle. The uncanny resemblance both in personality and facial features to current members of my family is remarkable. More importantly to the general reader however, this is a book that will really give you insight into the life of a real Texas Badman at the turn-of-the-century. The book was extremely well-written both scholarly and entertaining in the annecdotes presented revealing of the time and the chief character.
What is also reviewing in this book is a relationships among the various citizens and desperados in the brush country of South Texas. There you'll find Musgrave's hanging around with Pancho Villa and other Mexican pistoleros., in the international brotherhood of gunfighters and shootists. The folks back then didn't pay much attention the borders. It is a true glimpse of the past were men's allegiances were to their family and their friends not to nations. The only thing that kept George West Musgrave from being one of the most legendary bandits of the old West was the fact he never got caught and died with his boots on. If you want an example of a real Texan, not the kind that emigrate from New England and think a "Bowl of Red" is Manhattan clam chowder, this is a book for you.

I read the other reviews and, after buying this book, was deeply disappointed. It reads more like a history book and is difficult to follow. It is jumpy and not smooth in the books flow. Without knowing the area, the canyons and ridges all run together but the book is written as if everyone reading it has intimate knowledge of the area. It was also hard to keep up with all the people because, once again, the book jumps around so much.

Nothing about this book flowed at all and the stories were disjointed. All in all, I was extremely disappointed with this book and would not recommend it to anyone looking for an easy reading, smooth flowing narrative of this outlaw.

The collaboration of biographer Karen Holliday Tanner and western history expert John D. Tanner, Jr. (Professor of History, Palomar College, San Marcos, California), Last Of The Old-Time Outlaws: The George West Musgrave Story is the informed and informative account of the notorious bandit, robber, and killer of the American Southwest, George West Musgrave (1877-1947), who was a charter member of the High Five/Black Jack gang, which in turn was responsible for Arizona's first bank hold-up as well as many other robberies. Only the ravages of failing health brought an end to Musgrave's crimes. Last Of The Old-Time Outlaws is enthusiastically recommended as being an absorbing biography of one of a rare oxymoron -- a successful career criminal.

"The Last Frontier" is an interesting collection of feature stories that originally appeared in "Alaska" magazine from 1935 until the present. They were chosen by the current editors of the magazine. The subject matter is quite varied, featuring outdoor adventure tales, life among the native people, wildlife exposes and much more. The stories are as varied as the people who inhabit the last great American wilderness.

The caveat I would note for anyone interested in reading the book is that most of the stories are quite short, and because they were published for a then-contemporary audience, someone not familiar with local history or geography might sometimes get lost in the narrative. Also, "Alaska" started out as a sportsman's magazine, so a lot of the early stories are about hunting and trapping, which some people might not enjoy.

Those cautions aside, "The Last Frontier" is a decent read for those who likes outdoor adventure stories.

I bought this book for stories about fishing, hunting, trapping, wilderness travel and "white knuckle" adventure. What I found was a book that covered a wide variety of topics, all relevant to Alaska but in some cases a little "tame" or mundane for the typical adventure reader.

So, as is always the case, whether or not you'd like this book depends on your particular interests. I give it a high rating because it has something for everybody. In fact, the book contains almost 60 stories and if you find only 10 that you really enjoy the book is worth buying. I also rated it high because while every story is not a "gripping" adventure thriller, many of them are, and others are informative, entertaining or interesting in other ways.

Among the more "riveting" stories are two about men surrounded or pursued by wolves; one about researchers on a frozen lake during an earthquake; one about a fisherman caught under a capsized fishing boat and one about a daring float plane rescue of men stranded in a deep canyon river. There is the obligatory "avalanche" story and another about a raging walrus, and several "big fish" stories.

One or two stories deal with the psychological effects of prolonged isolated, wilderness living. Another, and one of my personal favorites, is a unique and revealing story about crime and punishment in the bush. It is entitled "Of Traps and Treasures--Klutuk."

Another story, "My Sunset Moose" deals with the realization that time changes everything, and that for better or worse, change must be accepted. Another, "A Trapper Leaves the Country" deals with the same subject, in the same somber way, but in a different context.

But my single favorite story is "A Few Mosquito Bites." I believe that any man or woman or any child old enough to understand simple language would enjoy this story about a man, his hybrid wolf-dogs and life in the wilderness. In fact, it would be worth buying this book just to get this story.

But please don't think that every story is about men going hunting or fishing, or getting killed or maimed in the woods! Many are written by women about the extraordinarily tough and determined women who were attracted to life in the the world's last great wilderness and last free country!

Lots of stories, lots of fun, easy reading. Recommended.

Description from the book back cover:

In this classic tale of the American West, rugged borderman Jonathan Zane opens his heart to love while he searches for a traitor who has been revealing settlement secrets to hostile Indians.

The Last Trail concludes the Ohio River Trilogy, set in the Fort Henry territory during the American Revolution. Betty Zane and her brother Colonel Ebenezer Zane are among the characters in The Last Trail. Older and wiser now, they share their wisdom and experience with a younger generation.

This classic western tail of men saving women, while being a great love story is also a wonderful adventure story. A classic cowboy\borderman fights indian to save the helpless beuty, but instead of man saving woman, it is reversed, when Helen saves Jonathan from his own unhappy life. I have loved this book since the first day my mother placed it in my hands to read, and although the original has a few lapses in storyline, they kill someone twice, the basic story structure is enjoyable. Having read this book close to a dozen times, I can recommend that every person who has never given westerns a try read this one.

Growing up in the fifties and sixties and watching every western broadcast one gets a stereotyped view of the men, women, and landscapes of the frontier western U.S. Were shootouts that common? Was the calvary always the rescuer? Were women rare, loose, and strong? Was the storekeep a coward? and so on...
This book reveals some hidden secrets, confirms some visions, and debunks some myths. But, surprisingly, the recollections highlighted in this slim volume do paint a not unfamiliar picture, one that continues to fascinate most of us.
Reading the words of someone who actually was there, and did that, makes for a fun read and one that enlightens while enriching some of the boomer generation's most cherished childhood memories.
We find out that Calamity Jane was probably less beautiful than any movie version but tough enough. We learn that the calvary served different purposes, not just to eliminate Indians. Indians, much as we always expected, were both assimilated and removed, proud and angry. Really bad guys were as plentiful as really smart and courageous men of purpose and morals. Those men of legend, it turns out, were compilations of the less colorful men who actually did build the west. Now we realize how interesting those men were. Something like confirming that Gabby was more factual than Roy but we still want Roy's life.
Since John Hunton lived into the 1920's, we also learn men survived to tell the tale of one of the most challenging times, environs, and events of our history. Their spirit is ingrained in out cultural DNA and it's nice to know that ordinary doesn't mean boring.
Add this book to your library of real history written by real people and secured for posterity by men with foresight and respect. Then, when watching TV Land, keep a sharp eye out for men in the background who actually built the towns without pity. They are the ones we should get to know and respect even if we can't buy their lunchboxes.

An update of his earlier _The International Man,_ this book is intended for Americans wishing to expatriate, work overseas, or invest overseas. It covers the main countries that an American could be interested in, with looks at some odd choices as well. Written from a libertarian perspective, it gives would-be expats a look at what awaits them in various countries---not a guide to restaurants, hotels and the sights, but what the climate is for investment, what tax laws are like, and so on.

It's an excellent book, but could stand updating.

This book lambastes the lapses of the 'Seventies with learning, logic & irony by an anthropologist with the soul of Hunter Thompson and the politics of Rush Limbaugh.

The Last of the Mohicans is full of adventure. It's about two daughters going to their dad's fort, but their guide is a traitor. Along the way, they meet some Indian friends. One is not an Indian but is a friend. When they get to their dad's fort, things just get worse. So if you like adventure, this is the book for you.

by Christian

THIS IS NOT A BAMBI ANIMAL STORY AND SHOULD ONLY BE READ BY PEOPLE WITH REALITY BASED VALUE SYSTEMS LEST THEY OR THEIR CHILDREN GET HUNGUP ON THE BRUTALITY OF THE COMANCHE'S "HARVEST" OF THEIR LAST BUFFALO.BUT...FOR THOSE OF US LIVING CLOSE TO THE EARTH THAT KNOW HOW PROTEIN GETS IN THOSE CELOPHANE WRAPPERS;THIS SHORT STORY SET ON THE HIGH PLAINS OF NORTH TEXAS BRINGS HOME THE HUMAN REALITY THAT --LOVING THE LAND--BRINGS PEOPLE ON ANY RACE TOGETHER NO MATTER WHAT THEIR INTERPERSONAL HISTORY.

For those with an interest in Tom Horn this is a must read. The writer had first person contact with many of those closest to the story of Horn. He fills in a lot of the gaps left by books on Horn that were written in later years. The reader is left with forming his own conclusion as to whether Horn was justly hanged for the crime of which he was charged. It was well worth reading and I would highly recommend it to all.