Montana Books

I bought this as a gift for a friend who dreams of moving to Montana. Since I purchased it well before Christmas, I took the time to go through it myself. It is such an impressive piece, I might move to Montana.

Great pointers on wonderful scenery and places to visit. Buy this book on Montana first if you are traveling there!

Because I'm the photographer!

The has recently won the prestigious SAPPI Gold Medal Award as Best Book in North America!

Hope you think so too!

Thanks

This is one of the finest photographic books ever irregardless of it being a state book. The compositions are fantastic and varied.

The book is destined to become a classic and Mr. Vasapolli a place amongst the finest photographers ever!

I love Montana and I own almost every book on Montana. This one in particular is destined to be a classic amongst photographic essays. The compositions are varied in itself and each a fantastic journey of Montana cities and wildernesses. Not a weak one in the whole lot- except the ugly bighorn sheep shedding it's winter coat- the sheep is ugly, but the surroundings are still beautiful.

It's a book bound for several editions and Mr. Vasapolli a place along side the photographic greats of all time.

Initially, I was drawn to this book when i was in Montana, because of the lovely full-color illustrations of Star Quilts, as well as the interesting writing on Plains Indian history and culture. While i am not a quilter, nor do i intend to become one, I enjoyed the book immensely. It quickly became, and has remained, my favorite coffee table selection: aesthetic and inspirational !

Book stores and libraries need to keep copies of this book in both the section for crafts and the cultures sections.

The variations possible with star quilts are endless. The many full-color illustrations in this book show a wide array of possibilities using varying colors and designs. Some are the product of Montana's skilled Native American quilters and many are by Linda Parker herself. Parker provides patterns for a number of designs, plus many tips and techniques that will be of value.

The star quilt plays a unique role in the Plains Indian cultures. Giving gifts is a traditional way of recognizing accomplishments, milestones, or friendship. The star quilt is a noteworthy gift. The gift-giver may have made the quilt or have bought it from a quilter. A master quilter may make her, occasionally but rarely his, living making quilts. Particular quilts such as one involved in a particular ceremony or passed down through a family will have special meaning. It may have spiritual significance. Linda Parker explains some of the roles that a quilt may play in an Indian culture.

Linda Parker has done what few others could: produced a book that is both technically adept and spiritually rewarding. The focus and breadth aren't at odds with themselves. She gives an exhaustive portrayal of delight. This is both a work book and something you sleep with (put it under your pillow) before you start dreaming of your next adventure.

For anyone with an interest in quilts this book is a must have! I have seen the author (Linda Parker) in action and it's amazing. She has created a book that is not only beautiful but also informative.

This book contains some quite lovely pictures of native american star quilts, along with text explaining their significance to the author and to the Indians who make them, and easy-to-understand instructions for making these beautiful quilts. The novice (such as me) will feel quite confident in his/her ability to complete a beautiful heirloom to cherish.

Any Gabriel Dupree mystery by Peter Bowen is a literary gem, and this novel is no exception. Aided by a wonderful cast of eccentric family and neighbors, Dupree again unravels a knot of murder, greed, and human folly. I particularly enjoyed the prominent role played by the loveably klutzy priest, Father Van Den Heuvel, in this book.

This is not the best of the Gabriel Du Pre Mysteries but is still a good read.

is one of my favorite characters. Peter Bowen really shows what the West was all about in writing these books. I grew up in Central and Southern Oregon which is still cow country with authentic cowboys who wear pistols and carry rifles in their rigs. Gabriel Dupree and his friends are a little overdrawn but not by much. The language, characterizations, plots, and landscape are all entwined to create a sense of place and time that is fast disappearing. The story "Nails" has to do with horse racing and the use of young teens as jockeys. There is also a sub plot having to do with white supremists and certain individuals who have too much money and not enough brains. This book fleshes out some of the characters that have been floating through the earlier stories, such as Gabriel's granddaughters and Booger Tom.

Peter Bowen alternates between serious detective fiction and a more lighthearted style the often makes gentle fun of life in upstate Montana. I like both, but lately Bowen has been more humor than mystery (consider Stewball, for instance). Nails is a return to the harder fiction style of Wolf, No Wolf and Notches and once again proves that Bowen is a writer to be reckoned with.

The subject is a touchy one. A group of Evangelical Christian has moved into the Toussaint area, and trouble starts happening. Graffiti starts appearing on the door of Father Van Den Heuvel's church. For those of us who have become fans of the clumsy priest who habitually shuts is head in the car door, Nails is a special treat. The good father gets a real part and some surprising facets of his character come out. But, as Van Den Heuvel himself points out, this is hardly the real problem.

A young girl calls 911 and begs for help, a body found, and gradually a series of strange events centers around the evangelicals and the local people who have welcomed them. Not just a spate of graffiti, pop-up sermons, and minor larceny - child abuse of the worst sort is feared, and Dupre is once again on the hunt - and complaining about the lack of help from Benetsee, the local shaman. Even without spiritual help, Dupre is inexorable. He smells evil and intends to root is out.

As I've already said, Bowen focuses on a sensitive issue, and he doesn't pull any punches. It is interesting that I read this book just as several stories about excessive discipline appeared in the news. Most of us don't realize that what we see - what actually gets report - is the very tip of the iceberg. Bowen takes the issue head on, mixing in enough local color to provide a stark contrast.

I'm not sure where Peter Bowen got the title for his latest Gabriel Du Pre mystery, but it might be from a poem by Dame Edith Sitwell:

"Still falls the Rain---
Dark as the world of man, black as our loss---
Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails
Upon the Cross."

Of course there are more nails now. More like 2006 in this grim Evangelical-bashing novel. Bowen doesn't go after all Christians: just the ones who accuse their own daughters of witchcraft and lock them in small rooms until they repent; and the ones who disrupt the teaching of science in schools with their rants on 'intelligent design'.

I'm surprised Pat Robertson hasn't issued a fatwa against the author of "Nails." Bowen tries to show sympathy for the down-trodden ranks of fundamentalists--the murder that is the grim centerpiece of this novel is committed almost by mistake. But maybe the author tries too hard, because the bad guys exude stupidity rather than pathos.

Aficionados of Peter Bowen's Gabriel Du Pre mysteries already know that life is grim in the Big Sky Country. It doesn't matter whether you're a ranch hand, a fiddler, a rich alcoholic, or just a science teacher who is struggling to educate her class using the standard textbooks.

The small town of Toussaint is slowly losing population--there's very little in town anymore except for a bar and a Catholic church--but an influx of fundamentalist Christians temporarily reverses the trend. Bowen's detective-hero, Gabriel Du Pre, a laconic fiddler who lets his music and his deeds speak for him, thinks the newcomers are up to no good. For one thing, their appearance coincides with the discovery of a young girl's body in a road-side ditch.

He and his long-time mistress, Madelaine, Metis descendants of the French Voyageurs and Plains Indians, also have to wrestle with a few family problems. Madelaine's son returns from the war in Iraq, minus a few body parts, with nothing to look forward to except the false solace of alcohol. Madelaine's brilliant granddaughter, Pallas is back from her posh Eastern school and trying to deal with her own demons.

"Nails" is the best of the Gabriel Du Pre mysteries to hit the shelves in quite awhile. It is grim, and I fervently hope that Bowen didn't take his story from a true-life incident, but some comic relief is provided by ancient cowhand, Booger Tom, his two mules, and the hopelessly klutzy, Father Van Den Heuvel, Toussaint's agnostic priest.

Just don't get Booger Tom started on the topic of the current Administration in Washington D.C.

This is quite a book. Admittedly, it has some problems but they are few and the quality of the book far surpasses any negatives. Addressing one of the problems up front; someone noticing the book in their favorite book store is apt to think of it as a novel. It is not. It is a family biography and a fine bit of history. A different title and dustcover would have helped avoid the problem. An exacerbating factor is that opening the book at random may bring one to something that sounds like a novel and the writing is good enough to be the envy of any good novelist.

The book arrangement is in six parts that resemble a series of separate books. Most parts would stand alone, certainly as well as do many related sequences of novels. A first impression was to question the arrangement, but after competing the book it seems that the general chronological organization was the correct choice. Variations in writing style and focus from part to part may well indicate that the parts were drafted separately over a span of years.

From a history standpoint, Part One provides a good description of the unique lifestyle around small communities in southeastern Montana in the first part of the twentieth century. This part also contains an amazing story that leaves a person wondering if indeed they did buy a novel. Part Two opens with as fine a short summary of Butte, Montana, as the reader will find anywhere. That is quite an achievement as the people and events of Butte were so complex and unique at that time as to have been a separate, diverse-culture country in a different era. Likewise, integrated into Part Three is the best short overview of World War I in Europe that this reader has ever seen. The other parts have similar qualities; Part Five contains another story nearly as remarkable as that of Part One. Throughout, the book is illustrated with photos that are interesting and useful contributions to the text.

This author is a skilled writer. The book cover says that she worked as an engineer. The book has the clarity of a good technical writer and is easy to read aloud. However, engineers who can write this well are few and far between. Just imagine an engineer or history professor writing; "...Denis built a simple, wooden coffin and laid both mother and babe in this their last earthly shelter. Now Denis faced the daunting task of raising his six children alone." This is in a chapter that had to resemble the Book of Genesis, but the writing keeps it from dragging. In another part she provides her image of her grandmother Aila; "...the Phoenix rising from the ashes. Indeed, out of this ash heap of scandal and debauchery emerged no mythical bird but a rose - an exquisite blossom, beautiful and delicate in appearance, yet hardy and resilient enough to withstand the bitter cold of sorrow and blistering heat of adversity." Wow!

At its heart, the book is a bibliography of Aila (born in 1901 and lived to age ninety-one), someone that the author greatly respected and nearly worships. It begins with Aila's ancestral family in Ireland and keeps track of those relations as they concern the people and events of the main theme.

The notes and bibliography at the back of the book are excellent. It is too bad that there isn't an index. In fact, careful readers would be wise to develop a timeline and family tree as they read, or perhaps during a second reading. There is some additional information on the author's website, including a travel guide to the physical locations of importance in the story. The amount of time, travel, and expense that went into the research and writing of this book was obviously great. It occupied the author for eight or nine years. It was obviously a labor of love and undoubtedly she feels repaid by a sense of fulfillment, satisfaction from the knowledge gained, and pleasure in the quality of this book. We the readers can be very glad that she brought it to the marketplace.

I became interested in this book because the author, Christy Leskovar, is a former student of my husband's. It is a wonderful book, not just a family history. It contained US and world history as a background for introducing the family members so rather than just being a "family tree", it was also a very well written history book. Christy's love and respect for her Grandmother was apparent through the book, but she wrote it in such a manner that it was interesting to an outsider. It is a very good read!!

Although this was an enjoyable read, as my title suggests there are some minor problems with this book. There are a few sections that seem to have been thrown in as an after thought with no proofing whatsoever. Also,I felt the story got lost in the details at times. Examples are the authors blow by blow account of her Grandfather's war experience and in the extensive genealogical background given on just about every person mentioned in the book. While I can understand her devotion to her Grandmother, she lacks an author's objectivity regarding her family, presenting them simplistically as either all evil or all good. That got old. Despite these noticeable flaws, it was still an interesting read, especially the story of her Great Grandparents shenanigans.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and only partly because I lived in Montana for many years and spent some time in Butte. For those who don't know, Butte was home to 'the richest hill on earth' a hundred years ago, sitting on top of the world's largest copper reserves. The town pulled in thousands of Irish, Polish, German, Chinese, English and more and became, in a sense, a smaller version of a typical eastern industrial city. Leskovar set out to write a family history and combines it with a great depiction of Butte and Montana from about 1900 to about 1950. Not all family histories would be interesting, but how many families can say that their great-grandmothers were jailed for murder, or tried to induce a daughter into prostitution, or had a grandfather who fought in some of the toughest battles of World War One and a grandmother who lived a life of purity and purpose though surrounded by weakness and debauchery?

The story skips from Leskovar's great-grandparents' early life as pioneer settlers near Forsyth, Montana to their move to Butte, and does a little preliminary work on family origins. The characters come to life as she tells her tale. She obviously spent many years researching background for this book. Equally obvious is her interest in her grandfather's WWI experiences, which appear to have taken on a life of their own in mid-book and which are almost a story unto themselves. Those who are not interested in WWI may find this section to drag a bit, but as a WWI and WWII enthusiast, I enjoyed the section greatly.

The book is also packed with excellent photos of Butte back in the day, as well as photos of the various characters which people the book. The obvious hero of the book is Leskovar's grandmother. Some of the characters don't do much with their lives, but she does from an early age. And there are plenty of dark characters, with the prime villainess being Leskovar's ammoral/immoral great-grandmother. Leskovar's grandfather, an Irish miner who quit one job after another while raising a large family, comes off as irresponsible and self-centered, but with a tender side as well.

This is a good book, of interest to anyone who enjoys western mining history, Montana history, or a well-turned family saga (that's true to boot). It may be of less interest to a general reader who does not have any of these interests.

Four and a half stars. Thank you, Ms. Leskovar, for an enjoyable and memorable trip back in time.

This book is fascinating. The plot is riveting, the research impeccable and the characters memorable. The narrative is clear and the descriptions are intricate. Whether detailing turn of the century immigration, the Great War or the settling of the American West the author uses the characters to guide the reader through some of America's most tumultuous times. This book is a must read for any student of history and anybody who appreciates a well crafted story.

This is, by far, the best book of children's poetry I've ever seen. I've owned my copy for over twenty years. I read almost every poem in the book to my children while they were growing up, and we memorized many of the poems. I used the book extensively in my classroom when I was an elementary teacher. Now, as a college professor, I read from the book often to inspire my student-teachers.

My mother gave me this book when I was about five or six, and I learned many of the poems by heart. I still have my (very battered) copy and intend to pass it on to my own son, in the hope that it will inspire in him the same love of poetry that it did in me. An excellent introduction to poetry for any child - I am thrilled to learn that this wonderful book is still in print!

This collection has been a favorite of mine since I was a child, and now that I am teaching I use it frequently for my 1st grade class. It is a good mix of poetry, classic, enchanting, silly, and sophisticated. Highly recommended.

We bought this in November for a precocious three-year-old friend of ours. She'll get it for Christmas... or a little after... if we can manage to let go of it by then. I've been reading it out loud to my husband while he's washing dishes. It's just the right mix of old favorites and things that are new to me -- and a remarkably low number of poems where you're left scratching your head and saying "Why'd they waste the ink on that one?"

The book itself is the cheapest of newsprint with a basic paperback binding. We may someday need to find a more beautiful copy, but in the meantime, "cheap" means that normal damage won't precipitate a crisis, and that's always an appropriate choice for a preschooler.


One last thought: If you're looking for a collection of poems for a family that strongly objects to Halloween or "magic," then you need to keep looking. While this book has many poems which refer to God and/or the Divine in one way or another (without being the least bit preachy), it also has a chapter of poems which talk about witches and goblins and other Halloween characters, as well as a few about fairies or other fanciful creatures. I found none of them offensive, and individual poems are easily skipped, but a few people on my gift list are particularly sensitive on this point, and it's well to know what you're getting into in advance.

This is a wonderful collection of poetry. Our children, ages 2 and 4, look forward to hearing selections from this book every night. It strikes a balance between poetry written for children and poetry written for adults without getting into anything too dark for young children. I highly recommend it.

Refuge is my all time favorite books from Lisa Tawn Bergren. I couldn't put it down. I've read this book too many times to count. If you love a good romantic story, then you'll love Refuge. I strongly suggest on buying it. You won't be disappointed.

Refuge is my all time favorite book from Lisa Tawn Bergren. I couldn't put it down. I've read this book too many times to count. If you love a good romantic story, then you'll love Refuge. I strongly suggest on buying it. You won't be disappointed.

I just finished reading The Bridge. I thoroughly enjoyed it! I was surprised to find myself liking the characters so much in such a short time. I especially loved how the author described Eden getting her visions and sculpting them. It really sparked the creative juices in me and made me wish I was an artist! It was more than just romance or entertainment for a few hours. I loved the message. I appreciate the author's gift to communicate to the heart on many levels. I learned this in her Northern Light Series also. They're all excellent.

Lisa's descriptions of Montana were awesome. I can certainly see why it holds such a dear place in her heart. I loved the fly fishing parts, especially teaching Nick. It endeared me to Eden even more and exposed her nurturing side. I could imagine Eden in her prayer spot or sitting on the dock with her feet in the water. It really made me want to spend my summers there!

I was also delighted to find Lisa's web site and get to know her better. Lisa is in my top 10 of about 30 favorite authors. I'm looking forward to reading her anointed and inspired writing for many years to come. I'm eager to read Christmas Every Morning.

J.K.Jones Oklahoma City, OK

I really enjoyed this book and very highly recomend it, I would
give it more stars if I could.

Comedy, Romance, Drama - Lisa writes so well - I felt like I was right alongside the characters living out the trials, hopes, dreams and fears right alongside them. The first book is about Rachel - a city girl visiting her Country friend Beth. She finds love in the sticks but it is interupted by a man who think Rachel is right for him and kidnaps her, can Dirk save her and keep her? You'll have to read it.... The second book is about Emily and the fears and tragedies of her past and how they make it so hard for her to love in the future. The book also includes Rachel and the characters from the first book.

Sketches From The Ranch: A Montana Memoir is an engaging compilation of the thoughtful writings of Dan Aadland. Sketches From The Ranch is about living on a western American ranch (which was founded in 1892), experiencing the turn of the seasons, rejoicing in the birth of colts and calves, embracing simple means of life even as Thoreau did at Walden. Superb black-and-white sketches by artist Nik Carpenter add a visual and emotional touch to this moving memoir.

Sketches From The Ranch: A Montana Memoir is an engaging compilation of the thoughtful writings of Dan Aadland. Sketches From The Ranch is about living on a western American ranch (which was founded in 1892), experiencing the turn of the seasons, rejoicing in the birth of colts and calves, embracing simple means of life even as Thoreau did at Walden. Superb black-and-white sketches by artist Nik Carpenter add a visual and emotional touch to this moving memoir.

Dan Aadland's memoir includes many wonderful stories of hard work accomplished in the beautiful ranchlands of Montana. I enjoyed learning about the true bravery required to bring a string of ponies hundreds of miles over wild terrain. The joys and sorrows of daily ranch life are artfully depicted, along with the history and culture of southern Montana. An excellent read.

I am an unlikely reader of a book about ranching, a city professional within minutes of the Mall of America. Yet, Dan Aadland brought me intimately into his world and not only let me taste the experience of ranching, but like all good writing, let me feast on life. The sensual quality of the author's writing moved me to respond with my senses. For example, I found that I most enjoyed reading the book on my deck overlooking the woods, feeling the breeze against my face. It was in this setting that I read about cattle buying. Here is a subject I definitely would not have pursued on my own. But Aadland brought the scenes and participants to life and had me so engaged, it was one of my favorite "sketches." I relished his description of the feast he prepared on his private moose hunt. As he wrote about storytelling over Yukon Jack and grapefruit juice, I was compelled to pour my personal version: Cuervo Gold on the rocks with lime juice. I sipped as he told his stories. Dan Aadland not only illuminated the world around him. He effectively brought me into his private world of thought and emotion. I felt right with him as I read his disclosure, "I wonder what I would be psychologically without this space around me, shudder, and force myself to think happier thoughts." I shuddered with him. His emotional honesty was particularly striking as he describes an emotional catharsis toward the end of the book. Aadland's ability to expose the most private--and enlivening--aspects of human experience helped me to identify with him and feel less alone. This was particularly poignant when I recently experienced an emotional reaction similar to the author's. I called up the experience of the author and felt soothed. The isolation-breaking quality of Aadland's writing is a real gift to his readers. I came away from Sketches with a deep respect for ranching, and for a life well lived.

Montana has produced so many fine writers. Here's another one. Aadland is the son of a Lutheran minister, growing up in south central Montana between the Beartooth Mountains and the Crow Reservation. His "memoir" is mostly about the present, with flashbacks to the past, which include stories of his wife's forebears, who emigrated from Norway in the late 19th century to set themselves up as ranchers. And there are memories of his boyhood, working as a hired hand, a tour of duty in Vietnam as a marine, and raising a family.

The particular achievement of the book is its description of daily life on a modern-day ranch. Of the many books on ranching, this one conveys better than most the seasonal routines of labor from spring calving and breeding to fall roundup, sale barns, and feeding during the months of snow. There are descriptions of haying, fieldwork, irrigation, keeping machinery running, and visits from the vet. The book also describes well the evolution of ranchwork from when ranchers used horses and hired men to get the work done, and neighbors pitched in to help each other with harvesting. Today, much of the work is mechanized, ranchers work alone, and the undependable seasons, slow markets, and razor-thin profit margins require second incomes for both rancher and spouse. Besides raising cattle, Aadland and his wife are school teachers. He travels 60 miles each way to the high school in Bridger (pop. 724), and in winter months sees the ranch in sunlight only on weekends.

He's also a horseman, raising and training walking horses, and much of the book is devoted to this subject. There are descriptions of patiently working his horses, including a team he uses to harrow a field for no other reason than to experience the pleasure of this old-fashioned method of farming -- no deafening engine to block out the sounds of the natural environment, or to damage hearing. He's a literate rancher, quoting Robert Frost and Thoreau, and both thoughtful and articulate. He's also informative. You learn about practices of breeding horses and cows and how a vet tests for pregnancy. You learn the tentative relationship between weather forecasts and the timing of cutting and baling hay. He has a steady eye and a sense of pacing that makes his book a graceful and unhurried cycle through the seasons. You become so intimately involved in Aadland's life that the sudden tragedy that occurs in the final chapters is both a jolting surprise and thoroughly heart-breaking

It should also be mentioned that this is a handsomely designed book, illustrated with many fine drawings of ranch life by artist Nik Carpenter. I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in working ranches, the Big Sky country, horses, and the making of not just a living but a life. As a companion volume, I suggest "Some Horses" by Thomas McGuane, another Montana writer, as well as Linda Hasselstrom's "Windbreak," which recounts a year on a cattle ranch in South Dakota.

This is a wonderfully written guide book! The descriptions are clear and informative. Great tips for families! Can't wait to use it again next season! I hope this author continues to write more!

This book is a must for people who like to explore the xc trails around Bozeman and Livingston. I've found many new fun trails to check out thanks to this guide and it's descriptions. Thanks for providing us with this much needed resource.

Great Trails with Excellent maps that gets you out skiing in some incredible places. Thanks for this great resource guide.

An easy to use trail guide to cross country skiing and snowshoeing near Big Sky, Bozeman and Paradise Valley. Good maps, accurate details, nice size.

I LOVE this book! Thanks for filling a void that wintertime backcountry enthusiasts have had when trying to explore new regions of Southwest Montana. Everyone deserves to get out and play on skis - and this book is the perfect resource to throw in your pack with your water bottle and lunch to get ready for an adventure on a new trail. Thanks for providing such a user-friendly resource for all of us snow-lovers! I love the maps, too.

I found this book to be simply and utterly fantastic! The photography is absolutely magnificent, and the recipes contained are authenticly Columbian. The layout of this book is a work of art, and it makes you incredibly hungry just to fan through the pages. A comprehensive and broad presentation of Columbian cuisine is presented here in a collage of photography that will marvel your eyes. The historical material was very well presented and the book itself very well researched. If anyone is wishing to explore the depths of Columbian cooking, this book will take you there. If you merely want to explore a colorful and culinary tour of Columbia and its riches in all that is tasty, then this book would be a great place to start.

Annyone interested in Colombian cooking should pick this book up - the recipies are representative of a Colombian meal and the photos are outstanding.

I got this book in Bogota and I really love it. The pictures are absolutly great. I do not get most of the ingredients here in Japan but I love to see the pictures and to remember the good and friedly meals I shared in Colombia. I think it is also a great present.

This is exactly the kind of book i was looking for. Something that would give me examples of regional Colombian cooking, along with info and great photography of the people and country side. So far, i've only tried a few recipes, but I know that my guests are eager for more spanish cooking soon! It's a beautiful book, that I hope will be passed down to my children and their children one day.

The book has the famous Colombian recipes with great pictures and it makes a review of all different regions.

After gold was discovered in the Bitter Root Mountains of present-day Montana in 1860, lawlessness followed the rush of miners into the region. Bannock and Virginia City became important centers within the mining districts, and by 1862 were typical western "shoot-em-up" towns teaming with unsavory characters, racked by violence, and basically "removed from the restraints of civilized society" and its laws. It's in that context that the Montana Vigilantes were created, a group that, according to the author, brought order out of chaos by offering "a shield of protection" to the citizens while wielding "a sword of retribution" against lawless marauders. An interesting development occurred in Bannock, however, in that the elected sheriff (Henry Plummer) apparently at the same time was the leader of the most notorious road gang (thieves and murderers) in the territory. Thomas Dimsdale, an Englishman who had gone to Viginia City in 1863 for his health and who shortly after operated the first newspaper published in Montana, wrote a series of articles for his paper about Plummer, his operations and agents, and the work of the vigilantes to bring to justice (often by hanging) these criminals, and these articles were later collected to make this book.

In 1987, a new biography of Plummer by R.E. Mather and F.E. Boswell threw Dimsdale's book into the realm of controversy by declaring a belief that Plummer was innocent of the crimes Dimsdale accused him of and that Dimsdale praised the work of the vigilantes too highly and uncritically. There is no doubt that Plummer had a criminal past before coming to Bannock (he was hanged there by the vigilantes in 1864), having served time in San Quentin for murder. Who is closer to presenting the truer picture is hard to say, but Dimsdale's work is a thrilling and dramatic account, a fascinating narrative that is as lively as a Max Brand western story.

The writing style / language is like that spoken in the HBO series Deadwood. A bit hard to get used to but then an interesting read and a very clear glimpse of what it was like in Montana during the 1800's.

This fascinating document is an account of the notorious "road agents" operating in Montana in the early 1860s during and after the Alder Gulch gold strike. These men took over the towns of Alder Creek, Virginia City and Bannock and ran them as criminal enterprises. Eventually groups of ordinary citizens formed secret vigilante organizations to combat the road agents. Taking the law into their own hands they pursued, shot or hanged as many of the road agents as possible. On Virginia City's Boot Hill there are presently gravemarkers with the names of a number of the men mentioned in the book who were captured and hanged by the vigilantes. Dimsdale, the author, was born in England and took over editorship of the Virginia City paper. Some of the events he witnessed, but more he relates from the testimony of those who participated in them. The accounts are a bit confusing -- they read as newspaper reports and lack a historian's distance and clarity. But they make up for all faults in the immediacy of their telling. This is a very valuable document of life in the old west, and gives an extraordinary sense of what life was like in a raw mining town, too new to have any legitimate law enforcement. Mark Twain cites Dimsdale and quotes him copiously in "Roughing It," his account of his adventures in Carson City, Nevada, and other places in the West.

Dimsdale writes of Montana history in a clarity not often appreciated by some history authors. "The Vigilantes of Montana" brings, page after page, the gold-rush era of Montana Territory to the memory and eyes of the reader. This fascinating text tells the story as my ancestors told of living in Montana during this period. It is an excellent choice for any reader interested in a true account of the romantic and hostile West.

This was first given to me 1976. What I would do with this one, I don't care about vigilantes, I have no interest in Montana, and time is too precious to take it away from the 19th century, my favorite. It suddenly dawned upon me, this is the 19th century, and if someone is going to understand the mindset of the century, you will have to examine the mindset of the whole population. Reluctantly I picked the book up and began reading. Some hours later I set the book down sorry that the author had run out of words.

Thomas J. Dimsdale was an Englishman who settled in 1863 and Virginia City, Montana and in 1864 took over as editor of the Montana Post. The newspapers served as the first publisher in serial all of The Vigilantes of Montana and perhaps some of the writing in this book, some of the romantic element, some of the color of the book is explainable artifact it was first written for the newspaper. In this century that has arisen some question about the true facts surrounding the "villain" of the story. Henry Plummer arrived in the gold camp in Nevada City in 1852 and very soon participated in the wholesome disreputable houses when he saw fit to murder two men. By 1862 former was notorious as a boss of the gang of criminals. In 1863 moved to Montana and news was elected sheriff. This is the story of the vigilantes who tracked down, tried, and executed plumber and his gang of desperados. Some modern researchers who tried to prove Plummer innocent of the crimes for which he was executed.

The author describes this event in colorful detail and very readable narrative as you see in this excerpt:
"seeing that the circumstances were such as embedded of neither vacillation nor delay, the citizenry here, summoning his friends, when up to the party and gave the military command, "company! Forward march!" This was at once obeyed a rope taken from a noted functionary's bed and had been mislaid [more was immediately sent for and soon they were hundreds of feet of good hemp] ....
"The order to `Bring up Plummer' was then passed and repeated; but no one stirred. The leader went over to this `perfect gentleman', as his friends called him, and was met by a request to `Give a man time to pray.' Well knowing that Plummer relied on a rescue on other than Divine aid, he said briefly and decidedly, ' Certainly, but let him say his prayers up here.'"

And, "Soon after, the party formed and returned to the town leaving the corpses stiffening in the icy blast. The bodies were eventually cut down by the friends of the road agents and varied. The `Reign of Terror' in Bismarck was over." The book continues for another hundred and eighteen pages of the same where only the names and places are changed to condemn to posterity the guilty. At the end, the author provides a section of short biographies of the leading players.

This is an easy reading book, well worth what you might pay for it, and whether all of the factual information is an is factual is somewhat immaterial here because it does give a picture of these decades in the West India and Hollywood would be afraid to imagine.