Montana Books

Mark H. Brown and W. R. Felton wrote two well-researched accounts of the photographs of Laton Alton Huffman (1854-1931): "The Frontier Years" in 1955 and "Before Barbed Wire" in 1956. Both books are delightful reading, providing rare insights into the stories behind Huffman's superb photos and the daily life of old west pioneers before the arrival of railroads and wire fences.

The books contain rare and fascinating visual documentation of the American west. The earlier book, "The Frontier Years," focuses on the soldiers, Indians, buffalo hunters and early inhabitants of eastern Montana. The second book, "Before Barbed Wire," is probably the single best collection of photos capturing life of life of early ranchers on the open range. With the "eye of an artist and the perspective of a historian," Huffman accurately preserved the American west of an earlier time.

Huffman came to Montana Territory in December, 1878, as post-photographer at Fort Keogh, near the current Miles City. This military fort was established two years earlier in 1876, after the stunning Indian annihilation of all of Custer's troops at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. From this primitive headquarters, General Nelson Miles lead the final campaigns against the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne Indians.

Huffman started photographing the soldiers, the buffalo hunters, and soon the gamblers, the drinkers, the bounty hunters and others in and near Milestown. Huffman became friends with area Indians, and his clear and well composed Indian portraits rank among the very best in American history. Huffman's interest expanded to include area ranchers and their homes and environment.

His early photographs were taken with a bulky, home-built camera that used fragile glass plate negatives. Huffman's preservation of the early years of frontier life reflected his love for the rugged inhabitants and their land.

Authors Felton and Brown visited Miles City, Montana, in the winter of 1950-51 and had photographer Jack Coffrin print pictures from Huffman's negatives. These photographs later became the illustrations for "The Frontier Years" and "Before Barbed Wire." Each book contains stories of a bygone era documented by 125 superb photographs. Note: The quality of the photographs is a wee bit sharper in the original volumes published by Henry Holt than in the reprint editions from Bramhall House.

I used this book when my friends and I hiked in the Grand Teton National Park. It was such a good guide to let us know where to find the trailheads and what to expect on the hikes. We all had a good time!

The entire series of Falcon Guides: THE BEST EASY DAY HIKES xxxxx are a delight to read and then follow. For those with a minimal amount of time to see vistas, canyons, and other scenery in parks and other areas of the country you can really experience a good variety of the locale by taking any of the hikes in these books.

I have about a dozen of these books, mostly of the western US and have referenced all of them in my hiking plannings. They are pocket size which makes them easy to carry with you and easy to read an understand.

I've loved Jenny Moon since the first "Montana Malones" book, but she really came to life in this one. I loved the touching moment in the book when she no longer hated her heritage. I don't want to give the story away. I had tears of joy for the Magic Moon, and I cheered her on. Anne Eames brings her characters to life like no one else. I am waiting on more books from this author.

Of all the Western states, Montana surely has had more than its share of good writers. Here are short stories by 21 of them, each a well crafted and telling glimpse into the lives of modern day people living under that timeless Big Sky. Many of my favorites are here, especially Ralph Beer and Kim Zupan, neither of whom have written and published nearly enough fiction or nonfiction for my money. And there are many more: Jon Billman, Richard Ford, David Long, and the wonderful Maile Meloy whose poignantly conceived characters can break your heart. Tom McGuane is also here, with his bushwhacked perspective on just about everything.

Editors Kittredge and Jones happily include stories of their own. In both, as in several others, the melancholy shadow of Raymond Carver lurks in portrayals of lives lived on the ragged edge of lost hopes. But balanced against this is a redeeming (if sometimes misdirected) toughness that preserves a kind of integrity in the face of adversity. A gentle older man with a leg brace picks up a woman at a topless bar when his alcoholic girlfriend leaves him for a man from her past in Beer's "Big Spenders." An obsessive trout fisherman and aspiring participant in Little Bighorn reenactments takes a school teacher friend on a hilarious trip to Deadwood, South Dakota in Billman's "Custer on Mondays." The hapless narrator of John Canty's "Junk" gets a visit from his hard-as-nails ex-wife, and as an old Thunderbird figures into the story, the rest is literally a matter of waiting for an accident to happen.

A young rancher, living alone, becomes obsessed with a Hutterite girl he's never spoken to in Pete Fromm's "Hoot." In Jones' darkly angry "Jacob Dies," a down-on-his-luck cowboy goes on a desperate search for a runaway wife and buys a ranch of another kind. Relationships in most of the stories are tenuous and failing, though in Kittredge's "Do You Hear Your Mother Talking?" something hopeful materializes as a troubled man and a woman confront his failed nerve over a suitcase he is packing. Something similar happens for a middle-aged widow in Annick Smith's lovely autobiographical "It's Come to This."

There are two boxing stories, Neil McMahon's tender "Heart," about a boxer in bouts with two prison inmates, and Chris Offut's "Tough People," in which a gambler with designs on a young woman coaches her in a match with a much tougher woman. In Malanie Rae Thon's sorrowful "Father, Lover, Deadman, Dreamer," a father and wayward daughter live a lifetime of grief after a hit-and-run accident. Finally, there are "brokeback" undercurrents in Kim Zupan's "The Mourning of Ignacio Rosa," as a sheriff investigates the death of a gay ranch hand.

Not *all* of Montana's best by far, but a terrific sampling. For an introduction to many more writers from the American West, see Kittredge's anthology, "The Portable Western Reader."

The Big Game Hunter's Guide to Montana, in my opinion, is an absolute necessity for any hunting trip to Montana. It contains a great deal of information on each type of game animal in Montana. It also gives regional game population and harvest information. There are several cities listed with everything from hotels to meat processors addresses and phone numbers. In short, everything one would need to know before planning a hunting trip to Montana.

This Book is great, a fun read, if you want to know about life in Montana read it!It has hardships but wrote in a funny way, to keep you smiling. makes you appreciate what you have. Loved it.......

well done book on birds of Montana. When we move we will know what we are seeing.....tells you when and where the birds are, migration paths etc.

The book ordered was sent with attention to protection and received in under a week. Although the book was rated as 'used', it appeared to be a new copy!

I'm usually not so fond of "Indian myths" and similar collections, as they are often written in a stilted language or are poorly translated. This book is a wonderful exception. Schultz writes it as a series of diary entries as his Blackfoot friends tell stories in the lodge or around the fire at the end of the day. He has managed to keep the compelling style of his original material, told by talented story tellers.

Schultz was born to a wealthy family in upstate New York in 1859, but his wanderlust took him west. He married a Blackfoot woman and stayed with the tribe for several decades until fleeing to California after a legal run-in with Montana game wardens. From the evidence in this book, he was accepted as a tribal member, and he always refers to the Blackfoot as "his people," while whites were not.

The stories run the gamut from tribal history to legend and myth. Most sound as if they are embellished stories of real events. Collectively they convey something of Blackfoot culture, daily life, and beliefs.

Underneath the stories lies a deep sadness. The Blackfoot tribe has lost two-thirds to three-fourths of its members. Though the tribe still hunts there surreptitiously, Glacier National Park has become a tourist destination instead of tribal hunting grounds. The old ways are dying with the storytellers.