Oregon Books

I use this book in teaching a college introductory science class. It is clearly written and presents earthquakes from the unique perspective of the Pacific Northwest. There is an alternative introductory book by Bruce Bolt on earthquakes in general, and another with emphasis on California by Sue Hough. Each has its strengths - the Hough book is particularly well-written, the Bolt book has good pictures and illustrations and a dry wit, and this one builds upon the findings of the leading scholars of the Oregon-Washington region to show the big picture of science and government's role in hazard management.

With a good index, list of regional earthquakes, and glossary, an attentive reader will gain an in-depth knowledge of some geophysics and its serious hazards for Cascadia.

The book is great for getting people aware that the PNW also has a fault line. And Mt. Rainier is more than a mountain. But he says it not to scare you. It educates you in a relaxing manner. This should be mandatory reading for grades 9-12. Highly recommend it!!!

The book is great for getting people aware that the PNW also has a fault line. And Mt. Rainier is more than a mountain. But he says it not to scare you. It educates you in a relaxing manner. This should be mandatory reading for grades 9-12. Highly recommend it!!!

A book that will hopefully wake people up who live here in the NW and make them realize that we are at just as much risk for earthquakes as california. I was a 1 year old and my parents recall their terror of ensuring my safety as well as their own during the 1965 quake that hit Wa state measuring over a 7. We should all take heed to the words written and secure ourselves by having a 3 day supply of food and water, knowing what the energency response of our childrens's schools are. Because the quake that hit this summer is just a prelude to the massive one that will hit.

Wonderful job of compiling information for this piece of historical fiction! Having heard so much about the Alaskan gold rush and Klondike Kate, I was most interested in reading this version. It made for great reading; especially with the author's slant of Kate reflecting back years later. It truly made it hard to determine fact from fiction. A time stopper in literature! This book was also reviewed by the Tacoma Koffee Singles.

It's about time someone wrote a story for us older folks. I immediately identified with Kate - aches and pains and worries and all! How I'd love to talk to my 20-year-old self. If only I could find her! Maybe I should try the desert, as Kate did. I love this book.

A dear friend of mine once said, "A woman who tells you her age will tell you anything!" The reader of "Mush on and Smile," is given a unique opportunity to relish the thoughts of a reflective 70-year-young celebrity -- a former showgirl in the wilderness of the Alaskan Yukon -- who probably has never told her real age to anyone. Kate Rockwell's prospective marriage causes her to review her life, her performing career, and her enduring, unrequitted love and ask, "Who am I, really, after all?" She can hardly reveal the answer to herself, let alone to her friends and fans who know her only as Klondike Kate: Queen of the Yukon. Her soulful efforts to discover the real Kate Rockwell provide an intriguing, tender page-turner for the reader of this delightful book. You will find that you do not want to put this book down. Fortunately, it's a quick read -- perfect for a weekend vacation or cross-country flight.

I bought this book for a vacation read. I finished it in two days. The mixture of historical fact and fiction are woven to produce a multi-layered plot and a bit of a twist at the end. The romantic element is written in a way that every woman of every age will enjoy. I was reminded of Jan Karon's Mitford series, well written, characters that you feel like you really get to know and can't wait to read the next page. I bought 2 more for gifts for friends. ENJOY!

Wow! This game is really fun! its addicting! I wouldn't recomend it for kids under 5, and kids under 7 might have to mute it, cause i remember the music and the sound effects when someone died or something kinda scared me. Okay, i mean really scared me. But it doesn't now. Want some tips?
1. Never never EVER use a connestoga wagon. Buy a farm wagon. it tips over way less.
2. Always bring camphor. You never know when a person will get a concussion
3. If you're going to oregon, don't take the toll road. it takes way longer than the columbia route and theres a really hard hill you're going down. 23 of my people have died on that road. oh, and pay someone to raft you down the columbia. If you can't afford this, then cross your fingers and hope for the best
4. If you're going to california, don't take hastings cutoff. how'd u like a million mile cross in a desert or tundra?
5. Start in April or May. I made the mistake of going in June and i got to nevada when the winter snows hit and my party was stuck in the sierra nevadas just like the donners (we didn't eat eachother, though)
6. While hunting, don't shoot at bears. if you miss, the bear could and will bite you
7. During a buffalo stampede, go hunting baby. Allelujah!
8. My recommended occupation is pharmacist. You have enough money, have medical AND botany skills, and that leaves enough room for other skills
i hope you can use these 2 your advantage <3

I love the Oregon Trail II game and this book provided tons of useful information in helping understand what the pioneers faced on their journey west. It helped me achieve a really high score too (34,085)!! It is packed with information on which trail to take, how to load your wagon, which wagon to choose, which draft animals are best, how to care for your people, and so much more. I'm hooked on the game and the Strategy Guide helped me appreciate this bygone era for all it was worth. I think it is a great compliment to owning the game!

The Official Strategy Guide is a wonderful guide. It not only helps you through your journey, but it is very informative. I would find myself sitting down to read the guide more than using it while I was playing the game. It has a lot of historical facts about the trail, the people, towns, and diseases. I would recommend buying it, because it is two-fold, informational for the game and for yourself!

If you are playing the 2 version of the game this book is the best. I hope to see one for the newest game version. It is still helpful in your travels. Give it a try.

A book of hard-won hope for everyone who loves the
natural world. Reminds us how deeply wild we all
are...Oates takes us on thought experiments, climbing
trips to high mountains, salmon-finding journeys up
the mighty Columbia--all in bright, crisp, personal
writing. A pleasure on every page!

In Paradise Wild, David Oates explores the confusion between wilderness and wildness that often gets in the way of rational ecological thought. What we consider "wilderness" is often the cultural myths of lost Eden shrouding our view of the present reality. We tend to expend all of our energy extolling our grief while never really confronting the path that brought us here. Engaging the "wildness" that exists in everything, including humans, is a significant step on the road to ecological health.

Slipping between autobiographical narrative, academic research and philosophical contemplation, Oates tackles a difficult subject in a personable and readable fashion. He understands that in order to make real progress in our relations with the natural world, we will have to transform our perceptions of it, and is brave enough to challenge conventional wisdom on environmentalism. His writing is infused throughout with an arresting sense of place that is likely to kindle one's own Muir visions. Fortunately, after reading this, you'll be able to have them as easily in the backyard as atop a Sierra Nevada peak. A great book both for those already versed in their Wendell Berry and those wanting to explore the next wave of ecology.

David Oates is a skilled, compelling guide through the ecological, political, literary, ethical, and spiritual challenges of our troubled times. There is hardly anywhere he doesn't take his readers for at least a moment, and, like Garrison Keelor, he addresses "life's persistent questions," with irony, humor and knife sharp intellegence. This is a book to read through once, as I did, with minimum interruptions, then to be savored a piece at a time. As he explores intellectually and metaphorically the connections between the human and the non-human worlds, he draws readers beyond despair into hope grounded in what is. And, by the way, Oates' writing is clean, accessible, and powerful. I first read Paradise Wild sitting in my garden; the next time I lift a pack and head into the wilderness, I plan to take it along.

Enviromentalists and wilderness lovers who have been sinking deeper into the morass of despair over our seeming headlong rush into self-destruct would be well-advised to check out David Oates paradgm-shaking and highly readable volume. Oates follows the cultural myth of paradise lost through its many historical manifestations and then proposes a brand-new myth behind which suddenly surges a deep new sense of hope. If you catch what he's saying here you will find yourself walking through the wildness of the wilderness into the wildness of the suburbs and the malls until you arrive at an unexpected wildness in your own soul. This one really shook my world. Try it!

Funny, absurd, and heartbreaking moments abound in this memoir, which offers an incredibly dispassionate account of being raised, on the brink of poverty, by a freeloading father and codependent mother. In a surprising and original way, the extreme differences between his parents seem to operate like yin and yang forces that converge into the strangely sane wholeness of Dirk's own mindful and even compassionate perspective on his parents and his past.

Once you open this book, you won't be able to put it down until it's finished. There's never a dull moment. The story is heartbreaking and pretty funny at times & the author's writing style is sharp and smart.

Perishable has a lot in common with The Glass Castle, which is one of my favorite memoirs. Both stories make you wonder what in the hell the parents are thinking.

I'm very curious about what happens to the family after the book ends. I can't wait to read the author's next book.

The title of Dirk Jamison's slender memoir Perishable is a reference to the most striking oddity of the author's childhood, that his father--a man for whom the notion of responsibility was anathema--undertook to feed his family of five for a number of years by "trashing," taking recently discarded food prised from dumpsters home to the family dinner table. This was a lifestyle choice rather than necessity. Able-bodied but unwilling to waste his time on a paying job, the author's father saw eating trash as a means of gaining free time: "More trash means less work. Less work means more time." But his enthusiasm for jars of expired pickled eggs and the like was not shared by the rest of the family. The elder Jamison's bizarre take on life was coupled with a selfish abdication of parental responsibility. But his father's instability, if perhaps the worst of what the author endured growing up, was not the whole of it. Jamison's mother was the better parent of the two, but she brought her own problems to the familial mix. Now "slinking off to cry with slabs of chocolate," now refusing a knee operation because she was sure it implied temporary amputation of the affected limb, Jamison's mother, the author explains, was not so much crazy as stupid: "'Ma'am, are you insane?' is the question that nobody ever asks. But I can see that question in their eyes, and it's a misdiagnosis I'm always grateful for. Much preferable to the actual problem, which appears to be staggering stupidity." There were also the regular abuses of Jamison's Mengele-esque older sister and, in the author's adolescence, the in-retrospect-inappropriate attention of "Scoutmaster Gary," the Mormon overseer of a series of Church-sponsored activities in which Jamison took part. In short, the author's home life was unstable, and his father's mode of parenting arguably a form of abuse. Jamison and his siblings lacked dependable adult figures who were capable of making rational decisions on behalf of the family.

Jamison tells the story of his unusual childhood in spare, unflinching prose. Neither sentimental nor self-pitying, the author approaches his subject with something like journalistic dispassion. He is startlingly frank. This is most admirable not when he is detailing his family's failures but rather when he confesses to poor behavior of his own during the period. In the end Jamison's remarkable account of his peculiar upbringing is probably more universal in its scope than he intended. My guess is that a lot of readers will find much that's familiar in the book, their own imperfect familial relationships here writ more extreme. Thus Perishable isn't merely a good read. It may help you laugh at your own crazy relatives.

Debra Hamel -- author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in ancient Greece (Yale University Press, 2003)

All of us grew up in families that were more or less dysfunctional. But this one takes the cake. Well, it wasn't as bad as those families you see on the TV news where a child is actually killed, but boy was it bizarre. In fact it seems remarkable that Mr. Jamison grew up at all, let alone sane enough to put enough sentences together to write a book like this. Then when you find the humor and understanding that he brings to the book and you have to realize that almost regardless of what you do to them kids seem to shake it off and grow up.

The story is delightful (so long as you didn't have to live it). This is what happened to the true hippies who never became part of society. Or as viewed from the standpoint of the author realizing that everyone in your family is a lunatic. To summarize: Dad's dropped out, working sucks and he isn't going to do it any more; Mom is a Mormon whose main goal is to get her children into heaven; sis is trying to kill him. They are all nuts, but as it is described, they're nuts in a delightful way.

Highly amusing read.

Nicholas Rudall's Euripides' The Trojan Women: Plays For Performance provides a new translation of a literary classic of pathos and war, capturing the classical drama in a new form designed as a play for performing to modern audiences. An outstanding literary work Euripides' The Trojan Women is highly recommended for any studying Euripides.

Diane C. Donovan Reviewer

Edith Hamilton, in The Greek Way, says that "Euripides is the saddest of the poets" and that "no poet's ear has ever been so sensitively attuned as his to the still, sad music of humanity." The Trojan Women, a heart-rending read, certainly supports these opinions.

Written in Athens in 415 B.C. in the throes of the ruinous Peloponnesian War, the play was a condemnatory response to the recent Athenian atrocities against the neutral Greek island of Melos. After taking the island, the Athenians executed all the men and enslaved the women and children. It was an end of innocence of sorts for the city that had long considered itself the world's citadel of what we now call civilization and culture. In criticizing it, Euripides reached back to the central event of the Greek epic heritage, the legendary victory over Troy, for his setting and characters.

The resulting tragedy opens in the aftermath of the slaughter of the Trojan men, with Troy in flames and the women being divvied up as slaves to the conquering Greeks. Euripides is unflinching in his depiction of the inhumanities visited upon the vanquished. King Priam's daughter, Cassandra, is raped by Agamemnon, king of the Greeks. His other daughter Polyxena is cruelly murdered. In one of the most moving scenes in all of literature, his grandson Astyanax, a young child and the only surviving heir to the Trojan throne, is taken from his mother Andromache's grieving embrace and thrown to his death from the highest wall of the city. In fact, the only pity and decency presented among the Greeks is found in the Greek messenger Talthybius, who cleans the body of Astyanax and brings it to his grandmother Hecuba after Andromache's pleading to bury him is denied as she is taken away to her fate as a Greek slave.

Many have read this work as a blanket indictment of war. I read it as a misanthropic perspective on human nature, with its glimmers of what we call humanity intersticed between the harsh reality of our cruelty, hatred and violence, a reality set free within the lawless terrain of war. Those with a rosy view of our genetic inheritance should generally be given fair warning before engaging the works of Euripides, and The Trojan Women is no different. That said, whatever one's views of our species, this is one of its finer artifacts and it deserves a wide reading despite the passage of over 2,400 years.

Having seen a staged production of this text at the Shakespeare Theater in Washington, DC, I am looking forward to reading the text in detail. In the theater, this was a powerful, painful confrontation of the effects of war on the victims -- the women and children. No heroes, no vainglorious praise of war. Just the horrors of surviving and loss. Troy becomes every war-devastated landscape. The parallels to Bosnia, Kosovo, Rwanda, etc., etc. were not to be denied.

Rudell is able to bridge the centuries and make Troy contemporary. The language is both elevated (in the style of classic tragedy) and immediate in its emotional impact.

About 416 B.C. the island of Melos refused to aid Athens in the war against Sparta. The Athenians then slaughtered the men and enslaved the women and children, an atrocity never before inflicted on one Greek city-state by another. As preparations were made for the ruinous expedition against Syracuse, Euripides wrote "The Trojan Women," as a plea for peace. Consequently there is a strong rhetorical dimension to the play, which prophesies that a Greek force would sail across the sea after violating victims and meet with disaster. However, there the play also has a strong literary consideration in that the four Trojan Women--Hecuba, Queen of Troy; Cassandra, daughter of Hecuba and Priestess of Apollo; Andromache, widow of Hector; and Helen--all appear in the final chapter of Homer's epic poem the "Iliad," mourning over the corpse of Hector, retrieved by his father Priam from the camp of the Acheans. Whenever I have use "The Trojan Women" in class I have always used at least that last chapter of Homer to set up the play.

As with his last play "Iphigenia at Aulis," which tells of the events right before the Achean army left for Troy, "The Trojan Women" reflects the cynicism of Euripides. Of all the Achean leaders we hear about in Homer, only Menelaus, husband of Helen, appears. He appears, ready to slay Helen for having abandoned him to run off to Troy with Paris, but we see his anger melt before her beauty and soothing tones. In this play the Greeks do more than enslave women: they have already slain a young girl as a sacrifice to the ghost of Achilles and they take Astyanax, the son of Hector, out of the arms of his mother so that he can be thrown from the walls of Troy. Even the herald of the Greeks, Talthybius, cannot stomach the policies of his people. The play also reminds us that Helen was a most unpopular figure amongst the ancient Greeks, and there is no satisfaction in her saving her life (Note: you might want to check out Isocrates's "Encomium on Helen," an exhibition speech in which he shows off his talent by defending the hated woman). The idea that all of these men died just so that she could be returned to the side of her husband is an utter mockery of the dead. This translation by Nicholas Rudall focuses on the performance of "The Trojan Women," but it is certainly useful for those interested in the historical or literary aspects of the play as well. Another interesting analogy is to use this play in conjunction with "Lysistrata" by Aristophanes, so that students can compare and contrast an anti-war comedy and drama.

By Lisa Marineau, staff writer for the Redmond Spokesman Newspaper. Most avid campers have a favorite recipe reserved for preparation in the great outdoors. Somehow, the mixture of mountain air, campfire smoke, and amiable companionship combine with humble foodstuffs to create a tasty meal that defies replication in some kitchens. However, a few hardy folks have gone beyond the tradition of a few select recipes and developed an entire sub-culture around camp meals. This cookbook describes the Runamuck camp culture along with savory offerings of wilderness cuisine. The authors, Hammer and Gadotti, value their time in the brush, but it doesn't come at the expense of good grub. The authors have developed their own language to describe Runamuck cooking, using terms such as "dorkle", "muggle" and "gashied" rather than standard cooking measures and terminologies. These linguistic deviations reaffirm the Runamucks' mission to "muddle and befuddle" normal pilgrims and scuttle a bunch of preconceived notions..including gourmet cooking. Thankfully, a glossary is provided to translate "King's English" to Runamuck-speak. RUNAMUCK RECIPES is a hoot to read whether you're fixin' to upgrade your own camp fare or just looking for a good chuckle.

East Oregonian, Tuesday, April 8, 1997 Pendleton, Oregon by Terry Murray. If cooking is a science, full of precise measurements, and exact times, and performed only in a kitchen that resembles a laboratory, then the "Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblin's" cookbook is not for you. If however, you are one of the dash-of-this and splash-of-that school, equally at home cooking over a propane or hot plate, then this a book that will delight you.... The two authors have conspired to create the quintessential camping cookbook. Not only is the book fun to read (or decipher when it comes to measurements), it is also a perfect gift for the hardy - or is it foolhardy? - men who load up a zillion cans of pork and beans and declare themselves ready for elk camp each fall. The most delightful and confounding habit of the book is the total disregard for easy-to-understand measurements and instructions. Using muggles and dorkles and dabbels and dollops, the authors make no apologies. Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblins' is 104 pages of fun.

BAKER CITY HERALD---Baker City, Oregon, Wednesday, January 22, 1997. BAKER COUNTY LIVING section -- Cookbooks are a hobby for many people, so it's always nice when a new one comes out. The latest addition to the bookshelf is a first book written by Mike Hammer, a former mayor of Granite, under the alias of Striking Tool, and his partner, Tony Gadotti. --This may well be the first cookbook with a glossary in the front of the book. And if you don't read the glossary, you won't be able to understand the recipes. --The book's title may well prepare the reader for what is to come. "Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblin's --Gourmet Grub for Campin'," distills more than 30 years of hunting camp recipes and stories. --The first lesson to be learned is that camp is limited only by the imagination. Camp food must be easy to prepare, taste good, be easy to clean up after, and have large portions. Hammer's camp food includes generous libations for relaxing around the fire with at night. --Recipes such as Frog Holler Frolic and Greenhorn China Camp Steak will tell the reader that most of the names on these dishes come from locations throughout the Eastern Oregon back country. --The reader is constantly reminded that the authors are lifelong Oregon residents who have hunted, fished and generally raised hell together since the mid-1960s.

The Observer/Baker City Herald---------------------- - Friday, March 7, 1997 - by Jeff Peterson --If you take your food seriously, you might want to remain in the loving embrace of Betty Crocker. --But if the thought of Whorehouse Meadow Stew'n Dumplings makes you laugh, you might want to check out "Runamuck Recipes, Reminiscences and Ramblins: Gourmet Grub for Campin". --Written by Mike Hammer, former mayor of Granite, and his sidekick Tony Gadotti, "Runamuck" is more than a cookbook. "There are a lot of storeis behind the recipes; it's more spiced up than an ordinary cookbook," Hammer said. For example, on page 12 the authors talk about Camp Runamuck: The special thing about camp may be "the Runamuck amenities (beverages) that are stacked like cordwood out in the kitchen, or the rumblin' tune a' the creek runnin' by with the brookies bullyin' the bugs...or it could be the cool evenin' breeze a'blowin' pine needles at ya, their odiferous sweetness inisuatin' at yer sensuality. --The authors got started on the book just sitting around the campfire swapping yarns and dreaming up stuff, Hammer said. And that wasn't hard with years of collective experience hunting, fishing, arrowhead picking, bottle digging and other adventuring in the great Northeast Oregon outdoors. Hammer, a bureacrat-turned-mountain man, said the book was in manuscript form for about 10 years before it ever came to print. The book contains a Northeast Oregon flavor with many recipe names originating from places in the state - for example, Burnt River Barbecue with Bull Run Sauce. The language in this book is different from the ordinary cookbook. The cook has to look at the glossary to see what means what - for example, dorkles of chili powder, muggles of onion or garlic cloves guillotined. --Hammer is now working on a second book called "Huntin' Country", a collection of stories dealing with runamucks and their ramblings. "It's just about getting back to basics and enjoying the life instead of being in the zoo that most of us are in these days."

When you read this book you can see a lot of research went into it. Makes all the difference. I really injoyed reading this book. Thanks Sus

The fact that Weldon Willis Rau is a geologist who has turned his talents to the writing of history lends a special flavor to his book, Surviving the Oregon Trail, 1852. Basing much of his work on the notes left by his great grandparents, Willis and Mary Ann Boatman, Rau gives us a gripping and factual story of the wagon trip west from Illinois to Oregon Territory in that pioneer time nearly a century and a half ago. The recounting begins with the sorrows of leaving home and parting from loved ones. The sad picture of an old grandfather, waving a tearful goodbye, knowing that he will never see his beloved young ones again, moves the reader to compassion. Children as well as adults are disturbed by the upheaval of unprecedented departure. The trek to the Missouri River was not easy, but was yet a rather civilized journey compared to what was to lie ahead. Crossing at about the site of present-day Omaha the Boatmans followed the Platte and the North Platte westward toward Wyoming. Sickness was the great affliction along the those river banks. Many of the westward travellers died, particularly of cholera. Along the way. Mary Ann Boatman's young brother was among those lost to disease. Wyoming and Idaho offered many hills to climb, streams to ford or ferry, steep slopes to descend, and scenic wonders new and remarkable to folks from Illinois. Water for all and grazing for the cows and draft oxen were often hard to find. Dust whirled up by the wheels of the wagons and the hooves of the animals choked all the travelers in various places. In Oregon the great gorge of the Columbia was a traverse not equalled elsewhere on earth. During the gorge trek Willis Boatman's brother, John, died, leaving Willis and a pregnant Mary Ann the only family members left in the trip. The two arrived in Portland exhausted and nearly broke. Weldon Rau tells this story with great feeling and understanding. His respect for his pioneeer ancestors is manifest. Clearly he has explored nearly the whole route his great grandparents travelled. And his explanations of the geology that formed these Oregon Trail lands adds greatly to the reader's undertanding. This book is a welcome addition to any library.

I have known the author for more than 30 years, so I have been aware of his 15-year effort to research, write, and publish this book as it unfolded. It is with pleasure, therefore, that I can attest to how well crafted it is. Rau tells the story of his great-grandparents' journey by employing extensive quotes from their written accounts and from the accounts of other 1852 Oregon Trail travelers. These quotes are woven together and amplified by Rau's observations of the physical, cultural, and social settings they experienced, including how the geology along the way influenced the development of the terrain. The book is also very well edited. I found but one typographical error and two place names missing from one map.

Besides being very well crafted, the book has left me with several strong impressions. The travelers, especially the men, approached the trip with a sense of romanticism. It was going to be a grand adventure with a pot of gold waiting at the end. A very different reality forced its way into their consciousness as the trip unfolded. The trip brought out all the best and worst traits of the travelers and those who sought to serve and usually profit from them along the way. They experienced disease, death, and discomfort. They and others suffered from cholera, scurvy, and Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Mary Ann and Willis' brothers both died on the trip, as did many others they met along the way. Mary Ann was pregnant for the whole trip and had to walk much of the way, in addition to performing the cooking and other housekeeping chores that fell to her. In addition there were extremes of weather, loneliness, homesickness, sorrow, grief, resignation, thievery, greed, and hardheadedness. These were balanced by bravery, resoluteness, kindness, compassion, neighborliness, concern, and assistance, sometimes from people they didn't even know. The journey had but three possible outcomes; they had to turn back and reach their former homes, get to the Willamette Valley, or die before winter hit. In some ways their journey can be compared with what the first interplanetary travelers will experience. Indeed, even after Willis and mary Ann reached the relative safety of the Willamette Valley and then the Puget Sound country, for years they felt as isolated and separated from their families as if they were on another planet.

If you have had no real appreciation for the magnitude of the feat that Oregon Trail travelers accomplished, you will have when you finish this book.

The amount of determination, courage and fortitude to travel the continent as an overlander in 1852 must have been unimaginable. This is a remarkable first hand account of the Boatman's journey from Illinois to the Oregon Territory, along with quotes from other overlanders' diaries during the same year. Suffering from the heat, thirst, food shortages for both emigrants and livestock, the cold, rain, mud, river crossings, cholera epidemics and other illnesses, exhaustion and death to many who attempted such an endeavor, this book has it all. The author, a decendent of the Boatmans, has put forth a most wonderful book depicting the hardships and misfortunes of the early day pioneers. A+

Laura is on a wagon train west. Here she must over come the difficulties of the wagon train. She manages to save the life of a white warrior Gray Wolf who has been trained by a Cheyenne Chief. David, Grey Wolf, falls in love with Laura. She wants him to return to his former way of life. To do this he must come to terms with the brutal slaying of his family by the Pawnee Indians. This book makes you want to keep the pages turning. By Ruth Thompson author of "The Bluegrass Dream" and "Natchez Above The River"

Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NovelTravelersThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early SettlersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War

Sweeping love story - a wonderful read! Cheri writes in a manner that makes you feel like you are there with the characters - very visual! Highly recommend this!

A love story with a wild west setting. Wagon train, scalping Indians, white maiden, white youth reared by Indian chief. Superbly written, fine characterization, vivid scenes.

This is a heartwarming story. I really enjoyed it and the author kept me guessing. She really was informed of the time period. I sure hope that there will be a sequel!

A trip to the Grand Tetons this year was greatly enhanced by this book, which I came upon with a search on Amazon.com. We used it to plan a car trip from Portland and we followed the Oregon Trail home from southern Wyoming. The maps were wonderful and the information accurate. We even golfed 9 holes at the Soda Springs municipal golf course to see the swales on the 8th hole, in addition to many other stops of intetest!

My husband and I recently made a trip out west and used this book as our guide to follow the Oregon Trail. It was excellent! Her directions were right on the money and the book was easy to read and follow. She breaks the trip down to a day by day driving guide which was great so we knew how much time to plan. I would encourage visiting the 'out of way' options she offers. She also offers several driving options depending on your time allowance. A must have for an Oregon Trail trip!

Julie's book is very useful in traveling the Lewis and Clark Trail. Highly informative and illustrated, it includes specific as well as local information about the various sites included in the book. Well worth having and using.

This was an absolutely wonderful book which helped my family to see every interesting bit on the Oregon Trail. Many sites were really off the beaten path and I'm sure rarely visited. It was clearly written, fairly assessing the different sites and had very clear directions. We are a family of 6 so the time allotted for travelling place to place was a little short, but all in all this book is a "Bible" for those who want to embark on this great trip.