Nevada Books

This was one of the funniest book I have read in years! It is a must-read for anyone looking for a good laugh, I couldn't put it down and was rolling the whole time..... Have to pick this one up for sure!

Never having been to a brothel in my life, I always wondered what went on in those places. Now that I've read Dolly's I have to admit I'm even more interested! This is a great book that has a real humorous slant on the whole thing. The cast of characters that went through that brothel the author was running was outrageous. I especially liked the chapter, "Beauty vs. Personality", very funny stuff. Plus, the tips on running a brothel was very interesting and stuff I never imagined you had to take into consideration. (Not that I'm planning to buy one).
If you ever wondered what really goes on in a brothel or if you want a fun read, I heartily recommend this book.

Living in Arizona, my home is the Sonoran Desert. Even desert haters begrudgingly find a place in their hearts for the Sonoran, land of majestic saguaros and abundant sandstone. Nevada on the other hand, has a much smaller fan club. That's a shame since I've always cherished my adventures in the Silver State. In "Earthtones: A Nevada Album," Ann Ronald shares an idea that any Nevada enthusiast has always known, even if on a subconscious level. Nevada is beautiful, but not in a conventional way. To appreciate the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts, the adventurer must undefine green as the definition of beauty in nature. An appreciation of the Silver State requires an appreciation of vast open spaces, sage and of course earthtones. As an avid backpacker and off-roader, Ann Ronald has traveled extensively from the Southern Triangle to the Idaho border. Indeed, the author is well qualified to write such a book in terms of her backcountry experience and research. Ann Ronald shares her experiences in places like the Ruby Mountains, Great Basin National Park, Valley of Fire, the Black Rock Desert and the Test Site. The author does some interesting comparisons. Lake Mead is compared to Pyramid Lake while Pahranagat is compared to the Ruby Marshes. While the focus is the natural side of Nevada, the author carefully describes the impact of humans on the land. "Earthtones" doesn't read like a monograph or a travel guide; it is a collection of essays that sometimes read like a journal. As one might expect in a desert diary, the focus can meander and ramble. Stephen Trimble's photographs loosely illustrate the book. Whether geologic close-ups or large landscapes, his images effectively illustrate Ronald's text. In the end, this book is sure make readers re-think what they believe about nature in the Great Basin and Mojave. It is also certain to inspire a few road trips to the Silver State. "Earthtones" has inspired me to make plans for my next adventure!

Nevada has always struggled with what advertising people would refer to as an image problem. With the exception of the gaming meccas of Las Vegas and Reno, the last century considered it so barren and worthless as to be the ideal location for a Nuclear Test Site. The current generation has deemed it worthy of being a national Hazardous Waste Dump. It is rare indeed to hear a tourist or travel agent describe Nevada as having beautiful scenery or landscape as is often the case with New Mexico, Utah, Arizona or Colorado. This book, in words and pictures, paints a different picture and what a sight it is.
Accomplished writer Ann Ronald has spent 30 years viewing Nevada landscapes and geography with a different aesthetic eye than most observers. Renowned photographer Stephen Trimble has the uncanny ability to record on film some of the most remarkable images of what Ronald describes as "one vast deserted landscape of color and shadow and aesthetic dimension." Together, with the written word and unforgettable images, they paint a picture of the other Nevada that is unforgettable in it's beauty and clarity.
Ronald describes the colors of Nevada, which is at heart the theme of the book, with such clarity that the purple sage, teal sky, mountain mahogany and myriad shades of vermilion, orange and gold virtually leap from the page. However, if the reader does not have an acute imagination for such colors there are the stunning photographs of Trimble that leave no doubt of the magnificence of this state. Seldom does the collaboration between writer and photographer produce results of such beauty and hope.
Highly recommended for readers interested in the "other" Nevada.

I bought this for a friend who lives in France so they could see what the West looks like. The photography is wonderful

This is a wonderful book. The pictures of the Nevada landscape, from a very talented photographer who sees light in a magical way, are exceptionally beautiful. Particularly touching are the photographs of the authors' family and other workers at their ranch; one could wish that more of these very personal shots had been included.

The text is a perfect match for the photographs, conveying the flavor of life on the ranch and the exceptionally close family ties that develop when three generations work together with a common purpose. The reader is left hoping that this very exceptional environment and life style can be maintained in the generations to come; however there is a poignant description of the forces working against this outcome.

This Nevada ranch is a unique spot: the book makes an excellent gift for anyone (particularly western fans) who may not have the opportunity to visit the area in person. Highly recommended.

from dust jacket review about the author..."he plans to return to his gambling book as soon as he gets rid of the pervading smell of Chanel No.5 : it seems to be the chosen scent of the girls, whether veterans or Lolitas..."

Don't be deceived by the hot pink dust jacket! This is not pornography, but a surprisingly engaging read that sheds light on the nuts and bolts of legalized prostitution--not to mention the human condition.

This is probably my favorite guide to the Sierra and I drool just thinking about the opportunities Croft has opened up for anyone seeking a challenge. Mt tattered dog-eared copy sits right over my desk, so I can take it down and be reminded of all there is that is great.

I've used Good, Great, Awesome to add to my list of High Sierra routes. With great photos by Galen Rowell and Dan Patitucci, topo maps and Croft's hand-drawn routes, it's thorough and to the point. This is the way a guide book should be done.

Croft has such stature in the climbing world that by mere inclusion of a Sierra route in this book, he will define it as a classic for the next generation of climbers. We bought this book in an East Side climbing shop en route to the Sierras to bag classic climbs, and found it very useful. The topos aren't up to modern standards (e.g., "Supertopos"), but there is enough detail to get an experienced climber up most of these routes. The major contribution is to identify the classic routes of the range, something he is highly qualified to do. If you plan to do much technical climbing in the High Sierra, buy it.

John Hart is the real deal, and anyone hiking the Great Basin needs this book. His mileages are accurate and so are his descriptions of routes. The only criticism I offer is that the book is a bit dated--for example, there is an easy-to-follow use trail to Morey Peak instead of the XC route description JH offers. Also worth noting is that JH must have a very low-slung vehicle. Driving a garden-variety SUV (1996 Jeep Cherokee) I have never had any trouble on any of the roads he describes.

Happy Hiking, M

This is a book that packs a lot of worthy information into a small book that is easy to backpack. You will need detailed topo maps as those in the book are for overview only, but the hikes are exquisitely detailed and accurate. Many of the trips are in the less well-known areas of Nevada and Eastern California and will please those who like to hike without meeting anyone else. The author encourages readers to find alternative routes to destinations and, although most of the trips are to peaks, there are some easier canyon hikes. Longer trips definitely need experience and route-finding abilities.

Bernard Schopen again does an outstanding job of taking the reader to the Reno, Nevada of PI Jack Ross. The storyline, the twists and turns, and the depiction of the natural beauty of northern Nevada combine to create for the reader an escape to this world. Let's have another one soon, Mr. Schopen!

Bernard Schopen has a superb prose style and a sure eye for the telling detail. His characters are well rounded and his protagonist--the lawyer-detective, Jack Ross--is hard boiled but sensitive, in the tradition of Spenser and Elvis Cole. This excellent novel in an excellent series deserves to be widely read.

I love the desert of s. Nevada and know the towns and locations in the book as well as being familiar with many of the people mentioned therein, so I could over look alot, but the book honestly has less to do with Jack Longstreet as much as it is about the region and the era he lived in.

The author will tell a tale on Jack and every time another person is mentioned go off on that persons life history on a tangent for most of a chapter, almost forgetting that Jack is the purpose of the book and Jack's story is the one we wanted to hear about.

That may sound like criticism but it is not meant that way, merely an observation.
That said, it is written by someone who truly loves the region and the era and the author's passion combined with my own for the same subjects made it a good enough read for me.

But I have loaned the book to several friends here and none could get through it, complaining it was badly organized and too jumbled to bother fighting through. Which to me in this case is saying Christmas wrappings are too much bother to go through to open a present.

The author's research is exhaustive and in my opinion she really has enough here to make Longstreet a chapter or two in a much larger volume on this region and era.
I would encourage the author to write a volume or SET of volumes on "The History of the Desert Frontier in the Great Basin", make Jack Longstreet a chapter or central figure, as there is so much here that Jack gets lost in the information and stories.

I would recommend it to only those who either have an interest in the region of southern Nevada or are fans of pioneer era stories, since I am a fan of both, I enjoyed the book.

If you like the Old West this book delivers. If there was a real life John Wayne, Jack Longstreet would be the one. Only perhaps a little darker. Nothing much was known about him before he moved to Nevada in the 1870's, but he racked up many wild stories during his time in the central Nevada desert. Claim jumping, cattle rustling, horse racing, bar keeping are all samples of what he was involved in. He spoke paiute and was a defender of the local native americans. He outlived all his enemies and died in 1928 at the age of 94.

This was a comprehensive look into Las Vegas for the average traveler. This book was very good at pointing out various hotspots and steering the reader clear of tourist traps. The one fault of this publication was that it contains no pictures of the area and only text and a few maps. Pictures would have enhanced the purpose of the travel guide by giving the reader visual cues to the Las Vegas when actually in the city.

Jay Fenster knows all there is to know for the visitor to Las Vegas. Having his book was like having the best possible tour guide right by my side.

I love Mr. Fenster's writing style, and the organization of the book, his grouping of attractions based on the visitor's length of stay. As a non-gambler, I was especially interested in what else we could do. Following Fenster's recommendations, we requested a high room with a street view (gorgeous at night!), had a buffet at the Rio (over 300 dishes), saw Cirque du Soliel `Mystere', and ventured off the strip to the Green Valley Ranch, Lake Las Vegas, and Red Rock Canyon Conservation area. We had two fabulous Thai dinners at Lotus of Siam. I can honestly say Jay Fenster's book really took our Las Vegas vacation to the next level.

Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins was the daughter of Northern Paiute Chief Winnemucca. Edited by Mrs. Horace Mann,Sarah Winnemucca provides more than a brief glance into the lives of the Northern Paiutes living on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation during the late 1800s. Winnemucca gives her voice to the plight of her people as they struggle to survive the effects of government Indian policy in the Western United States.

Sarah Winnemucca's autobiography enables the reader to examine how the US reservation system, assimilation policy and the BIA failed to provide adequately for the Paiute people. The author provides the reader with an opportunity to experience the feelings of hope and despair of the Paiute people during the late 1870s and 1880s. Her examples of the corruption by white settlers and Indian agents provides reasonable and believable evidence of what life was like for Sarah Winnemucca and her Paiute family.

Sarah Winnemucca's memories are bitter-sweet. She relates her actions to help not only her own people but the US army during the Indian wars of that era, including the Bannock War. Marrying US Army soldier Lewis Hopkins in the early 1880s, her story also includes events during their marriage. An advocat for her people, Sarah traveled to Washington, D. C. to speak with the President, and she traveled coast-to-coast publicly speaking about the plight of her people as well as her life as a young Paiute woman. Her daring escapades as an Army scout and participant in several Indian wars further illustrate her strength as a Native woman.

This book, written in Sarah Winnemucca's voice, is both a powerful and moving example of the active role some women played in the history of the west. I found her memories to reflect a side of history often overlooked by other authors, and I highly recommend her work.

This book is a little difficult to read and understand at times due to the archaic language, but is definitely a worthy read. It tells the story you never learned in your history class in school. From the beginning legend of how the Native Americans became estranged from their White Brothers who were banished across the seas to the Paiute Elder telling everyone to rejoice in the return of the White Brothers is fascinating yet heartbreaking. We all know it didn't turn out so well for the Native Americans. In reading Sarah's story, which is written from the heart, it is easy to see how the Native Americans were exploited, treated as less than human and moved around like pawns to suit the white man's interest. I have the utmost respect for Sarah and her courage to speak up for her people. I also have the greatest respect for those who have followed, speaking her truths. Wake up people, we are on the wrong track. Bless you Sarah Winnemucca for your wonderful book and your attempts to make things right!