Montana Books

So this is what the world has come to... Short stories that are so well crafted that they can take you where you have never been with just a few dozen pages. The story of the relationship that can never be has been told before. In this book that story sits inside another. It is the tragic tale of someone starting a family and then discovering that their true love is on the outside. That diffucult situation becomes impossible when that love is for someone of the same sex. Here in the United States, it is common for some to condemn what they cannot get their mind around. Those with a narrow view spout insults and swing tire irons. This is a story of impossible love and its tragic consequences. Annie Proulx wrote a marvelous story. It is a good, even great day when a writer can challenge us to reach beyond the hyperbole and see the story from a new perspective.

David M. Emmons, in The Butte Irish, examines the development of Butte, Montana, as an Irish town, tracing the story from the Potato Famine to about 1925. He focuses on two major questions: (a) What made Butte such a popular destination for Irish immigrants, both directly from Ireland and from other Irish areas of the US? and, (b) How did the development of an Irish enclave in Butte affect the development of the city? He goes on to examine the evolution of class relations within the Irish in Butte. Emmons describes Butte as a unique location in America for the study of an ethnic community. He argues that the town developed in such a way and at such a time that it was one of the only towns in the country to have a strong working-class, immigrant community in a position of major influence and power. There were several keys that made this path of city evolution possible. The first was the switch from silver and gold mining to copper production in the 1870's. This is key for Butte's "Irishness" on several levels. First, because of the large capital investment required for copper mining, Butte was forced to industrialize to a much greater extent than other major gold and silver mining camps of the West. Thus, Butte was the only one of these mining camps to become a major city. Immigrants from many of these camps came to Butte in large numbers. The timing of the beginning of Butte's copper era is a second major factor. The Irish Potato Famine of the 1840's caused huge numbers of Irish to immigrate to America. In the years immediately following the famine, the Irish were nearly forty percent of those immigrating to the United States. Large numbers of Irish continued to immigrate in the next thirty years, supplying the US with many unskilled workers. Many of these Irish went to the mining camps of the west, the coal mines of Pennsylvania, or the copper mines of Michigan, because mining was one of the only industries they were familiar with. As many of the western mining camps became "played out," or ran out of viable ore, in the late nineteenth century, the Irish looked to the developing Butte. Because Butte was becoming an established city only when the Irish started going there, it did not have a previously existing community of entrenched middle class Americans, nor did it have a prior political structure. This is another key difference between Butte and other towns with sizable Irish populations such as Boston or San Francisco. In pre-existing towns and cities, the middle class often looked down on those of the working class, or at least had control of the political and social structure of the area. It is a well-known fact that Marcus Daly was one of the main reasons so many Irish came to Butte. Daly was the owner of the Anaconda Mining Company, and a strong Irish nationalist. His hiring policies were famous throughout the West, and even in Ireland, as being very generous to the Irish. Emmons lays out these reasons, detailing them extensively. His research was thorough, utilizing "two full carloads" of primary materials including records of Butte churches and Irish social organizations, letters, newspapers. Also cited in Emmons' bibliography are extensive interviews and secondary sources. Emmons is just as thorough in his treatment of the second question. He considers the miners of Butte on many levels. One of the more interesting themes of the book is the discussion of conflicting loyalties within the Irish enclave of the Mining City. The author frames this as the question of whether the people considered themselves "working Irish-Americans" or "Irish-American workers." He examines the politics of the struggling Ireland and its relationship with England, the structure of the Butte social organizations and the way their roles and importances, both absolute and relative to one another, changed and grew during this period, and changing demographics within the Irish and the rest of Butte-Silver Bow. The only complaint to be lodged against The Butte Irish is the author's occasional use of difficult sentence structure. I can't find the quote I was going to use here, but there were a few to choose from. The Butte Irish is a well-written and well-executed account of the development of a town and community, offering many insights into working class ethnography, labor relations, Montana history, and Irish history, among others. Emmons has managed to cover aspects of all these areas, even while maintaining a strong focus and cohesiveness throughout the book.

As a child growing up in Butte I loved the Columbia Gardens. Its no longer here, but this book brings back so many positive memories. Its a must read for anyone who was fortunate enough to visit the golden place on the hill called the Columbia Gardens

Rick Scott
San Diego, California

Funny stories along with the serious war accounts. Fascinating reading

Careless Creek

Mr. Lynde is an amazing author (not to mention artist!) Within a few seconds, you are "living" in his novels; You will "feel" the rain, "hear" the whinnies of the horses and "see" the villains.

His books are not just for men - I'm a woman and absolutely love the historical background he includes in each and every one.

I also enjoy the morals in each book, (if you choose to look for them): Good vs. Evil, Temptations faced daily, etc...

The only downside is, if you are like me, you won't want to put his books down once you have opened them! (Much to my Husband's dismay since we are self employed and I don't get as much work done when I've got a new book to read written by Mr. Lynde.)

Thank you Mr. Lynde for another excellent novel. I can't wait to receive the 3rd and 4th ones in this "series"!

Tara

Just got this book today. It's about time this info was etched on recycled paper using soy based ink! Great overview and detailed pictures. Makes me wish I lived in Montana again! It is entertaining enough to read just for fun, but informative enough to use as your exclusive climbing guide to the area. Way to go, Snake!

I couldn't put this book down. Anyone who has longed for an object of desire -- whether it's another person, a hand-carved guitar or a wilderness that is pure and uncomplicated -- will love this book. Soderlind manages to turn upside down all our preconceived notions about love, the wild west (there were bankers there?), the counterculture that has been asleep for the last 30 years and even the virtuous newsroom. Chasing Montana is funny (I never knew an elbow could wreak such panic) while looking deeply into our shared but excruciating aloneness. A great read.

Chip the Buffalo is an entertaining story with some of the most amazing pictures I have ever seen in a children's book. Whether you are five or ninety-five years old you will want to own this book. It includes some very interesting and enjoyable facts about buffalo and about Montana. It is a perfect book for any classroom. If you like to read to your children or have your children read to you I would suggest reading Chip the Buffalo.

This is a ground breaking book. The author tells the story of Indonesian Christian women who go against significant cultural patterns to enter graduate school in theology to train for leadership positions in the Indonesian Christian churches. In order to sustain themselves in this culturally unpopular endeavor, the women develop spiritual practices in everyday life that enable them to go the distance. In significant ways, Adeney shows, it is from these everyday practices that the womens' theologies grow.
After telling these stories Adeney then discusses the methodological implications of her study, focussing especially on the tension between universal values and culturally specific values. Her ethnographic study shows that the ethnographer, even if Western, does not have to choose between universal values and culturally specific ones, but can apply a middle hermenetic that accounts for both. Her study demonstrates this in its implicit argument for the universality of women's rights without arguing for strictly Western--or Indonesian--views of women. Rather than either/or, or neither, she shows how method can include both. A thought provoking book.

A gang of outlaws was terrifying the settlers in western Montana. The sheriff in desperation called in John Stranger to help catch the gang after they had nearly killed a settler. After John Stranger stopped the gang, the leader in revenge asked a man to disguise himself as John Stranger and start killing and robbing innocent people. John Stranger, finding out about this, now has to find and capture the man who is masquerading as him. During his search he is trapped in the woods by a circle of fire. A wild black stallion he called Chance is the only hope he has...