Bozeman Books

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.

These people are nuts! It's hard to imagine that anyone would bother to call the police to report "a couple rough-looking females going through a dumpster," or the theft of a "30-cent piece of string cheese from Gallatin Grocery," but then again, this is Bozeman we're talking about. Ross has created a hilarious collection of actual police reports from a place where nothing really bad ever happens and people feel compelled to file police reports for the most harmless and totally bizarre complaints. Very, very funny and a great gift idea, too.

Finally a fun way to watch your life go by. I laughed till milk shot out my nose..... i hope that was milk.

This calendar is an exersize plan and a time machine all in one. Your uncontrollable laughter will take years off your life and work your abs until you have that firm and flat belly you've always desired. Thanks you for the sparkle in my eye and my amazing new body!

Hell, I thought the Opelieka, AL, police report calendar was the biggest hoot. Was I wrong! The calendar is a great window on a world I'd love to live in daily. Makes me wish there were more days in the year!!!

This is some good stuff -- gave it is as a gift to a group of friends who loved it. Beats the crap out of the Far Side. Funny funny funny - perfect gift - thanks.

Having lived in India for more than twenty two years after growing up Catholic and attending Catholic schools until I was a sophomore in college, I was deeply interested in Diana Eck's book. She didn't disappoint. Her commitment and depth of understanding of her own religion is not diminished, but rather strengthened, widened and deepened by her willingness to understanding the spirituality of India. Rarely have I read a book about experiences in India that combine such intelligence with such deep openness to the truth of spirituality in traditions not one's own. If the world had more such people in it, we might be closer to a unity of mankind whereby we widen ourselves to comprehend and benefit from the various ways God has manifested rather than circling the covered wagons to protect ourselves from any new ideas or experiences.

I read this book after returning from India, and have been kicking myself ever since for not reading it BEFORE my trip. Eck gets all the way around the fascinating but sometimes-puzzling religions of Hinduism and Buddhism in a way that makes them understandable and vibrantly real to a western audience. Her personal and theological reflections enabled me (an observant, American Christian) to look at these "strange" faiths and find God in them.

I had read and heard a lot about this book before actually buying and reading it. In eight closely reasoned, carefully explained chapters the author (a Harvard professor active in interreligious dialogue and open to any and all intelligent religious ideas) sets out the case for religious pluralism. She does this primarily by rational argument but also by personal and anecdotal narration, some recent history of interreligious dialogue, sound theological reflection, and sociological analysis.

In chapters subtitled The Meaning of God's Manyness and The Fire and Freedom of the Spirit she describes the many dimensions of humankind's connectedness to the transcendent and the variety of ways cultural differences assist us in our search for the absolute.

Her seventh chapter outlines in satisfying detail the three general attitudes members of a given religious community might hold toward those of other faiths: exclusivism, inclusivism, and pluralism. Pluralism is clearly the most desirable of the three, and she examines this stance by distinguishing it from other dispositions to which it bears a superficial resemblance but with which it should not be confused. Pluralism is not simply plurality or merely tolerance: it presupposes both. Nor is it relativism or syncretism. Eck emphasises the importance of interreligious dialogue, on which genuine pluralism is necessarily based and from which it flows.

In her final chapter the author shows why all this should make important differences in the way we live and interact with each other. This is a beautiful essay on religious praxis (not to be confused with practice) calling for radical changes in our minds and hearts (truth and value) that should enable all of us to live together creatively, with dignity, and in full appreciation of what it means to be human. This book can be recommended not only for those who profess a religious faith, but also, perhaps especially, for those who do not.

This book is likely to become a cult classic. It is a series of meditations at the same time it is a journal from the author's erstwhile journey of faith. Never abandoning her roots in Montana Methodism, Diana Eck follows the many paths of faith she finds at her feet. She steps forward always without fear and with a profound curiosity which she shares with her reader and with which she calls her reader to reexamine where they have been, and where they are and where they are going with the life that has been given to them.

The book is not preachy, but it is reverent. While the touchstone is Christianity, the author's own centering point, the scope is as all encompassing as the author's travels, geographically (Benarais, Japan, Europe, Australia, Boston, you name it) and spiritually (Buddhism, Hindi, Islam, shakti, you name it).

The Ms. Eck explores her personal journey in a completely inviting way to help the reader understand the profound threshhold at which the world's religions now find themselves. They can no longer be said to have an opportunity for dialogue, but an imperative to dialogue. We know each other too well and have too much to learn from each other to not share with each other. She shows us that while we need to speak in our own language of faith, we need to exert all the effort we can to hear people of other faiths in their language, and maybe we will then find them moving toward us or us moving toward them or us all moving to a new place.

The book is superbly organized, showing that Eck has used her years as a professor (and scholar) of comparative religion at Harvard to the best advantage. The Names of God, The Faces of God, The Breath of God, all provide frameworks in which she compares and contrasts the viewpoints of serious seekers from many, many faiths as they follow their hearts Home.

It is a wonderful guided tour for those who want to know more about other faiths. It is a compelling call to reflect on your own faith.

Two cautions: You may need to set aside extra time to work your way through this book. You are likely to find yourself, without warning, sitting in your favorite reading chair, not reading, but contemplating whatever.

Caution Number Two: This book might change your life. You may not be able to avoid the temptation to do something about what you have been contemplating.

Not to fear: You will be doing the right thing.

A hopeful and very personal account of Eck's interfaith journey interwoven with the larger global dynamics of an interfaith world that we are only beginning to fathom and put into perspective. The book deepened my understanding of how we must proceed to grow beyond these turbulent times. Eck explores her subject thoroughly and with great sensitivity. She leaves no misunderstanding about both the challenges and rewards of dialog, mutual respect, and understanding. I appreciated the quiet and reflective tone. Sip this book like a fine wine. It challenges and takes time to absorb, but is not academic.

Mary Bozeman Hodges has crafted a refreshing collection of stories which explore how human connections frame our understanding of the Christmas season. Read this charming volume and you will make your stomach ache with laughter, draw your breath in sharp surprise, blink your eyes to clear their tears, and thoroughly enjoy the time you spend with a compelling storyteller.

I recieved my paperback a few days ago and have just finished it. I enjoyed this collection of stories very much and will be seeking out Mrs. Hodges' other works now - as I believe she has won over another fan. As an author myself I can appreciate her craft and definitely her sharing of these personal, poignant, and powerful stories. I laughed out loud on some of these, which is rare for me to do. Nice work. And if you find yourself in the Tri-Cities Mrs. Hodges, look me up - I'll treat you to a cheeseburger at L.E. Clarks Grocery Store and we'll share a tale or two.

Firmly grounded in the Appalachian region, Hodges' writing reflects the speech patterns and colloquialisms of its residents in much the same way that Eudora Welty wrote of her native Mississippi. She has mastered the unwitting, self-revealing, first person narrator whose monologues often produce side-splitting humor. The themes of her stories, however, are much larger than just our region: they probe the human condition, often with the aforementioned humor, but always with respect and insight. The often quirky humor of some of her characters and her ability to present her stories in dramatic form have made her very sought after to present readings of her work.

Mary Hodges' PLASTIC SANTA is a collection of stories for reading aloud and for savoring in a quiet place. I enjoyed the wit and humor in these stories and appreciate the talents of a storyteller who can stir up the range of feelings that Mary Hodges taps. She clearly knows the emotional and geographical territory she writes about. What's wonderful about her writing is that it often seems deceptively simple and familiar--but then we realize she is showing us what we haven't really seen until she has shown it to us.

Braeking the state up into sections, the author does an excellent job of describing and presenting the various highlights of each. Equal treatment is given to popular and off-the-beaten-path areas, with sufficient detail for each. It made my recent visit more enjoyable!

This book was a wonderful guide to the areas of Montana we traveled through. There were several things we would not have seen if it hadn't been for the suggestions in the book and some excellent restaurants we wouldn't have stopped at if they had not been recommended by the book. We plan to get another "hidden" book for our next trip.

Hidden Montana appears in its third edition to cover inns, tours, drives, and outdoors explorations throughout the state. From Glacier Park to Yellowstone, this is packed with lesser-known byways. Recommended.

What a delightful trip back in time. Discover all of the benefits that are available to our wonderful letter carriers today and how they came about. This letter carrier, France Bozeman, was such an active memeber in the National Association of Letter Carriers that he was instrumental in providing some of the actual benefits that your letter carrier enjoys today. He mentions his many trips to Washington, D.C. to speak with the movers and the shakers about what was really happening in the local post offices and they really got involved.

You can read this book in one sitting and it is well worth it. You will become better informed and entertained at the same time. Mr Bozeman even includes his "famous" recipe for Barbecue Chicken and describes a cooking contest where he placed second. Now where can you find all of that in one small book?

Order this book or go to your local bookstore and purchase one for your letter carrier. They work very hard for you, and they would appreciate the gift.

Snail Mail versus Email is a rare treat. The book reads warmly and invites you to sit a spell as the story unfolds. It follows the experiences and humorous reflections of a small town mail carrier during the post World War II era. Before computers, electronic messaging and mail sorting machines, the men and women of the American Golden Age wrote, sorted and delivered mail with a neighbor's touch.

The pages walk you down the lane of the author's life, every stop along the way is a new story. The author describes everything from dealing with attack dogs, outsmarting contriving supervisors, to dealing with politicians while he was working to reform the system. And with the wit of a grandfather storyteller, he leaves the reader trying to decide which is worse!

While some might object that the book has little to do with Email, I think they're missing the point. The book is about working people in the pre-electronic age. I can't think of a grandparent or anyone with a grandparent who wouldn't enjoy Snail Mail.

About 2 weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to meet France Bozeman. He served with my grandfather during WWII. I can honestly say that he is just as interesting and entertaining in print as he is in person. This book is very humorous and informative. It kept my attention from start to finish. I would highly recommend it as a fascinating slice of Americana.

If you love the old west, then you will love these two tapes. Little Big Horn tells the story of Custer's last stand in all of it's rousing glory. Some say Custer was a fool, but you can not question his bravery! The music and sound effects really make this piece of history zing. I really like the tune Gary Owen. The Bozeman Trail is a bonous program that tells the story of the little known Fetterman Massacre. The similarities to what happened at the Little Big Horn are erie. I highly recommend this for any history buff, or lover of the old west. Sit back with your favorite bottle of Rot gut, and let the shoot out begin.

A buddy of mine is a memeber of a group that works hard to study and preserve the Little Big Horn Battlefield. He let me take this tape home and listen to it. I have never heard anything like this before. They used music, actors and sound effects to make a sort of radio movie. I found this to be really cool and recommend it to everyone. My friend says that it is also very detailed and correct from a historical view.

Extensively illustrated with vintage black-and-white and full-color photographs on virtually every page, Promise: Bozeman's Trail To Destiny is a thorough history of conflicts between whites and Native Americans along the historic Bozeman Trail. Rich in narrative detail, and drawing on primary sources such as interviews and oral history as well as secondary sources, Promise strives to present as accurate a picture as possible of what daily life and the deadly struggles were truly like. Accessible to readers of all backgrounds, Promise is a welcome and much-needed, in-depth contribution to Native American history shelves.

The handful of soldiers, along with their white men scouts Billy Dixon and Amos Chapman, traveled across the Llano Estacado wearily, but alert watching out for Kiowa, Comanche, or whatever else might expose them to immediate danger. It had been a long journey and getting home must have been a priority; however, that homecoming would be cut short in dramatic fashion.

One can see far and wide while standing on the plains inside the panhandle of Texas. In the days before man built infrastructures and planted trees, one could see forever. Seeing forever must have driven one crazy during a full day's ride on a horse. When Chapman and the others first saw the dots on the horizon, they wondered what they were. They'd find out soon enough.

They probably heard the whiz and ping of bullets flying through the air and striking the ground before they figured out what the dots were. So, where does one go for shelter from bullets when on the Llano Estacado? There were no trees, no rocks, no buildings, nothing. One prays that his horse is a bit fresher than the horse carrying the fella shooting at you. If that fails, then one must stand and fight, but what if you're outnumbered 20 to one?

Chapman knew what to look for in shelter. Running the horses hard, it still took time to find that shelter. In the distance he spotted buffalo wallows; those shallow earthly depressions where buffalo would roll on their backs into the ground. He moved the soldiers toward those craters as the enemy quickly gained on them. Private Smith went down, the others continued jumping into the wallow. Ping, whiz, ping, ping.

Chapman finally recognized the enemy: Kiowa, and around 100 of them. Hell, he even knew some of them. He heard the groans coming from the mortally wounded Smith far away, out on the Llano. The horses with their canteens were lost, now in the hands of the Kiowa. Without time to catch his breath, Chapman ran for Smith and his extra ammunition 100 yards away. Whiz, whiz, ping, ping.

Chapman grabbed Smith and retreated toward the buffalo wallow with a dozen Kiowa in hot pursuit. A bullet struck Chapman in the leg, but he kept moving with his heavy load. As Chapman and Smith tumbled into the wallow, there came a loud crack which must have been recognizable to every soldier cradling hard to the ground. The excruciating pain was undeniable to Chapman. His leg had snapped in two. At least they had the extra ammunition. Smith succumbed to his wounds, and started his final march as he let out his last breath. He was in a better place, and for now the rest of them had a chance. Chapman would worry about his leg and getting home later. For now, he fired his carbine.

And then, something strange happened; the Kiowa simply rode away. The Battle of the Buffalo Wallow was finished. Chapman and the soldiers felt very lucky. Just moments before, they were doomed; now they would make it home hurt but alive.

Chapman was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in recovering Smith during the Battle of the Buffalo Wallow. Chapman eventually married Mary Long Neck of the Cheyenne tribe. They had children, and one of their sons became the father of Serle L. Chapman whose book is reviewed here.

The Promise overture finds Mr. Chapman standing before the monument that remembers his grandfather and the soldiers' battle in the buffalo wallow on the Llano Estacado. It is here that our journey begins; the narrative style moves gracefully from lyrical to legend to history and back again. It takes a little getting used to, but once understood, the book feels like a journey on a blanket of clouds during time travel. It's a truly unique and wonderful experience for a historical storyline.

The spirit and sensitive soul of Mr. Chapman comes through loud and clear in every page of Promise. Amos and Mary Long Neck Chapman shine brightly within their grandson. His words are resolute yet poetic, his understanding of the Cheyenne way and white man's world combined produce a work of deeper understanding from which the reader can learn and gain enjoyment.

Promise comes in an oversized package perfect for its display of beautiful photographs (also by Chapman) of Wyoming; its wildlife, its history, and its people both past and present can be fully appreciated throughout the pages of the book. Descendents of important people from the Cheyenne and Lakota share their accounts of life along the Bozeman Trail. Leaders from the Ft. Phil Kearny Association share their knowledge of life in the forts along the trails as well. Wonderful portrait photographs of each of these contributors garnish the pages of this book. Mr. Chapman is an award-winning photographer, and his talent is evident throughout.

We quickly learn that the classic clash of cultures was very complex. Mr. Chapman first takes us on a fantastic journey of the frontier life through a fictional character, a white woman traveling over the Bozeman Trail. We read from her daily journal and learn of the hardships and dangers these people faced every single day. These travelers of the trail were full of optimism in the challenges that came from making a new life: their new life full of promise and hope.

Promise soars highest when Mr. Chapman tells the story of Red Cloud's War with emphasis on the Fetterman Battle. This time his character is an unnamed old Cheyenne warrior reflecting back on his younger years: the days of Sand Creek, the attack on Julesberg, Battle of Platte Bridge, Battle of Beecher Island, and more. It is truly fascinating to experience this history in terms of Cheyenne thought, language, and perspective.

An incident during the Red Cloud War involved a brief moment when Lakota warriors beat Cheyenne leaders with their bows, while claiming the Cheyenne were cowards; they counted coup on an ally. Mr. Chapman spends valuable time with this incident and for the first time reveals its total effect on the Cheyenne people.

Mr. Chapman's story of the Fetterman Battle is the version told from the Cheyenne and Lakota perspective, published here for the first time. Mr. Chapman doesn't just rely on oral history; he also corroborates these accounts with the historical record. The book includes extensive endnotes. Thus, Mr. Chapman provides us with the most detailed account of the Fetterman Battle to date.

Mr. Chapman's old warrior narrator tells a painful story of death and grief with graceful language. Death doesn't come easy in Promise, and it doesn't come without purpose. As the Fetterman Battle opens, warriors wait in gullies and ravines for Crazy Horse and the other decoys to return with soldiers to kill. It's cold; there is fear in the narrator's voice:

"There were no soldiers, or none that we could see, until Crazy Horse brought them...the soldiers came up in a cloud behind this man and fanned along the edge of the Lodgepole Hills as feathers in a bustle. Bullets fell around him, the hail from that blue cloud, but he was not hit, although I thought the pony must have been shot in the leg when the man began looking at it that way. Yes, this was Little Hawk's swift pony, and so the man had to be Crazy Horse. As far away as we were, you could see his long hair like the color of that pony, hanging loose and falling over a red blanket which he had tied over his war shirt and blue leggings. It did not seem that the soldiers wanted to follow Crazy Horse, and they stood looking down at him, walking soldiers in the middle of some pony soldiers." (page 102)

Death doesn't come easy along Massacre Ridge as the narrator explains:

"Those still on horses were whipping them, and it was odd to see these men (soldiers) moving so fast and their horses moving so slow. One of them fell off and seemed to pull his horse on top of him. I saw three arrows in this horse...Some Little Stars counted coup on the soldier but were pushed away from him by much shooting. Then the shooting stopped, and the soldier's arms started to claw at the ground but his legs would not work. Maybe the horse had broken his back, I do not know. Wherever he is now, he is crawling still, for the women of the Little Stars finished him. The pony soldier on the white horse was still among the Little Stars, and I was much closer now, so close that I could hear the iron hooves of the soldiers' horses on the hard ground and the noise the pony soldier chief's long knife made when he cut the head off a young boy who tried to shoot him but snapped his bowstring." (page 105)

The narrator shares his feelings of battle as Captains Fetterman and Brown come closer to death:

"Some of the pony soldiers were not shooting, they were trying to hold onto their big horses. The smell of blood and smoke was all around, and even now when I see a herd of elk I can see these soldiers. Just as elk cows with their thin-legged calves will crowd together and turn one way and then another and then back again in fear, so did these soldiers. It seemed as if the two soldier chiefs were shouting at each other, but I do not know if they were, as everything was lost in the screams of dying horses and men, the snap of guns, our strong heart cries and the thunder of our ponies' hooves hunting the soldiers who broke away. We moved as swallows, cutting through the air with our arrows, our ponies on the wing taking us above the fighting where it all became quiet. But it was not, that is just a place you go to sometimes in a fight." (page 107)

There is no doubt in my mind; Mr. Chapman's accounting of the Fetterman Battle is the best I've read for its accuracy and dramatic effect. His battle is not just about soldiers positioned here and Indians attacking from there; instead it tugs at our hearts. Soldiers and Cheyenne men and women warriors were willing to die, for some in a strange place so far from home, in order to make a better life. Finally, there is a version of the Fetterman Battle that is heart filled.

Professor Bozeman makes it absolutely clear that anyone attempting to understand causation and motivation for the turmoil that leads to terrorist acts must get under the skin of the actors involved. We in the West particularly need to learn to lay aside our collection of presumptions about paramount human values.

While reading this book, every intelligence professional should feel like a bashful second-grader shuffling their feet while being kindly reprimanded by their teacher. This book, a collection of essays from the 1980's, is the only one I have ever found that truly grasps the strategic long-term importance of intelligence in the context of culture and general knowledge. The heart of the book is on page 177: "(There is a need) to recognize that just as the essence of knowledge is not as split up into academic disciplines as it is in our academic universe, so can intelligence not be set apart from statecraft and society, or subdivided into elements...such as analysis and estimates, counterintelligence, clandestine collection, covert action, and so forth. Rather, and as suggested earlier in this essay, intelligence is a scheme of things entire. And since it permeates thought and life throughout society, Western scholars must understand all aspects of a state's culture before they can assess statecraft and intelligence." The 25-page introduction, at least, should be read by every intelligence professional.

In Bound For Montana: Diaries From The Bozeman Trail, western historian Susan Badger Doyle has compiled and annotated diaries and journals kept by men and women who traveled through the American west on the Bozeman Trail. The Bozeman Trail was a route from the Platte River Road to the goldfields of Montana; its experience through the eyes of seven different people, ranging from a new bride traveling with her husband to a prospector in search of wealth to a Civil War veteran, is all recounted in the travellers' own words. A fascinating primary source, as useful for historians and period piece writers as it is entertaining to lay readers.