Missoula Books

The book covers an aspect of WWII-events that only in later years came into focus: the alien-detention of Italian- and Japanese civilians in the US.

It's a gripping well-researched tale which moves the reader. No 5-star generals here but innocent individuals who were overtaken by the event of something which was much bigger than themselves, which they couldn't control nor define ... they were mere pawns on a global chessboard.

Little guys are the heroes ... the cook, the hairdresser, the musicians from the Italian luxury liner ... and the innocent Americans who'se only crime it was to be from Japanese ancestry.

The book, rather than painting a grim story about the detention, highlights the life of unfortunate individuals and is an inspiration for good feelings. It shows that something good can come out of something not so good.

I'd recommend the book to anyone with a healthy feeling for contemporary history.

Blending hope and heartbreak, Pushed to Shore delves fearlessly into the nature of loneliness, both cultural and personal, and, at the same time, opens a window on the commonality of humanity without regard for racial differences. Janet Hunter is a teacher in an ESL (English/Second Language) class of relative-sponsored Vietnamese and Hmong high school students in Missoula, Montana.

Montana in winter is covered with snow and nothing like the verdant homeland these young people have left, and they must adapt to this entirely different and unfamiliar terrain. Unlike the other students in their high school, who are a jumble of enthusiastic adolescents on the cusp of adulthood, Hunter's special students are subdued and introverted, many with life experiences far exceeding their teenage peers. In their short lives, they have already known abandonment, violence and deprivation, with little comfort, luxury or leisure time for childish adventures. Unaware of her own personal deficiencies, Hunter feels emotionally drawn to her students, willing to lend her skills to help mold their futures in this unfamiliar land.

Acculturation is a difficult process, at best. Hunter is keenly aware of her shortcomings as a teacher, unable to pronounce or understand more than a few phrases of her student's dialects. She clumsily attempts to master language skills that seem beyond her reach and can only imagine their frustration without the English phrases necessary to communicate with fellow students. A lack of language skills is a primary obstacle to success. Hunter takes her job seriously; she must conscientiously prepare her students for economically feasible futures and it is her goal to help them graduate with the required level of education. As she interacts with her students, Hunter becomes aware of their subtle, yet critical differences. Gadbow avoids categorizing these young Southeast Asians, concentrating instead on their variety, the traits and idiosyncrasies that make each student a distinct individual. For all their ethnic similarities, each has a definitive personality, a variety of goals and ambitions.

At the same time, Hunter becomes aware of her lack of a personal life. In a sense, she realizes the extent of her self-obsession and self-protection, finally prepared to join the world around her, buoyed by the daily courage of her students. Like Sleeping Beauty, Hunter awakens to the real necessity for developing more extensive friendships and interests, with or without a man. When the opportunity presents itself, she begins a relationship, the first since a painful divorce eight years ago. Because of her willingness to engage in the new affair, Hunter gains some valuable insight into the real difficulties inherent in any risk, let alone a complete change of life-style.

With incredible perseverance, the students work diligently in their adopted country and Hunter is amazed at the enormous fortitude and courage they exhibit along with their indomitable will to survive. The clean, spare story describes the difficulty of merging cultures and the unceasing commitment involved, undertaken here with the courage and spirit of the early immigrants who first came to the distant shores of America.. Luan Gaines/2003.

"In the Moon of Red Ponies" is one of James Lee Burke's novels that features Billy Bob Holland, a defense attorney in Missoula, instead of his better known protagonist, Dave Robicheaux. The Holland books are subtler, taking a little longer to develop and distributing more of the action to the cast of characters. Burke's mastery of scene continues with gorgeous descriptions of Montana's natural riches. The captivating patterns of Burke's writing continue: the problem that can't be ignored by a man of conscience; an assortment of personalities in various degrees of disrepair; moments of startling, violent ferocity; small moments of hard-earned redemption; and the sanctuary of love-making.

The reader is hard to get used to, the story good, lot of twists and turns, keeps you interested.

Billy Bob Holland (yes Billy Bob) a former Texas Ranger, a Former DA, and now a current Defense attorney has just found out that Wyatt Dixon, a psycho who attempted to bury his wife alive, has been released from jail on a technicality. The local drunk has also been locked up again but this time is different because he was caught carrying a concealed weapon. Billy bob worries about Dixon as he goes to bail out Johnny American Horse (The local Drunk) from jail on the weapons charges.....

To be fair I didn't choose this book. It was kind of forced on me by an acquaintance. I had a feeling by reading the title that this wasn't likely to be something I would enjoy but figured I would give it a shot. I couldn't even finish this one. It is that bad. I was literally laughing out loud at this author's prose. Like all books if they start a little weak I will give them 100 pages +/- and if 100 pages in I still just don't care about what's going on in the story it is time to move on. The book read like a bad combination of, Cheesy modern western and cheesy film noir.

The Good: ??????

The Bad: This author's style of writing is completely annoying. I literally began to laugh as I read his attempts at setting scenes. Every single scene every time is set with, "The hills were blanked with sun" "The sun was bright on the hillside" "We walked into the brilliance of morning sunshine" and on and on and on in every scene. These descriptions were paired with gems like "The air smelled of distant rain" "the air smelled of wet grass and pine" and "The sky was forked with lightning" or a variation thereof. Also every scene has "through the window I could see mountains in the back ground". Now I'm not talking every chapter or every other chapter. I am talking about every scene, which is every page to every third page. Also almost every scene introduces a new member of wild life: "White tail deer scampered across the path" "white tail deer walked up into the shadowed wood" "I was temporarily distracted buy a black bear ambling across the path" "Moose and elk crossed the stream in the distance". This stuff was so heavy handed in the book it became laughable and this was all in the first 120 pages.

The characters are also not likeable. The hero is a defense attorney, his overbearing PI wife, the ex psycho reformed Christian killer, the drunken hero Indian and of course the over the top cop. I am reading this looking for a character to enjoy reading or at least to root against and what I found after 100 pages was that I just didn't care about any of them. Not only did I not care but I actually disliked them. Burke should have spent more time on his characters than on wild life and sun blanketed hillsides.

The characters names are also pretty bad. I don't usually complain about this but had to here. Gems like: Billy Bob, Temple (Billy Bob's wife) Johnny American Horse and Lester Antelope.

The story lacks a cohesive plot. Stories that don't follow conventional story lines are fine when all of the other components are in place however I don't think that is what is going on in "Red Ponies". I think the plot is just so meandering and slow to develop that it didn't even begin to make itself known in the portion I read.

Overall: I could go on an on about how poor this book is but will just say to pass on this one.

I've read just about everything Burke has written and this is one of the worst. The various parts just don't fit together and I found myself drumming my fingers and wishing it would just end. I suppose the good news is that it did. More and more the author has his main characters wallowing in self analysis and contemplating their navels at great length. If you like that you like it but there's too much of it for me. In addition the plot is kind of pasted together and imparts no belief that it could happen as written or that it makes sense. And the actions of the protagonist become increasingly tiresome. Enough.

Having become a James Lee Burke junkie over the last year, I couldn't wait to read "Moon". What a disappointment. Billy Bob and Temple in Montana just can't compare to Dave and Bootsie in Louisiana! The action wanes when it needs to wax - and Cletus is no where around to spice it up. If you like the Bayou stories, I'm afraid the Bitteroot Mountains won't elicit quite the same reading anticipation.

This book may lack high quality info. for the experienced outdoorsman but for the common Missoula area Native this book supplies the perfect amount of pertinent information. Where it lacks in detail it excells in simple english.

This book was exactly what I was looking for - the lazy Missoulian's guide to local trails. I didn't need photos and long descriptions of what I'd see - I just wanted driving directions to the trailheads, and simple, easy-to-use maps of each trail system. This book is also light enough and small enough to take along.

From my experience using it as a reference, the maps in the book just follow those that are posted and sometimes freely available when you reach the trail head - but it puts everything conveniently in one place, and also gives elevation gain, round-trip distances, and the USGS map you should use if you want topos. It also gives basic info of the views and other attractions. A worthwhile purchase.

This book lacks everything you would expect from a useful guidebook. The trail maps are completely useless in the field. Compounding the complete uselessness of this book are the vague and poorly written hike descriptions. Every hike sounds as boring as the next (even though they traverse some stunning scenery), almost as if this book was researched/written completely at a desk - instead of out in the field. I wonder if the author even set foot on any of these trails?

This is a book that anyone interested in Western Montana or early western history will want. It is the history of a trail that began as an Indian trail from Frenchtown near Missoula, Montana, and worked its way through several habitats to Fort Steele, British Columbia. Today, Highway 93 roughly parallels the old trail in the Montana, connecting Missoula, St. Ignatius, Polson, Kalispell, and Eureka. As people of European origin moved into the area, the trail evolved section by section from a horse trail, to a wagon road, to a highway. This book is a well researched history of the trail, and also provides information about the characters and communities associated with the trail. The writing and publishing quality is what one would expect of a local effort. It is quite readable and made an excellent gift this past Christmas to some of my Montana friends.

The Moon-Randolph Homestead is just north of Missoula, Montana, in the foothills of the Mission Mountains. Ray Moon filed the homestead application in 1889. William and Emma Randolph purchased 80 acres of the homestead, including the buildings, in 1894 and later added additional property. Members of the Randolph family lived on the property until the city of Missoula purchased it in 1995. It is now being restored as a historical heritage. This book provides a historical perspective and a baseline for the ongoing preservation and stewardship of the property. Part of the cost of restoration is paid from sales of the book.

By 1889, the best ground in the Missoula area was already in ownership. Thus, the Moon-Randolph property was dryer and less fertile. This book addresses how a family makes a living on such land. They developed water sources and raised dairy, beef, and produce for their own use and to sell. The mix of products varied as the market dictated over the years. The homestead was close enough to Missoula so that the Randolphs' market included restaurants, stores, and door-to-door sales. A coal seam on the property was developed and the coal sold locally as well as supplying the farm. At times, family members worked at other jobs in Missoula in order to supplement the farm income. The Randolph family did whatever was needed to survive the depression, even though less fortunate members of their extended family sometimes increased their numbers.

This is a brass tacks description of the family and property. To the extent possible, it describes how the fields were developed and used. Likewise, it gives the history of the buildings on the property. There are historical and current pictures of people, buildings and implements. There are sketches, ledgers, and brochures illustrating historical items found at the homestead. The book closes with a letter wherein a Randolph descendent describes what life was like on the homestead.

An interesting sidelight to the homestead story is a brief account of a historic Indian trail that crosses the property. Anyone familiar with Missoula or the Lewis and Clark story knows of Hellgate Canyon just east of Missoula. The Blackfoot Indians were notorious for using the canyon to ambush other tribes as they journeyed east to hunt buffalo on the plains. The Indian trail described in the book was a detour that the tribes could use to bypass Hellgate Canyon. I haven't seen the trail mentioned in any other source.

There isn't much romance in this book. It is too brief to give much of a picture of homestead life. However, it is an important historical account. One wishes that a lot more historic properties had such documentation.