Nevada Books

This one is an exception. It is truly original and captivating from start to finish. You won't go wrong with this one.

The action, which is set around the Nevada town of Winnemucca in the year 1911, revolves around the pursuit of a Shoshone Indian family from Idaho accused of killing some white men. Told from the perspective of several major characters, including the Winnemucca Sheriff, a Basque immigrant, and the Shoshone Indians, this novel really shows the ugly underside of the West that never appears on the movie screen or in Louis L'amour's novels.

This is novel is not a celebration of the old West, but it is a page-turner and well worth adding to your library.

I RECEIVED THE BOOK AS A GAG GIFT, AND COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN. IT PAINTS A VIVID PICTURE OF AN INDUSTRTY THAT FEW OF US KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT.
IT HAS BECOME A COFFEE TABLE CONVERSATION PIECE IN MY CIRCLES.
EVEN MY SEVENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD MOTHER WAS FASCINATED WITH THIS "TELL ALL" BOOK.

THE AUTHOR HAS A VERY PERSONABLE AND ALMOST COMICABLE APPROACH TO HER WRITING

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE BOOK AS INTERESTING READING FOR OLD/YOUNG/SINGLE OR MARRIED'S--GOOD READ! ROD MITCHELL MEDIAROD@AOL.COM - MEDIA CONSULTANT - HOUSTON, TX

A prime example is even though William Bourn is in Monte Carlo during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Egan adds to his description of the events in San Francisco the following sentence: "Even after the devestation of an earthquake that would have measured somewhere about 8.25 on the Richter Scale-to be developed in later years by Charles F. Richter of the Claifornia Institute of Technology..."

Unfortunately this quote is not exceptional. If the author stayed with his topic the information Eagan unearthed on this important California family would require half the pages.

Ferol Egan's "Last Bonanza Kings" is a book sorely in need of an editor.

This guidebook lacks a "star" rating system, which many climbers are familiar with and find useful. The new hand-drawn topos by Mike Clelland are a nice addition since the original edition (1991), but their detail makes distinguishing route-lines on some topos difficult. The book is seriously lacking in the number of actual photos of cliffs, and those included only show select route-lines. Most critical to any rock climbing guidebook are its route ratings, and many of those given in this guide are disputable.

All told, it must be remembered that this book is only a `guide' and is not the absolute authority on what one will find at each crag. Your mileage will vary! If you are unfamiliar to the area, be sure to check with local climbers, who are generally more that willing to give advice. Also, Bob Sutton's "Select Rock Climbs of Tahoe" is available locally and is a very nice compliment to Carville's guide. HAPPY CLIMBING!

The major new feature of this guidebook is a set of excellent topos hand-drawn by Mike Clelland. These are among the best topos I have seen in any climbing guidebook. Unfortunately, about 20% of the topos remain the vague and confusing outlines last seen in the 1991 edition.

Directions to crags are generally good, but route descriptions rarely extend beyond names and approximate indications of the lines of ascent. Carville's alternative to the star ratings common in other guidebooks is a "recommended routes" section at the beginning of each description of an area, which makes navigation back and forth through the book an annoying necessity; this also makes it less easy to decide which routes might best be skipped by climbers unfamiliar with the area.

As far as new routes go, this version doesn't seem to add a lot of material over what was in the 1991 edition. There is now a section on ice and mixed routes, which I don't recall seeing in the earlier edition (but I wasn't interested in ice climbing then).

Carville has clearly put a lot of work into the new edition of this book, and while it's not the best guide I've seen, it is certainly good enough to get you to some crag where you'll find whatever challenges you please.

...For when one reads about Robert Merriman it becomes clear that he was an american patriot searching for solutions to get his own country out of the Depression and later trying to stop the rise of Fascism in Europe. That his countrymen were so blind then (and it seems still now) cost them dearly in WWII. The insensitivity shown by these reviewers hurts most those of us who look up to the american volunteers in awe, not for their ideological beliefs, but for their sense of sacrifice and love for freedom. It is a sin against Humanity to see Merriman's death any other way. If there is a God and these other reviewers are ever judged, I only hope that all their sins will be remembered.

One would expect this quality from a self-published book.

Those who know Nye County (NV) better, know better. The real history of Pahrump will probably be written by a hard-working graduate student armed with a tape recorder, a shoestring budget, and keen judgement.

This supposed "history" was ultimately funded by Department of Energy as part of its obiligation to local communities that will be affected by the proposed high-level nulcear waste repository nearby Yucca Mountain. Your tax dollars at work. Ugh....

The University of Nevada Presses don't exactly match Yale's or Harvard's, but you've got to wonder about standards and why they agreed to act as distributor, once this volume and the rest of the series were printed.

An embarrassment all around.