University of Nevada Books

this is a cycle of interrelated poems following the life and times of an amiable stoner named naatsi from his days on haight street in san francisco (circa mid-to-late 1960's) on up to south dakota and the clinton years. really these are miniature short stories, poetic vignettes that add up to a deep and satisfying portrait of an individual. nothing pretentious here at all (thank God). poetry that is enjoyable and moving, and actually about something. i highly recommend it.

An exceptional trip down the stoned, yellow-brick road of memory. I was in San Francisco in the late 1960's and these poems brought it all back--yeah, it was a real flashback. The sadness and beauty of it all. If you were there, get this book. Peace.

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.

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.

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!

I found this book to be an excellent reference source for points within the State of Nevada; both in the present and past. A very thorough work product.

I read this book as a father who wants to take his family on occasional trips around the state where I reside. I also like to know the meaning of names in our own area. Helen does an excellent job of research and concise, factual, and intriguing reporting of what is to be known about a Nevada name. It is alphabetically organized and even the introduction, as brief as it is, is rich in the equipping of the reader with Nevada history. This book is a treasure alongside a gazeteer and or atlas of the state of Nevada.

This book is very easy to read and understand. I like this fact since it is a textbook required for my class. It looks at many factors both inside and outside the US.

The book is fabulous. Very informative and easy to read and comprehend. Definately a great author!

Comprehensive and fluent also for not american readers (I'm Italian).

This book is a historical account that is an easy read and provides a full accounting of Nevada's history from the time when American Indian tribes dominated the territory until today. While most people think mostly about Las Vegas when considering Nevada, up until recently most of the human action is the state took place in other locations. James Hulse does a beautiful job in compiling and presenting the influence of mining, railrods, farming & grazing, immigration, water rights, military matters, and politics in all reigons of the state.

If you are interested in a thorough accounting of the history of the state of Nevada, this book is a top choice.

The Basque people are certainly an interesting race; it is believed that theirs is one of the oldest languages in Europe. Where they came from and how they ended up in northern Spain has been a point of contention between anthropologists for some time. They suffered terribly during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's; the famous painting by Picasso represents some of the suffering in the Basque city of Guernica. The people of that city had the dubious distinction of being the first in history to have been the victims of the deliberate terror bombing of civilians. The Euskadi Ta Askatasuna or ETA has been engaged in a decade's long struggle to create an independent homeland for the Basque people out of the Basque areas in Spain and France.
This book is a collection of photos taken in the Basque regions in Spain and France. It is a rugged, yet beautiful land; most of the buildings are very old. While there are some modern devices displayed in the pictures, the majority could have been taken decades ago and some perhaps over a century ago. People are meeting over drinks, coffee and traditional food. Some of the beautiful pictures of the villages in the valleys could have been taken at the turn of the century.
When people appear in the photo, one thing is clear. The Basques are a very proud people, they have lived on and worked their land for centuries and will continue to do so. Rugged mountains and terrain breeds rugged, hardy people and that certainly describes the Basques. No small set of photographs with associated explanations in a book can truly describe any culture, especially one this old. However, it can both literally and figuratively give you a snapshot and that is done very well in this book.

"A Time We Knew: Images of Yesterday in the Basque Homeland" is the product of a fascinating collaboration between photographer William Albert Allard and the dean of Basque-American literature, Robert Laxalt.

In the fall of 1967, Allard spent two months in the Basque country of northeastern Spain and southwestern France, capturing with his camera the everyday life of the people who lived there. Although Allard spoke no Basque and was linked to the Basque country only through his Basque wife, his stunning photos evoke the tremendous power of the Basque landscape and people: the haunting flanks of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques at evening; the gloomy mountains of the northern coast of Spain just at the approach of a storm; a rough-hewn woman with a scythe at Behorleguy, on the frontier between youth and age, in whose face is reflected the painful past of the ancient Basque people. From a technical point-of-view, these incredible photographs are so good that they could truly be "images of yesterday": the color is brilliant. Alas, though, "yesterday" in the Basque country is no more. The years since 1967 have seen the heavy industrialization of both the French and Spanish sectors of the Basque homeland and the gradual passing of the ancient ways Allard captures here.

Laxalt's contribution to this book is his prose vignettes, some of the best of his characteristically exquisite prose-poetry. A second-generation Basque-American whose father grew up in the French Basque country, Laxalt knows the region as well as probably anyone in the United States. While one cannot miss the heavy dose of romanticism in his prose ("Girls slender as reeds walking hand in hand down the lane, singing an ode to spring in soprano voices pure and light as air") and even pastoralism (exacerbated by the fact that the Basques are some of the world's greatest shepherds), it is obvious that Laxalt is a remarkable writer.

A poetic look at "yesterday" in the Basque country. Get it on your shelf.

This book provides a thourough set of the features and attractions you will see on a drive through the Sierra Nevada. Most guides cover Highway 49 and some cover US395, but this guide also covers the far southern and far northern ends of the mountain range.

An exhaustive guide might be 1000 pages long, but in the 300 pages here, Koehler lovingly covers the highlights as well as some hidden gems in the area.

When I recently planned a trip to the Sierra I browsed through many books on the region. It wasn't until I saw Koehler's new title that I knew I had struck Sierra gold. This book is not just a timely overview of the region that is one of the nation's true scenic wonders--it is impressively well-written. Koehler threads her own experience into a beautifully-rendered survey of every destination you would probably consider visiting, whether by foot, snowshoes or car.