Idaho Books

George W. Wingate was a man in full for his time. With his Civil War compatriot Col. William C. Church, Wingate published the first manual on rifle marksmanship in 1870. The following year the pair established the National Rifle Association.

In 1885, Wingate's concern for the health of his 17-year old daughter and his sense of adventure led him, his wife and their eldest daughter, May, to plan a horseback trip through Yellowstone National Park. Doctors believed the trip would improve May's health. It did.

The Wingates rode 460 miles in just 26 days, returning to New York City bedazzled by the park and in fine spirits.

Wingate's book, Through the Yellowstone Park on Horseback, provides a faithful and fascinating account of early tourist travel. The University of Idaho Press provides a service by republishing the book and reminding us of Yellowstone's marvelous history.

Wingate was also a faithful observer. He provided fine sketches of Western culture, from an Army fort past its prime, to profiles of those he hired to guide his family through the park. Hunters and anglers will enjoy his accounts of adventures during the journey.

The book offers a valuable perspective for those who have visited the park. It also may spur readers who love historical books to visit Yellowstone.

Margaret Fuller is an exceptional writer that combines how to get to some of the best locations in Idaho with a little history of the areas you might explore. I own all of her guidebooks and would recommend them to anyone. One of my favorite pieces of information that she includes is how long a hike will take which makes it nice since I can plan better. Being a native Idahoan growing up in Salmon I knew a lot of Eastern & Central Idaho's backcountry but when I moved to the Treasure Valley I didn't know the area. That was easily remedied when I picked up this book. It got me to some beautiful out of the way places. It is filled with a lot of great information and bits of lore that might take a lifetime to find out on your own.

When the son of one of the wealthiest men in country goes missing in the dangerous Oregon border country, Skye Fargo, along with a motley crew of renowned frontiersmen, gets asked to find him. With twenty thousand dollars going to whoever succeeds. Not only does Fargo have the dangers of the trail to contend with he also has the other trackers to keep an eye on as that kind of money brings all the worst out in them.

John Sharpe comes up with another winner here. It has all the elements I expect from a Trailsman book, a great fast moving plot, mystery elements, characters whose motives come under suspicion, tests of friendships, violent action, odds you've just got to wonder how Fargo can take on and win and a writing style that makes the book impossible to put down.

The most gripping element of this story is when Fargo and company are under threat from a mysterious marksman, this was sheer edge of the seat stuff!

All the elements of the story come together in a terrific ending with no threads left untied.

I'd also like to pass acknowledgement to the cover artist, the lower picture is superb.

Another highly recommended read in the Trailsman series.

Becoming Travelers in an Antique Land

Open Travelers in an Antique Land and become part of the American High Mountain Desert. William Studebaker, poet, and Russell Hepworth, photographer, present audiences the spirit of the High Mountain Deserts of Utah, Idaho, Oregon, and Nevada. From each place portrayed, as in "The Space Closest to Our Bodies," We learn to hear a voice

with no sound, with no tongue

with no mouth, as if the air

itself was a way of speaking.

The union of the poet and the photographer with the the High Desert is gentle and mystical. Words and pictures ease readers into their own relationship with the land and its dimensions beyond the common stereotypically flat images of the High Desert while zipping along I-84. The phototgraphs and poems do not deal with people, only what they left while passing through the High Desert such as plows, jet planes, and religion, or how humans indifferently poisoned the land with abandoned cars, asphalt, and nuclear waste. Now matter how humans treated the High Desert, however, its spirit is not destroyed as seen in "Another Time" where

The fence posts were

as deranged as lunatics

loose at noon

..................

But beyond

the distant horizon,

the one the near-sighted

have never seen,

the sky stretched overhead

and the center held

another time.

And so, the High Desert center holds by preserving such wonders as Hell's Canyon, camas bulbs, ritual mating of upland birds, and the patterns and reach of rock formations--the DNA of the High Mountain Desert--the spirit that is, was, and will be.

Each page of Studebaker's poetry faces one of Hepworth's crisp black-and-white photographs. The work stems from the artists' emotional responses to the the desert land that transcend politics or economics or ethnicity. Each of Hepworth's photos visually clarifies the corresponding poem. Studebaker gently draws readers into and through his verse with vivid images, wry humor, and concern for his subjects arising from personal experiances.

Travelers in An Antique Land is for those who wish to hold the High Mountain Desert in their hands and minds, to become part of the place, and to gain a deeper view of themselves.

I got this book for christmas for my brother, who is an artist too, but unknown. These images and essays are so good I know he will be thrilled as I was to find them at last, because it took almost two years to get this one. I studied with the cedar program, and this book offers a rare chance to see the root of Idaho art.

This essay roxor for when hoard is like "POWER WORD" and u are liek "sike counterspell" lol bzzzz I always ggs u no.

I have a alt toon named aristotelian and he is level 33 "LFG" u no look me up on azgalor its got "cash galor"

shout outs to Sethdog he on vent right now we talk about the fagility of hoard lols so

latez

Weathering, Ann Zell's first full collection, celebrates old friends and tough women; explores the complexities of family relations. An American, Ann Zell has lived as a voluntary exile for over half her life. Not identifying herself either as an irish or an American poet, she ranges back and forth between times and places, childhood and middle age, Idaho and Ireland. The attachment is to particular people, particular landscapes. The collection's title 'Weathering' relates to resistance, fighting back, holding on, living through; natural things and people continuing to exist.

The only girl in a large Mormon family, Ann Zell was born and raised on a potato farm in Idaho. After years of schooling, mothering, casual jobs and radical politics at street level, she began writing seriously in her early fifties during a stint as a medical secretary in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast. She lived in New York and London before settling in West Belfast in 1980. She is a member of the Word of Mouth poetry collective, and her work has been published in many publications, including, Virago New Poets, The Atlanta Review, Word of Mouth (Blackstaff), and Poetry Ireland Review.

This book was laugh out loud funny. I devoured it in one day, I kid you not. And my family was giving me strange looks because I kept busting up laughing every few seconds. Not only is it humorous, but clean humor! Like that even exists anymore! And of course it is a great romance. Wonderfully written and just a fun read. You can't help but love all the characters, and you will be able to identify each character with someone you know, or at least I could with most. Oh, and there were some surprisingly poignant moments, along with a shocker twist at the end. I swear I didn't even see it coming. Maybe because I was laughing too hard.

Up front: I know Jeff Wallach -- as a golfer and golf writer. So, it was with some surprise that I learned he had written a book about river rafting. When I started reading it I was certain there was no way Jeff could sustain an entire book on one summer's experience on the river. But he did, and admirably. This is a book for anyone interested in nature writing at its best. Not only are there dozens of vignettes and insights into what it's like to go on a river tour by dory, but Wallach gives a clear historical perspective of the wilderness and its endangerment as well. Would I read this book again? You bet.

The photos are engaging, I wanted desperately to read more about the cultures where the authors traveled. There were times when it was a little hard to read, as the author's first language does not appear to be English. But the work is solid, and beautifully done, a wonderful addition to any horseman's collection.