Mountain West Books

I have this book, but it was published in 1990. In other words, I do not have the revised and updated version.

However, if this one is anything like the copy I have, it is wonderful. The full color pictures are lovely and are used to enhance the text.

Although this book doesn't tell the history of these states, it visits historic places within each state. Much of the history of these four states (NM, AZ, NV, UT) is told through the landscape and historic buildings of each state.

I have enjoyed every place that I have visited and my visits have only been enhanced by using this book as a resource in my travels.

This book was a big help. My son and I were going to spend 5 days in Phoenix for a football game. We had no idea on what to do. After reading this book, we were able to have an unbelievable get-away.

Rick Harris's book "Discover Arizona" is by far the "easiest" way to do just that. I first began using this book as a weekend "thrill" reference 9 years ago. My husband and I loved finding places off the beaten track. This book led us directly to some of the most exciting places Arizona has to offer. He is very clear in his directions, his caution signs, and even reminded us several times of the the specific laws of the land. No matter where we happened to be going in the state, we could plan in minutes, what special extras we could find, wether it be ghost towns, Indian ruins, or crystal beds. We would also know how long it would take us to get there, what time of year was best to visit, and what kind of vehicle was required if any. At one time I even wrote a letter to Rick Harris to get some additional information on one of his places called "Huens Ruins". He wrote me back a hand written letter with the same sense of humor and a hand drawn map giving me the additional information I requested. We have since purchased his second book and are continuing to explore Arizona in all of it's beauty and intrigue. We do however miss the large map of Arizona with the references showing each site and it's number as was on the back of the first issue. If you love to explore. If you love to find relics, and want to truly appreciate the incredible beauty of Arizona, buy this book, and some good hiking boots!-You'll be very glad you did both!

Little light is shed on many of our great land's smaller towns, such as the ones featured in this book. Who are these people, is one question that pops to mind. Why do they stay in such little towns when you have Vegas and L.A. and Chicago and Miami and NYC? This book helps answer that question. Superb writing, says this observer. Drank a bottle of scotch outside the town limits of Madrid, NM after I read this book. In the company of a Santa Fe woman, of course. "Why do you read that stuff?" she asked. "...because I care," was all I could think to say. You have another one in the works, I hope...

This collection of 11 short stories set in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado is little known but well worth the readers time. There are no real heroes in the book, just a variety of men and women who are forced to deal with dilemmas we all face in our everyday life. The settings for the stories are in mountain mining towns such as Telluride, Ouray, Montrose, Gunnison, Cortez, Dolores and Norwood, Colorado. The stories are intense, frightening, honest and some come Oh so close to home. Let's look at one of them. In Toward the Sun, you have a woman dealing with the probability that the man she loves, and who loves her in his own way, is slipping away. The following description of his honesty is an example of the wonderful writing in the book. "But he cannot be dishonest. If there were a seed of dishonesty in him, he would, like an oyster, make a pearl of it. That kind of honesty is both hard to come by and hard to endure." The age old desire to change someone to fit your expectations and the possible results and cost of such change, are fit into a marvelous story which will leave you with a wider perspective of life and the choices we make. Is honesty really the best policy? Is happiness worth any cost? Nelson explores the age old dilemma of someone that has a job but no options or alternatives and tries to deal with desires and longings, as follows: "Maybe he liked the dog for his hunger: The dog had done something-he'd escaped, hidden, lived free. Marshall envied that. He had hunger too, but for what? He didn't know for what. Maybe he had hunger for hunger. He wanted to do something. Something: that didn't say much. Do what? Something besides work." This is the first book I have read by Nelson but it will not be the last. Fortunately, he has written three other novels, two collections of short stories and a host of short stories in literary magazines. He also has won a PEN fiction award and the Edward Abbey Prize for Ecofiction. This is an above average book by an above average author.

So many Lewis and Clark books have appeared in celebration of the anniversary that it's initially difficult to see the need for yet another - that is, until you open the pages to discover aerial photographer Jim Wark and history buff Joseph Mussulman have provided a very different view. The Lewis and Clark expedition route is followed from the air, accompanied by step-by-step discussion of their route choices and explorations in a fascinating, visually pleasing survey.

The Mountain View Development Company began leveling Dismal Mountain, West Virginia in order to construct a mall. The firm bought out most residents but elderly Lizzie Neal refused to leave because this was the home of her ancestors and her parents were buried nearby. When the company sends trucks down from the mountaintop, an incident finally occurs. Lizzie's nephew Bobby Ray killed the driver who he swears fired at him first. Lizzie sets up the scene so it would seem she shot the driver.

Lizzie's nephew, transportation inspection consultant Owen Allison, comes home to visit his ailing mother and to help Lizzie. While Owen's mother recovers from cancer surgery, Sheriff Thad Reader explains to him that Lizzie's confession of being responsible appears phony. He asks Owen to try to learn the truth. As he makes some inquiries, Owen begins to uncover a dark conspiracy to fund the Dismal Mountain Project, which places his life in danger.

DISMAL MOUNTAIN is an exciting and relevant Owen Allison mystery that highlights the environmental versus economy issue. The story line is entertaining due to the strong secondary characters that help bring West Virginia alive while providing depth to Owen through his family members and his former college sweetheart. John Billheimer makes mystery reading fun (see HIGHWAY ROBBERY and THE CONTRARY BLUES for additional pleasure).

Harriet Klausner

It's easy to see why readers like Will James. His love of working cowboys, his respect for horses, and his devotion to the fraternity of men who worked cattle and horses on the open range give his stories an easy warmth - like a comfortable old boot. This book is a collection of his early stories first published in national magazines as his writing career suddenly took off in the 1920s. They are fictionalized autobiography, told in the first person by the drifting cowboy of the title, a young man named Bill, who is an accomplished bronc rider.

The stories are told in a leisurely fashion, in the unpolished, ungrammatical jargon of someone sitting around a cow camp swapping yarns with the other boys. The pace seems very slow until you realize that James is trying to capture not the drama but the everydayness of cowboy life. Even while he idealizes his subject, he wants us to feel what it is really like - the grueling, dangerous work of herding cattle that are likely to stampede without warning; the fruitless search for work in lean times; the struggle to keep cattle fed and watered in the desert.

Competing in a local rodeo, Bill and his friend Tommy have to outwit the promoters, who rig the results with unfair judges and by manipulating the draw, but what is interesting about this story is the actual experience of being a rodeo cowboy. Our heroes participate in several events (unlike today), and James conveys the mixture of excitement, nerves, disappointment, and triumph that his heroes feel.

Most striking about the stories is James' capturing of the spirit of fraternity among cowboys, their generosity, and their gallantry. For all their toughness and fierce disregard for personal injury, there is a gentleness in them that makes these stories almost endearing. And in their tendency to "drift," there's a dedicated individualism that is tempered by loneliness and melancholy. Reading James, it's easy to see how he helped to create the myth of the cowboy in the American imagination.

I'm happy to recommend this book. There are seven wonderful stories and 44 of his carefully detailed illustrations, most of them featuring horses with hooves flying and lean cowboys with big hats, who look a lot like James himself in his photographs.

This is a well written account of Western Slope history by someone who was there, on location.

In this witty and helpful guide, Glave provides her reader with all the information needed to eat and drink the BEST of Santa Fe. The reviews are succinct and flavorful, the information is plentiful (with icons to alert one to great takeout options, family-friendly locales, romantic spots, pricing), and the layout is clean and accessible. Eat Drink helped me find the right spot for the right occasion -- and I don't plan to return to Santa Fe without my copy close at hand!