Mountain West Books

We were on our Honeymoon in Colorado and our friends lent us this book. We had a week to cover the state and we took our time! The book is an excellent guide through the small mining towns of Colorado. I've been searching for something similiar for our homestate!

This is an essential item for those folks looking to drive around the state seeing the sites and getting the history!

We loved it.

Profusely illustrated with color photography, "Hillside Letters A to Z: A Guide To hometown Landmarks" by Evelyn Corning is a visual travel guide and history of sixty iconic images associated with selected villages, towns, and cities across fourteen western states. From those giant letters on a mountain slope above a town, to iconic memorials honoring historical incidents in American history, the reader is treated to a tour that is as entertaining as it is informative about those curious letters that are carved and/or painted above their associated communities. Very highly recommended for curious travelers making their way through America by car or plane, and enhanced with a list of more than four hundred other known U.S. hillside letters and a map showing letter sites nationwide, "Hillside Letters A to Z" is as informative as it is entertaining as it explores the origins, customs and controversies associated with those sometimes mysterious but always fascinating community icons representing their schools and towns.

The corpse of an unidentified drifter is taxidermied and passed off as John Wilkes Booth to paying tourists. A con artist convinces an entire town to plan a big reception for a coming circus, makes off with hundreds of dollars in ticket sales, and the townsfolk after realizing the circus was a hoax, celebrate anyway and begin a tradition that continues to the present day. The sole survivor of a notorious outlaw gang moves to Hollywood and socializes with cowboy movie stars. This book is filled with such stories, hundreds of them. The age of rioting and looting Indians, ramshackle buggy rides through the wilderness, mobs of thousands bidding on ridiculously underpriced real estate which already belongs to others, public executions, Messiah scares, genocide, and the like is brought vividly and frustratingly to life. This book is like a cross between Tom Robbins' outrageous humor and Italo Calvino's novel, Invisible Cities. And all of it, every droll word, is true. 'Beliveve it or not,' as the man said.

I would recommend this book not only to Oklahoma history buffs, but also to people who enjoy more fantastical fiction such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, even to those with only marginal interest in Oklahoma at all.

That this book was published in 1991 didn't detract in the least from its usefulness in providing much greater insight for the areas we explored in Oregon. The book far exceeded my expectations. It provided remarkably detailed descriptions of historical characters and events. Very entertaining read.

The Roadside History of South Dakota is an entertaining, well-written book. At first I read this book as an armchair traveler and enjoyed anecdotes that gave the flavor and essence of South Dakota. Then I drove through the state. The book brought to life the places we passed on the way, and I was able to entertain my children with stories of the people who lived there. Driving roads like I90 became a historical and cultural experience. I am looking forward to reading other books in the Roadside History series.

Few states have so many varied regions with such distinct local flavors. This book brings to life the past and present. Leon Metz is well qualified to lasso the immensity of Texas and bring it under control. Metz takes the various regions of Texas and gives a sweeping historical account for each. He then concentrates on the towns and historical sites where the exciting adventures happened. Many illustrations and maps.

I thought this book was very interesting and informative. I would recommend this to anyone interested in native american art.

Rock Climbing Utah offers the most comprehensive guide to climbing the best rock Utah has to offer. Utah boasts some of the most diverse, beautiful, and bizarre rock formations imaginable. From the granite canyons of the Wasatch, to the lunar-like sandstone of Canyonlands Rock Climbing Utah will introduce you to the most unbelievable experiences in your climbing career. It is difficult to cover such a wide spectrum of climbing routes, ecosystem changes, and skill levels but this guide does a wonderful job. For a broad overview of underrated climbing that often rivals Yosemite, this guide is difficult to match.

The outer journey parallels the inner as soul is recovered through a relationship with the landscape. Beautiful photos and drawings. The personal becomes universal. No commercialism, nothing packaged or taken for granted. Eloquent writing; spare but descriptive. The reader sees what the author writes because the author is a visual artist as well as a seasoned river guide.

If you ever have experienced the pleasure of riding the Durango and Silverton narrow gauge railroad in southwest Colorado, then reading this little book on the history of Durango definitely is something you will enjoy. The author is a scholar who writes in a comfortable style. The only negative might be the fact that the reproduction quality of some of the vintage old west photographs leaves much to be desired.