Idaho Books

I would love to review this book but I ordered it, paid for it and never received it. Please contact me. Thank you! Cara Fareri

Unique, well-written monologues. Fresh material, with both dramatic and comedic choices. Excellent.

Amazon helped me find this book, and I am grateful, indeed. I'd been looking for it for quite a while, because it is, shamefully, out of print. I can't think why! For fans and students of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, 'Teater's Knoll' is even better than 'Frank Lloyd Wright's Hanna House: The Client's Report'. The Archie Teater Studio is the only FLLW house in Idaho, and one of his most fascinating. Not only is it a beautiful design, it is one of the best-documented FLLW houses; the original owners saved every scrap of paper with any bearing on the house's design and construction. ....Whiting goes on from this tale of woe to tell of his hands-on restoration of the house; it's one of the few FLLW restorations done by an owner, albeit an owner with a background in architecture. There's also interesting material in the book on Whiting's uncle, Alden Dow, a friend and disciple of Wright's. This one gets four stars- I'm docking it one star only because the photography of the restoration fails to give much sense of the flow of spaces within the house. HIGHLY recommended, nonetheless! Put Amazon on the case and get a copy. You won't regret it.

I'd been looking for it for quite a while, because it is, shamefully, out of print. I can't think why! For fans and students of Frank Lloyd Wright's work, 'Teater's Knoll' is even better than 'Frank Lloyd Wright's Hanna House: The Client's Report'. The Archie Teater Studio is the only FLLW house in Idaho, and one of his most fascinating. Not only is it a beautiful design, it is one of the best-documented FLLW houses; the original owners saved every scrap of paper with any bearing on the house's design and construction. After falling on hard times and disrepair, the house was saved by Henry Whiting II, who found the Teater archives when he bought the place in near-derelict condition. Whiting has used that material to tell the story of the house's construction. It nearly didn't get built at all, owing to the irascibility of the clients; they hired, fired, and sued contractors and labourers with what can only be called mad abandon. Whiting goes on from this tale of woe to tell of his hands-on restoration of the house; it's one of the few FLLW restorations done by an owner, albeit an owner with a background in architecture. There's also interesting material in the book on Whiting's uncle, Alden Dow, a friend and disciple of Wright's. This one gets four stars- I'm docking it one star only because the photography of the restoration fails to give much sense of the flow of spaces within the house. HIGHLY recommended, nonetheless! You won't regret it.

If you've ever had a child or even a childhood, this book will touch you and remind of how important family, love, compassion and faith really are. Author Larry Barkdull eloquently uses simple, identifiable and very visual stories to show us how our lives connect and affect those we love and even those we barely know. Read this. The characters will move into your heart forever.

This book is told in flashback, and it has an autobiographical feel. It's short, readable, nothing outstanding. It's a good book to read when you want something light, simple, and uplifting. If you're a baby boomer, you may be reminded of your own childhood memories as you read this book.

With Washed by a Wave of Wind, M. Shayne Bell has produced a unique and fascinating anthology which will become increasingly significant and more frequently analyzed as years go by. This book is a must have for any serious reader of Western science fiction, LDS science fiction, or regional/ethnic science fiction. It is also full of unusual, well-written fiction that any adventurous reader should enjoy.

M. Shayne Bell has done an amazing job of obtaining top-quality stories from a talented and diverse group of writers. The contributors to this anthology represent a wide range of viewpoints, from very mainstream LDS authors who teach at BYU and have books sold by Deseret Book (Glenn L. Anderson), to people who are LDS but interestingly "unorthodox", to people who have never been LDS but live in the region. The stories run the gamut as well. Some could be published without causing a stir in the New Era. Others are definitely "subversive" (to use the word from the book's back cover blurb). But none of them are simply mean or "anti."

Many stories contain plot points and ideas and speculations about future that many Latter-day Saints would find offensive. But there is nothing that readers widely read in either science fiction or LDS fiction will be driven to apostacy by. The viewpoints are so diverse, there are only two "messages" a person could take away from the anthology as a whole: Utah/LDS writers are an extremely talented, diverse bunch and Utah/LDS culture is unarguably unique. A book of this sort, so bound to place and so culturally marked, never has been and never could be produced by "science fiction writers from Ohio," for example.

Edited by Hugo-nominated author M. Shayne Bell, this anthology is the first work to collect short fiction by all the major (and many of the minor) science fiction writers to have emerged from Utah in the past two decades. Included are reprinted stories by Orson Scott Card, Michaelene Pendleton, and Bell himself; also showcased are strong original works by the likes of Dave Wolverton, Elizabeth H. Boyer, Virginia Baker, Glenn L. Anderson, Pat Bezzant, Kathleen Dalton-Woodbury, Diann Thornley, and D. William Shunn. Uneven, but on the whole quite interesting and worthwhile.

Lewis and Clark fans should have this book. It is also an excellent book for someone who only wants a sample of Lewis and Clark lore. It is very easy to read. There are many photographs showing scenes along the Lewis and Clark trail today. "Across the Snowy Ranges" limits itself to the Lewis and Clark Expedition in Idaho and Western Montana. This part of the Lewis and Clark route is the only part of the westward bound trail that is relatively unchanged by dams and other human development. It is also the part of the trail that presented the Corps of Discovery with the greatest challenges; bargaining for horses, nearly starving while crossing the Rocky Mountains, and their collective illness when changing to a diet of fish and roots. It was on this part of the journey where one finds the romance of Sacagawea's reunion with her brother and the assistance the Corps received from the Shoshone, Salish, and Nez Perce Indians. The text follows the Corps day-by-day but describes the activities and locations in clear text with only a few excerpts from the Lewis and Clark journals. One of my favorite spots on the entire Lewis and Clark trail is Packer Meadows near the Idaho-Montana border. Not only does this book have a great picture of the site, it also tells the story of rescuing the site from the loggers' chainsaws in 1997.

It should come as no surprise that the second book published by an author is frequently not up to the same high quality of the first one. After all, that first one (probably) was not written to a deadline, but was, rather, fueled by the inner passion of the author. It's not at all uncommon to finish writing that first book, heave a tremendous sigh of relief, and vow to never touch another typewriter, or computer, as the case may be. Thankfully, in most cases, that latter sentiment doesn't last long, (although in some instances, it doesn't last long enough!) and in a day or so, the author is inspired enough to begin the second book. Even with luck, however, if there is a contract staring him or her in the face, time can interfere with the creative process.

I don't know if that happened with this book, but it has certainly happened to many others. I LOVED McCalls's first book Dead Aim, and vowed to read all his others. It appears there are only three, so far, with just a year or two between the first two, but several years between the latter two.

Not that this book is in any way insufficient, mind you; it just isn't quite sufficient enough. Chris and Lyel are still in Idaho, still loving--and enjoying--the countryside, while indulging in the occasional bit of work, as necessary. For Chris, this is tracing lost musicians to whom royalty payments are due. Lyel's work is mostly clipping coupons. And not the cents-off-at-the-grocery-store-variety, either.

After a fatal crash at the local airport (and the two buddies are volunteer firefighters, providing us with vivid descriptions of such an activity) Chris is asked to help a local woman find her missing sister. And thus begins the chase. That's the really good part, with the loving look at souped-up 50s and 60s hot-rods (if you're old enough to remember when this was being done, you'll really cherish this part of the book!) and a bit of spy-type activity in California as Chris looks for the owner of a building who doesn't want to be found.

Published in 1990, the book is still up to the minute, with environmental concerns mixed with politics, and, underneath it all, the steadily beating heart of an appealing, yet lonely man. Now, to find that third book, and hope for a fourth. And a fifth. Maybe even a sixth?

The recent surge in popularity of on-line genealogical searches shows that as we move into the 21st century we are still looking backward at our family roots. How fortunate for history that author Kristi M. Youngdahl has taken the time to help an Idaho family chronicle its past in a remarkable book called The Arams of Idaho: Pioneers of Camas Prairie and Joseph Plains. I was impressed with how the author used family interviews and records, newspaper accounts and the like and wove them seamlessly into the narrative. This wealth of detail draws the reader into the story, making it come alive, and what a story it is! The Arams trace their lineage back to England (and to a notorious criminal and folk hero, Eugene Aram). The Arams became part of the westward migration after immigration to the U.S. in 1806. After stops in the Midwest, California and Oregon, members of this pioneer family helped settle one of our last wildernesses, central Idaho, starting in 1864. Ms. Youngdahl ably portrays the challenges of living in this rugged territory, as the family works to build shelter and plant crops, faces the Nez Perce Indian War of 1877 and establishes a cattle ranch. When James Aram loses this ranch in 1930 to foreclosure, this sad event feels to the reader as if it were a setback to one's own family because the author has shown the years of toil and tears leading up to this day. Son Jim (with one arm amputated due to an accident) helps his father rebuild through the Depression years, but finally the time comes when the Arams all have "scattered like so many seeds in the wind" to the world outside their remote ancestral home. This brought a real sense of loss to me. But fortunately memories of this period of history have been preserved in this book: memories of everyday ranch life, of cowboys and cattle rustlers, of Saturday night dances and basket socials, of surreptitious sampling of "moonshine" whiskey on holidays, of a family's love and loyalty to each other and to their home through generations. And at the end of this story the author says that the Arams still have the strength "inherited from their pioneer parents and grandparents--a strength tested daily in their youth by a wild and beautiful land." And we --and succeeding eras--have this wonderful book. I recommend it highly.

Must admit that, as a mining engineer with 30 years experience, I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth of the book. Despite the nature of some of the topics addressed, it was not "dry" in tone.

The author provides a good flavor of the grassroots level mining activity of individuals of the period. Moreover he gave some unique insights of Depression-era government policy as it affected the larger mining industry, especially silver and gold. President Roosevelt's explicit desire to maintain the status quo with the federal mining law (to enhance mining employment) was one example. Another example was the historical review of hydraulic mining in California--both contemporaneously to the Depression as well as the 19th century.

This is one of the very rare books on the western outlaws and the original edition exists in but three known copies.

The authorship has never been determined, though it has been variously ascribed to a newspaperman visiting the area.

The book is an accurate and certainly and eye-witness account of the crimes of the Slade gang."

Includes 11 woodcut style illustrations.

Brigham Madsen provides a good through history of the Bannock nation. His focus/speculation on how they became seperate from the Snake nation and on their continued existance in regards to buffaloe hunting provide an excellent benefit to reading this book. Though somewhat dry in parts, this book gives a reader insight into the life of the Bannock and the history of the american west. Great for anyone interested in the history of southern Idaho, Oregon, NA history or History of the American West.