CHOSEN AT RANDOM FROM MY MONTANA SHELVES
(All paperbacks unless otherwise noted.)
1. AFTER THE ICE AGE: THE RETURN OF THE LIFE TO GLACIATED NORTH AMERICA. by E.C. Pielou (1991) E.C. is a Canadian woman, a winner of ecological and botanical awards. Illustrated with drawings.
2. MONTANA NOIR An Anthology edited by James Grady and Keir Graff. (2017, an Akashic book) This is a hot genre at the moment. This book is a bit of a recovery of writing that was once popular and even supported a journal. Somewhere between horror and mysticism.
3. MY WEST: PERSONAL WRITINGS ON THE AMERICAN WEST: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE by Patricia Nell Warren. (2011) Warren is much a daughter of Montana as it’s possible to be, growing up on the Grant-Kohrs Ranch maintained as history in Deer Lodge. She is also an outstanding lesbian-identified writer and belongs to a category of women who write novels about gay men, esp. boys. “Fancy Dancer” about a Native American and a priest is a quietly cherished book. For many years she was associated with Reader’s Digest.
4. THE NATURAL WEST: ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY N THE GREAT PLAINS AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS by Dan Flores (2001) Hardback. Flores was a handsome and productive professor at the U of Montana who has moved to the SW now. Much of his writing is about Western art, provocative and inspiring.
5. THE MEDICINE LINE: LIFE AND DEATH ON A NORTH AMERICAN BORDERLAND by Beth LaDow. Hardback. I still haven’t had time to read this, dammit. LaDow is an independent scholar with a Harvard MA who comments on NPR. She spends summers in West Glacier.
6. LANDSCAPE AND LEGACY: THE SPLENDOR OF NATURE HISTORY, AND MONTANA’S ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT “written and compiled” by Dr. John A. Vollertson (2013) Actually Vollertson created this book by compiling a list of writers he knew and sheep-dogging them into producing chapters. I think it turned out pretty well, but that’s because I’m in it.
7. THE MONTANA FRONTIER by Merrill G. Burlingame (1942, reissued in 1980) This key and basic book may be a little dated now. It comes from Montana State University and is endorsed by Mike Malone, another important force for Montana.
8. WHOOP-UP COUNTRY: THE CANADIAN AMERICAN WEST, 1865–1885 by Paul F. Sharp (1955) Hardback. Another essential book key to the history of this place.
9. AGAINST THE GRAIN: HOW AGRICULTURE HAS HIJACKED CIVILIZATION by Richard Manning.(2004) Coming out of journalism, Manning is a brilliant provocateur. As custom-cutters begin to reach Montana right now, there’s a lot to think about. Tracy Stone-Manning, Biden’s new Director of the BLM, is just as fearless and visionary.
This list is the beginning of a series of casual and random bibliographies that I’m sending to Cassiopeia Books. The owner is open to my gossip about books.
