Transcription
BOOK REVIEWSNONFICTIONTHOMAS G. ALEXANDERBrigham Young and the Expansion of theMormon FaithUniversity of Oklahoma PressHardcover, 392 pages, 29.95OUPress.comThomas Alexander’s biographyis a new entry in the University ofOklahoma Press’s Oklahoma WesternBiographies Series. A noted scholar inMormon and Western history, Alexander has written a biography intendedfor the general reader, though specialists will find much of value in his book.Given that much of what is out there iseither anti-Young or adulatory, Alexander carefully sifts fact from legend as heexamines the numerous controversies inwhich Brigham Young was embroiled.These include the issue of pluralmarriage, the real guilty parties in theMountain Meadows massacre, and theso-called Mormon War of 1857. Readers might be surprised at the number ofexcommunications of dissident Mormons in the early years after the revelations of Joseph Smith. For anyoneunfamiliar with Young’s leadership andthe growth of the Mormon church thisbiography will prove both informativeand fascinating.– Abraham HoffmanGARY CLAYTON ANDERSONGabriel Renville: From the Dakota Warto the Creation of the Sisseton-WahpetonReservation, 1825-1892South Dakota Historical Society PressHardcover, 220 pages, 29.95SDHSPress.comGabriel Renville (1825-1892) playeda key role in establishing the LakeTraverse Reservation for the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota people innortheastern South Dakota stretchinginto southeastern North Dakota. Thisbiography of Renville recounts notonly events of Renville’s life but alsothe struggles of the Dakota peoples tomaintain their way of life as the influxof settlers and demands of the federalgovernment forced changes upon them.Renville, who was of mixed Dakota andJUNE 2019white heritage, straddled both cultures,working tirelessly to protect the Dakotaculture while accepting new ways suchas farming, raising cattle and schools tosurvive the new realities. Extensive endnotes and a detailed bibliography areincluded. Every student of the Dakotapeoples should read this book.– Bill MarkleyNATHAN E. BENDERThe Art of the English Trade Gun inNorth AmericaMcFarland & CompanyPaperback, 171 pages, 45McFarlandBooks.comThis detailed and meticulouslyresearched book “directly addresses thequestion of why particular ornamentalpatterns of known symbolic significance were chosen for Native Americantrade items.” The narrative draws fromthe works of 17th and 18th CenturyEnglish rifle-makers, whose guns wereused by early American fur men forbargaining with their Indian clientsand neighbors. The book is heavilyillustrated with clear, black-and-whitephotographs of some of the weapons aswell as by the design elements engravedupon them. This book will be enjoyedby anyone interested in American furtrade history, Indian trade guns and theartistic abilities of the gunmakers whoproduced these beautiful firearms.– James A. CrutchfieldJOHN BRANCHThe Last Cowboys: A Pioneer Family inthe New WestW.W. Norton & Co.Hardcover, 288 pages, 26.95WWNorton.comThis intimate and unflinching account of the Wright family of Utah’s attempt to sustain their ranching heritagein changing times benefits tremendouslyfrom New York Times reporter-at-largeJohn Branch’s ability to capture thelyricism of the American West and thehard realities of modern “cowboy” living. The compelling narrative juxtaposes the challenges faced by patriarch BillWright to preserve the family’s holdingsagainst encroachment with the competition between his sons and grandsons,heirs to one of the greatest familydynasties in rodeo history. In this Spurfinalist for contemporary nonfiction,the writing is simple, direct and urgent,evincing a veteran reporter’s eye for thetelling detail. Heart-pounding scenesof rodeo action convey the adrenalinestoked atmosphere with the immediacyof a documentary film.– Kirk EllisJULIA BRICKLINPolly Pry: The Woman Who Wrote theWestTwoDot BooksHardcover, 206 pages, 24.95GlobePequot.comPolly Pry, first female journalistfor the Denver Post, was adventurous,outspoken and perhaps a creator of fakenews. “Polly” (Leonel Ross Campbell)might have invented some of the storiesher readers avidly followed. Did she really travel to Paris and Moscow or interview Pancho Villa in Mexico? AuthorJulia Bricklin expertly offers all of theevidence and sums up Pry’s six-decadecareer: “Above all, Polly Pry showedthat a woman wielding a pen couldshape the West as well as any manholding a gun.” Pry ruffled feathers,and some wanted her dead, going sofar as to shoot as she opened her frontdoor. Bricklin put in thorough work onthis 2019 Spur finalist for biography,neatly presenting all of the researchwhile at the same time giving readersan entertaining glimpse into what madeLeonel Ross Campbell tick.– Denise F. McAllisterKEVIN BRITZ and ROGER L.NICHOLSTombstone, Deadwood and Dodge City:Re-Creating the Frontier WestUniversity of Oklahoma PressHardcover, 266 pages, 32.95OUPress.comIn this absorbing book, Kevin Britz,professor emeritus of history at the University of Arizona, and Roger L. Nichols, a museum professional and writerwho died in 2011, chronicle how threeiconic Old West towns – Tombstone,Arizona; Deadwood, South Dakota;and Dodge City, Kansas – used thatROUNDUP MAGAZINE37
heritage to boost struggling economies.But it took time before citizens in thosethree former boomtowns accepted thathistorical images of violence weren’tnecessarily bad for business. “To presenttheir cities as modern, promoters triedto deny that picture or to present it asjust an early step in local development,”the authors write. “Those efforts failed.”As anyone who has visited Tombstone,Deadwood or Dodge City recentlyknow.– Johnny D. Boggsment experiences and the hardships ofa Mexican friend who journeys hometo visit his dying mother, only to beforced into an illegal return crossing,goes beyond politics to portray the heartand spirit of the individual people whoinhabit our Southwestern borderlands.The region’s forbidding yet magnificentlandscapes come alive on every pageof the book, a deserved double Spurwinner for contemporary nonfiction andfirst nonfiction book.– Kirk EllisFRANCISCO CANTÚThe Line Becomes a River: Dispatchesfrom the BorderJIM DeFELICEWest Like Lightning: The Brief,Legendary Ride of the Pony ExpressRiverhead BooksHardcover, 256 pages, 26PenguinRandomHouse.comWilliam MorrowHardcover, 357 pages, 27.99HarperCollins.comSon of a park ranger in Texas’sGuadalupe Mountains and a four-yearBorder Patrol veteran, Francisco Cantúbrings unique insight to this beautifullywritten account of immigration andbacklash. In evocative, impassioned,often achingly personal language, theauthor succeeds in putting a universalhuman face onto both sides of the mostcontentious issue of our times. Cantú’sparallel focus on his own law enforce-That William Russell, AlexanderMajors and William Waddell’s PonyExpress flashed in the historic spotlightfor only 18 months, April 1860-October1861, was no surprise to the enterprising trio. They knew from the start theirrapid horseback mail service would bea short-lived project because transcontinental telegraph and railroad servicesloomed on the horizon. Their goal,ultimately unrealized, was to get enoughfederal financing to construct a Westerntransportation empire that had, as JimDeFelice puts it, “a veritable monopolyover delivery in an area they expectedto boom in population.” Their effortwas not soon forgotten, in no small partdue to Buffalo Billy Cody’s featuring thePony Express in his Wild West extravaganza. Although records have been lostand tall tales told (Cody most likely wasno young rider), DeFelice smoothlydelivers all the truths, myths and uncertainties in this Spur finalist for historicalnonfiction.– Gregory LalireBENJAMIN DREYERDreyer’s English: An Utterly CorrectGuide to Clarity and StyleRandom HouseHardcover, 291 pages, 25RandomHouseBooks.comA new punctuation/grammar bookwouldn’t normally get attention, letalone an enthusiastic review in The NewYork Times, except that in this case thebook is by Benjamin Dreyer, copy chiefat Random House. This informative,sometimes hilarious discussion aboutcopy-editing is a page-turner as themysteries of serial commas, problematicThe Good, the Bad, and the BeautifulDiscover How Their Trails CrossedTom Horn: Blood on the Moonby Chip CarlsonNew !Nighthawk RisingA Biography of Accused Cattle RustlerHorn was a death sentence to rustlers and theQueen Ann Bassett of Browns Parkdevil incarnate to homesteaders. When he wasby Diana Allen Kourisarrested for the murder of 14-year-old WillieNickell, it ignited a firestorm of controversyAnn Bassett was known aswhich has raged for over 100 years. Chip Carl- the “Queen of the Cattle Russon’s research into this true crime story leads tlers.” Queen Ann lived a lifethe reader to ask if justice was served.adventure and controversy onthe Outlaw Trail in Colorado,trade paper 384 pp 19.95Wyoming, and Utah. SheButch Cassidy: My unclebroke bread with Butch Cas“Bill Betenson is the great-grandson of Butch sidy, had her life turned upCassidy’s younger sister, Lula Parker Betenson. side down by notorious rangeHis own quest for answers has been a lifelong detective Tom Horn, andpursuit. His writing reveals a comprehensive, stood tall against powerfulobjective, and balanced approach, an open dis- cattle barons.course of reason. He equally covers the varAnyone with an interestious, and at times conflicting, accounts and in Western History will wantfairly reconsiders the evidence of record.”this comprehensive book!—Larry Pointer—trade paper 416 pp 19.95 orauthor of In Search of Butch CassidyOnly 300 limited edition signed hardcovers 416pp 35trade paper 192 pp 19.95To order or request a free catalog:High Plains Press1-800-552-781938ROUNDUP MAGAZINEPO Box 123, Glendo, WY 82213www.highplainspress.comJUNE 2019
apostrophes and subject-predicate agreement are solved. Forwriters of everything from e-mails to books, this is a musthave, to be placed next to Strunk and White’s The Elements ofStyle.– David Morrellclasses and individual attention. A lively, fascinating book.– Melody GrovesJOHN FARKISThe Making of Tombstone: Behind the Scenes of the ClassicModern WesternUniversity of Nebraska PressHardcover, 312 pages, 55NebraskaPress.unl.eduMcFarland & CompanyPaperback, 250 pages, 39.95McFarlandBooks.comIn this in-depth, well-researched, and scholarly book, theauthor begins by describing American Indian and whiteprophesies, relationships and family ties from the 1500s tothe present and how those led to the development of IndianSchools across the United States. The author also gives ashort description of the organization and location of theLakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes before detailing the historyof – and making comparisons of, and contrasts between –Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota and Pipestone Indian School in Minnesota. Facts and figures are given, alongwith positive and negative personal stories and feedback fromstudents and staff. An excellent book for anyone who has hadfamily at Flandreau or Pipestone Indian Schools, anyone researching Indian school history, or anyone interested in whatIndian school life was like during different time periods.– Jean A. LukeshJohn Farkis takes readers behind the scenes of the makingof a movie that is not a “Classic Modern Western” by anymeans but certainly a cult favorite. (If you’re not familiarwith every miracle it took to get this 1993 movie made, readMichael F. Blake’s article in the December 2017 Roundup.)Farkis is the type of historian who leaves out no fact (case inpoint, Not Thinkin’ Just Rememberin’ : The Making of JohnWayne’s The Alamo, his 990-page look on that 1960 box-officedud). Quotes go on forever in his latest film history, filledwith a lot of good information but far too much minutia andway too many viewpoints. Yet considering how rabidly passionate fans are about this movie, those readers likely won’tget enough.– Johnny D. BoggsFORREST FENN and CARLEEN MILBURNLeon Gaspard: The Call of Distant PlacesCYNTHIA LEANNE LANDRUMThe Dakota Sioux Experience at Flandreau and Pipestone IndianSchoolsHOMER McCARTY (writer) and CORALIE M. BEYERS(editor)Chasing Good Sense: A Boy’s Life on the FrontierThe TIA Collection/Fenn ArchiveHardcover, 411 pages, 125OldSantaFeTradingCo.comBorn in Russia, Leon Gaspard (1882-1964) studied art inOdessa, Moscow and Paris, where he met American ballet student Evelyn Adell, whom he married and took on atwo-year pack trip through Siberia for a honeymoon. Yes,they weren’t your typical couple. Forrest Fenn and CarleenMilburn tell the story of the Gaspards, who settled in thethriving art community of Taos, New Mexico, in 1924 in thisbeautifully conceived book filled with color reproductionsof the artist’s works, all revealing Gaspard’s incredible life,art and legacy. As Gaspard said, “Absolute happiness can beachieved by good fellowship, and good conversation, and adrink of vodka.”– Johnny D. BoggsPaperback GAIL L. JENNEROne Room: Schools and Schoolteachers in the Pioneer WestTwoDot BooksTrade paperback, 160 pages, 22GlobePequot.comAt one time, almost every child not taught at home waseducated in a small, often isolated, one-room school. Itsfurnishings, school materials, curriculum and teaching quality varied from one locale to another. Filled with amazingphotos and descriptions, One Room illustrates how much oureducational system has changed in 100-plus years. A fascinating study of schools in the West, this book takes the readerinto a world of yesteryear, making the reader both glad andsad those days have faded. Stories range from Nebraska blizzards in which children perished to glorious days of smallJUNE 2019Paperback Available at bookstores,at wsupress.wsu.edu, or byphone at 800-354-7360ROUNDUP MAGAZINE39
University of Utah PressPaperback, 374 pages, 19.95UofUPress.comCoralie Beyers ran into her grandfather on the bus in 1948 when she was asenior at the University of Utah and hewas going to a writer’s conference at theUniversity of Utah. Under his arm, the80-year-old man carried a bulky manuscript of the story of his life as a 5- to8-year-old in Southern Utah of 18731876. The manuscript passed throughfamous hands before Beyers brought itto the University of Utah Press. Writtenin a Huck Finn patois, the difficult-toread book unfolds in a gentle pace thatreflects the pace of life as it was lived.Forty-two stories in four parts make thebook not so much a page-turner as a bitof a reference book. But it took courageto write and it took courage to publish.– Edward MasseyRALPH A. MONACO IIThe Bandit Rides Again: Jesse James,Whiskeyhead Ryan, and the GlendaleTrain RobberyMonaco PublishingTrade paperback, 240 pages, 20MonacoPublishing.netIn 1879, Jesse James and a handfulof gang members robbed a Chicago &Alton Railroad train at Glendale, Missouri. In collaboration with the JacksonCounty Historical Society, the authordetails the robbery and its aftermath,which led to arrests, confessions, convictions and the downfall of the JamesGang. A solid collection of facts, butwith poor writing, bad photo reproductions and amateurish production values.– Johnny D. BoggsBRENDEN W. RENSINKNative but Foreign: IndigenousImmigrants and Refugees in the NorthAmerican Borderlandseign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugeesin the North American Borderlands. The10 years were well spent. Rensink hasproduced a clearly written, imaginatively researched and thought-provokingaccount of indigenous people encountering borders, and living in borderland,sometimes even bisected by the international boundary. The result, the 2019Spur winner for historical nonfiction,will be of use not just to academiciansbut to the subjects of his research who,in Rensink’s words, continued to asserttheir own identity until they were “native, but foreign no longer.”– James McGrath MorrisTexas A&M University PressHardcover, 304 pages, 40TAMUPress.comMARK J. NELSONWhite Hat: The Military Career ofCaptain William Philo ClarkThere is probably no greater artificialgeographical concept than a nationalborder, especially for people whose livesand culture predate the imposition ofborders. Brigham Young Universityhistorian Brenden W. Rensink has spenta decade examining how indigenouspeople were affected by the establishment of North American boundaries,first for his doctoral dissertation andnow the resulting book Native But For-University of Oklahoma PressHardcover, 280 pages, 29.95OUPress.comSince Lieutenant William Philo Clarkwore a white hat, the Indian scouts hecommanded in the mid-1870’s gave himthe name “White Hat.” This 2019 Spurwinner for biography details Clark’smilitary service from West Point to hisadventures on the Great Plains and hisduties at Army headquarters. ClarkSTORIES WRITTEN AND NARRATEDBY DAVID G. RASMUSSENHISTORICAL FICTIONS WITH TRUTHSAS TO WHERE AND WHENCASTIZOTHE WYAKIN TRILOGYCASTIZOModern and ancient New Mexico cultures clashwhen an elderly direct decedent of the originalSpanish settlers (CASTIZOS) chooses to escape anAlbuquerque rest home and return to his landgrant ranch in the wilderness. He is pursued by hissuccessful son across the desert area west ofAlbuquerque as hunter and prey.THE MAN WHO MOILEDFOR GOLDTHE WYAKIN TRILOGYA terrifying time-shift with apparitions isexperienced by a fictitious writer in the wildMissouri River Breaks of central Montana. This wasdescribed in the Prologue of “Legend of The Wyakin.”The Writer is driven by the experience to create“Legend of The Dreamer and Legend of TheShaman” where an epilogue completes the story arcback at the Missouri River Breaks.THE MAN WHO MOILED FOR GOLDHardrock miner, Charley Marten, names himself:after the famous line from the poem: “The Cremationof Sam McGee” by Robert W. Service in 1912; afterrecounting his gold mining life to his family. They areamazed when he told of being a vigilante andhanging the notorious Montana road agents.www.dgrasmussen.com www.wyakinspirit.com davidr585@aol.comAvailable as Audio Books, Paper Back and E-Books from Amazon, Kindle and Audio. Com40ROUNDUP MAGAZINEJUNE 2019
played a major role in Crazy Horse’ssurrender and the events resulting inCrazy Horse’s death. He led an adventurous 39 years of life, participating inIndian fights, exploration surveys andother actions on the northern plains.Clark became interested in the Indians’use of sign language, resulting in theposthumous publication of his book,The Indian Sign Language. Anyone interested in the army’s interactions with thenorthern plains’ tribes and Clark’s rolewill want to read White Hat.– Bill MarkleyRENYA K. RAMIREZStanding Up to Colonial Power: The Livesof Henry Roe and Elizabeth Bender CloudUniversity of Nebraska PressHardcover, 304 pages, 29.95NebraskaPress.unl.edu.In this personal account of the author’s Ho-Chunk and Ojibwe ancestors’creative combination of traditional andwhite environments we discover thegenius of the Clouds. Their leadershipin the battle for native rights has hadimmense impact on the government’srelationship to American Indians. Theirskill at blending native warrior andmodern identities in the course of theircareers serve as an example for thoseengaged in civil rights activism.– Vernon SchmidKERMIT SCHWEIDELFolly Cove: A Smuggler’s Tale of the PotRebellionCinco Puntos PressTrade paperback, 266 pages, 16.95CincoPuntos.comKermit Schweidel ran a successful adagency in Dallas and then, midcareer,returned to his hometown of El Paso,Texas, and became embroiled in oneof the biggest pot heists of the 1970s.In this witty, engaging Spur finalist forcontemporary nonfiction book, Schweidel recounts the amazing episode, weaving in the voices of the border rats whosigned on – a kind of “Oceans 11” ofmarijuana smuggling set against the turbulent context of the era’s foreign anddomestic wars. This tale has everything,from wayward officials to smugglingvia air and sea to murder, the mafiaand the Drug Enforcement Agency.But more importantly, we get to know aband of brothers who just wanted to gethigh. It’s hard to believe that marijuana– what Schweidel calls “the humanequivalent of catnip” – once causedJUNE 2019so much trouble, considering that it’snow legal in various states. But it’s easyto believe that the crew that wagedthis caper came from the physical andmetaphorical borderlands – possibly theDNA of America’s future.– Deanne StillmanDAVID TREUERThe Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: NativeAmerica from 1890 to the PresentRiverhead BooksHardcover, 512 pages, 28PenguinRandomHouse.comWhereas Dee Brown’s book BuryMy Heart at Wounded Knee ended at1890, David Treuer picks up the storyand continues through to the presentday. He gathered material to formulatehis thoughts by studying the writtenrecord, traveling to significant sites andlooking inward to his Indian self. Bornand raised “on the rez,” of an Ojibwemother and a Jewish Holocaust survivorfather, he brings a unique backgroundto his thoughts and writing. He seemsto restate the theory of a self-fulfillingprophecy when he writes, “And I worrythat if we tell the story of the past as atragedy we consign ourselves to a tragicfuture .” This is an important bookthat belongs on the shelves of studentsof the American Indian story.– Lynn BuelingALIREZA VAHDANIThe Hero and the Grave: The Theme ofDeath in the Films of John Ford, AkiraKurosawa and Sergio LeoneMcFarland & CompanyPaperback, 175 pages, 39.95McFarlandBooks.comViolent death is as essential a part ofthe Western genre as heroes, horses andsix-shooters. Not only is it usually a keyplot element supplying conflict, tensionand resolution, but as Alireza Vahdanipoints out, it also helps imbue Westernswith social and political meaning andclarifies their moral outlook. Somecharacters fear death, while others takeits threat in stride, but it is the greatcleanser of illusions and lies, forcing thecommunity to confront the forces thatthreaten its safety and define its character. Vahdani, a film analyst and fictionwriter, knows intimately the works ofhis three masters and the links betweenthem, and he deftly invokes philosophy,religion, anthropology, sociology, andhistory as he rides the range. But it’s adry, dense journey, best suited for filmand cultural studies graduate seminarsand those who enjoy such pursuits.– Glenn FrankelJOSHUA WHEELERAcid West: EssaysFSG OriginalsTrade paperback, 416 pages, 17FSGOriginals.comAlamogordo, New Mexico-basedJoshua Wheeler’s debut book is a gorgeously crafted meditation on some ofthe more bizarre corners of his hometurf, by turns hilarious and disturbing,and always thought provoking. Subjectsrange from cattle bleached white bythe world’s first nuclear blast at Trinity, a treasure hunt for buried Star Warsvideo games and (of course) the annualUFO festival in Roswell, in addition tomore autobiographical accounts of theauthor’s eccentric family. Unlike manyessay collections, which suffer from asense of randomness, Wheeler’s storiesare linked by a unifying theme: how ourvision of the West has metastasized fromthe frontier to the outer limits of space,and how infrequently reality verifies themyth.– Kirk EllisPLAYSRED SHUTTLEWORTH1970: Wagon Mound, New Mexico; 1971:Liberal, Kansas; 1972: Hobart, Oklahoma;1973: Gerlach, Nevada; 1974: Plainview,Texas; 1975: Glenwood Springs, Colorado;1976: Rattlesnake Station, Idaho; 1977:Devils Den, California; 1978: Gascoyne,North Dakota; 1979: Missoula, MontanaBunchgrass PressChapbooks, no prices listedPoetRedshuttleWorth.blogspot.comFor the decade of the 1970s, theseshort plays and monologues from RedShuttleworth’s “Americana West” seriesstretch from Wagon Mound, NewMexico, to Missoula, Montana. Featuring his dry wit and ear for dialogue,Shuttleworth gives us President RichardNixon discussing America with a waiterat a Gerlach, Nevada, café; a burglarygone wrong at an ice-cream shop; anda middle-aged divorcee walking aroundLiberal, Kansas, in an astronaut suit.A brilliant mix of theater of the absurdand touching portraits of small-townAmerica.– Johnny D. BoggsROUNDUP MAGAZINE41
JUVENILECenter Point Large PrintHardcover, 316 pages, 34.95CenterPointLargePrint.comState House PressPaperback, 382 pages, 39.95TAMUPress.comJEAN ABERNETHY (author andillustrator)Fergus and The Night Before ChristmasEvan Kendrick didn’t set out to ride1,800 miles across the United Stateson his father’s ornery, home-brewcolored mustang. But when dad betshis New Mexico home on winning across-country race from Galveston toNew England – and can’t ride, Evan hasno choice but to join his new friends,Dindie Remo and Arena Lancaster, onthe starting line. With quirky charactersand a course rooted deep in Americanhistory, Boggs proves he’s a master ofdialog and setting, and his choice ofpresent-tense narrative offers an immediacy to the story’s mounting suspense.Through saddle sores, ruffians, rainstorms and rivers to cross, the young –and young at heart – will thrill to Evan’strek in the 2019 Spur winner for juvenilefiction.– Richard ProschJONI FRANKS (author) RAQUELRODRIGUEZ (illustrator)Corky Tails: Tales of a Tailless DogNamed Sagebrush: Sagebrush and theButterfly Creek FloodThis 2019 Spur finalist in juvenilenonfiction tells the story of Texas fromMexico’s independence from Spain in1821 until Texas’s annexation by theUnited States in 1846. Hardin, a professor at McMurry University in Abilene,opens with the immediate aftermath ofthe fall of the Alamo, but his historystarts well before and goes way beyondthat battle, the massacre of Texas prisoners at Goliad and the Texas victoryat San Jacinto. In short, easy-to-digestchapters aimed at general readers andstudents grades seven through 12, helays out the political intrigues leadingup to the fight for Texas independence,the continuing hostilities between Texanand Mexican forces after San Jacinto,the birth of the Texas Rangers, bloodyconflicts with Comanches and muchmore. In his effort to achieve accessibility, Hardin includes no footnotes. Butthe book boasts an extensive bibliography and is generously illustrated withdrawings and maps.– Ollie Reed Jr.XlibrisPaperback, 54 pages, 24.99Xlibris.comALLEN MORRIS JONES (author andillustrator)Montana for Kids, The Story of Our StateIn this story for third and fourth graders, tiny fairy people called Shuns – amarried couple named Acorn and Rainbow and their baby, Termite – are indanger from a terrible storm and floodedButterfly Creek. Luckily, Sagebrush,the lovable talking Corgi puppy, andhis brave and capable human, YoungMiss, engage in search and rescue. Ahuman, Mr. Hiker Man, having fallen inthe flooded creek and thinking only ofhimself, demands that Young Miss andSagebrush rescue him first and forgetthe Shuns. But will they? Attractive illustrations and thoughtful action fulfillthe message that “all lives matter – eventhose of fairies.” Side note: The Big Cottonwood Flood followed by the HaydenPass Creek Fire in Colorado moved JoniFranks to write this story.– Irene Bennett BrownBangtail PressHardcover, paperback, 48 pages, 19.95, 12.59BangtailPress.comTrafalgar PressHardcover, 40 pages, 15.95HorseAndRiderBooks.comTo the sing-song rhythm of theoriginal Night Before Christmas comes thislaugh-out-loud tale about the cartoonhorse, Fergus. In this instance, Santa’ssleigh is haphazardly drawn by the mosthodge-podge team of 11 horses (notreindeer) that one will ever see. Theteam is led, of course, by Fergus. As in,“With a snowy-faced leader so spookyand quick, I started to worry about oldSt. Nick! This horse had ONE SHOE,and a little hay belly, and googley eyesthat were utterly silly.” This engaging,comically illustrated book, a 2019 Storyteller Spur finalist, engages the reader,ages toddler to old folks. All will beespecially thrilled with the warmheartedsurprise at the end.– Irene Bennett BrownFRANCIE M. BERGBuffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains: TheLast Great Hunts and Saving the BuffaloDakota Buttes Visitors CouncilHardcover, 256 pages, 34.95HettingerND.comThe winner of this year’s Spur for bestjuvenile nonfiction is a superb achievement. It covers everything about buffaloyou can imagine and some things youhadn’t even imagined – from the development stages of a buffalo bull’s horns,to the uses Plains Indians made of different parts of a buffalo’s body, to howa buffalo bull would fare in showdownswith Mexican fighting bulls. A pleasureto read and beautifully illustrated withpaintings by the likes of Charlie Russell and George Catlin, contemporaryphotographs, drawings and charts, thisis a difficult-to-resist invitation to youngreaders to learn about the great American bison from early on to near extinction to thundering herd once more. Andadult readers will find it a valuable addition to their shelf of Western historyreference books.– Ollie Reed Jr.JOHNNY D. BOGGSTaos Lightning42ROUNDUP MAGAZINESTEPHEN L. HARDINLust for Glory: An Epic Story of EarlyTexas and the Sacrifice That Defined aNationThis is history kids will go for. Written in a fun way that’s easy for kidsto understand, each story is just longenough to entertain, hold interest andinform. Montana’s great history comesto life, not just for readers who live inMontana, but also for those who visitMontana, want to learn about Montanaor simply love Montana. Here are thefirst peoples, when horses came, bison,Lewis & Clark, mountain men, Indianwars, steamboats, miners, the railroad,homesteaders, vigilantes, ranchers. Historical photos and cutwork illustrationsby the author enrich the whole. Theauthor has long experience in writingbooks for adults, in writing magazinearticles and work as a book editor. (Forexample, he co-edited with WilliamKittredge The Best of Montana Short Fiction.) Montana for Kids, his first book forchildren, is this year’s Spur winner forillustrated children’s book.– Irene Bennett BrownJUNE 2019
POETRYSundown PressTrade paperback, 307 pages, 14.99SundownPress.comJOHN D. NESBITTRangeland and Prairie: Western PoemsArizona Ranger John Briggs is sent t
TwoDot Books Hardcover, 206 pages, 24.95 GlobePequot.com Polly Pry, first female journalist for the Denver Post, was adventurous, outspoken and perhaps a creator of fake news. "Polly" (Leonel Ross Campbell) might have invented some of the stories her readers avidly followed. Did she re-ally travel to Paris and Moscow or inter-
