High Country News

Traveling Arizona Highways, in your dreams and on the ground

In 1960, an Illinois mailman falls in love with the desert through the pages of Arizona Highways and hands on his dream -- and a piece of Mohave County --to his son and grandson.

by Tony Fitzpatrick, Mar 29, 2012
A deadly fastball in Denver: A review of The Ringer

In her debut novel, The Ringer, Jenny Shank brings to life two troubled families haunted by violence in Denver.

by Matthew Irwin, Apr 17, 2011
The memory of mountains

The author remembers a long-ago hike up Pikes Pike with her mother, who later died having no memory of that hike, or of her daughter.

by Diane Sylvain, Sep 18, 2006
What we love will save us

We are all, too much of the time, captives of the wreck and the mistake. Can’t take our eyes off it, can’t stop thinking about it, can’t stop picking that scab. We slide into our merely negative identity — defined by what we refuse...

by David Oates, Oct 16, 2006
Wait until darkness

In his debut novel, The Wilding, Benjamin Percy captures our ambiguous attitudes toward the natural world.

by Jodi Peterson, Sep 12, 2010
Notes from a place of risk and hope

In Big Wonderful: Notes from Wyoming, Kevin Holdsworth describes his love for a harsh landscape in essays, poetry and fiction.

by Julianne Couch, Feb 05, 2007
Lewis’ Web

Wyoming microbiologist Randy Lewis is fascinated by spiders – particularly by the remarkable silk they produce.

by Erin Halcomb, Apr 02, 2007
Books for lonely times

When you're camped all alone in the wilderness, there is nothing like a book to bring you comfort.

by Emma Brown, Sep 13, 2009
Township 13 South, Range 92 West, Section 35

A writer looks into the history of the people who lived on the Colorado mesa she now calls home.

by Michelle Nijhuis , Sep 08, 2009
Time to breathe

Stargazing and geology satisfy the spiritual needs of a Utah writer and teacher.

by Christopher Cokinos , May 28, 2009