Book Reviews

A forbidden road trip: A review of Lamb

Lamb, Bonnie Nadzam's crisp, startling and psychologically intense debut novel, follows two troubled characters on a quest for redemption in the West.

by Jenny Shank, Feb 06, 2012
Searching for the truth about American Indians: A review of All Indians Do Not Live in Teepees (or Casinos)

Catherine C. Robbins seeks to go beyond the stereotypes about Native Americans in her essays in All Indians Do Not Live in Teepees (or Casinos).

by Cherie Newman, Feb 06, 2012
A second chance at love: A review of Liberty Lanes

Liberty Lanes, Robin Troy's second novel, tracks the lives of a group of senior citizens in a small Montana town.

by Phyllis Barber, Jan 23, 2012
From the Old World to the Old West: A review of The Little Bride

Anna Solomon's fascinating first novel follows a young Jewish woman from Odessa, Russia, to the hardscrabble prairie of South Dakota in the late 1800s.

by Jenny Shank, Jan 23, 2012
Love and loss on a Wyoming ranch: A review of Lime Creek

Lime Creek, Joe Henry's ravishing first work of fiction, is filled with exquisite snapshots of life on a Wyoming ranch.

by Jenny Shank , Dec 26, 2011
Girls gone wild -- 1900s style: A review of Nothing Daunted

Dorothy Wickenden's charming, meticulously researched Nothing Daunted tells the true story of two society girls who went to Colorado to become rural schoolteachers in 1916.

by Erica Wetter, Dec 26, 2011
California chronicles: A review of New California Writing: 2011

Editor Gayle Wattawa has assembled an anthology of essays in New California Writing: 2011 that should intrigue even people outside the Golden State.

by Tara Rae Miner, Dec 12, 2011
A celebration of Cascadia: A review of Open Spaces: Voices from the Northwest

Open Spaces: Voices from the Northwest doesn't quite work as an anthology, but it features some intimate and thoughtful writing about the Pacific Northwest.

by Gretchen Legler, Dec 12, 2011
An unexpected L.A. story: A review of The Barbarian Nurseries

Héctor Tobar's ferocious new novel, The Barbarian Nurseries, stars a Mexican housekeeper who works for a dysfunctional family and accidentally gets caught up in the national fury over illegal immigration.

by Daniel A. Olivas, Nov 28, 2011
Dealt a bad hand: A review of Doc

Mary Doria Russell brings the real-life historical character Doc Holliday to imaginative life in her novel, Doc, which focuses on the time he spent working as a tubercular dentist in Dodge City, Kan., long before the OK Corral.

by Jenny Shank, Nov 28, 2011
Reluctant assassins: A review of The Sisters Brothers

Patrick DeWitt's new novel, The Sisters Brothers, describes the lives of two 19th-century hit men in a work of modern Western noir.

by Devon Fredericksen, Nov 14, 2011
Meditations on craft: A review of What I Learned at Bug Camp

Sarah Juniper Rabkin's new essay collection is the intriguing, wide-ranging What I Learned at Bug Camp: Essays on Finding a Home in the World.

by Melissa Hart, Nov 14, 2011
Mapping the Hi-Line: A review of Honyocker Dreams

Writer David Mogen sets out to understand his childhood and his rural ancestors, who lived along Montana’s Hi-Line, just below the Canadian border.

by Andrea Clark Mason, Oct 31, 2011
To die fighting: a review of Jesse's Ghost: A Novel

In Frank Bergon's new novel, a young man in California's Central Valley is haunted by the memory of his best friend, whom he murdered.

by Tara Rae Miner, Oct 31, 2011
Chronicles of the 'Cowboy Candidate,' a review of Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands

In his thorough history, Roger Di Silvestro delves deep into the early life of the future president, particularly his discovery of the West.

by Martin Connelly, Oct 17, 2011
Stories like a bale unrolling: a review of Conjugations of the Verb To Be

Glen Chamberlain's short stories bring to life the people of a fictional Montana town.

by Charles Finn, Sep 19, 2011
Survival and opportunism in Butte: A review of The Richest Hill on Earth

Richard S. Wheeler's historical novel dramatizes the rivalry between the "Copper Kings" in 19th century Butte, Mont.

by Karen Rigby, Sep 18, 2011
Tales of sagebrush and murder: A review of Assumption

In Percival Everett's mystery trilogy, New Mexico Deputy Ogden Walker chases murderers and wrestles with his own complex identity.

by Hillary Rosner, Sep 19, 2011
Fall books for the sweetly socked-in

High Country News lists some of the new and intriguing books of the coming fall season.

by Sarah Gilman, Sep 19, 2011
No bones about it: two books on the disappearing Everett Ruess

Two new books tackle the mystery of Everett Ruess, who vanished somewhere in the Four Corners region in 1934.

by Traci J. Macnamara, Sep 18, 2011