Book Reviews
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That quiet haunted place: A review of American Masculine
The short stories in Shann Ray's book take us deep into the lives of Western men.
by Kurt Caswell, Jun 10, 2011 -
The endless atlas: A review of Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas
Rebecca Solnit assembles historical, legendary, and artistic tidbits and tales along with glorious maps in her new book.
by Jeremy Miller, May 29, 2011 -
Are you an Indian?
In his memoir, Navajos Wear Nikes: A Reservation Life, Jim Kristofic remembers the challenges and joys of a tough childhood spent on the Navajo Nation.
by Annie Dawid, May 15, 2011 -
The painful beauty of love
Melanie Rae Thon's short stories, gathered in her collection In This Light, paint a desolate and tender picture of the West.
by Kathleen Yale, May 15, 2011 -
An epic tale of the Northwest: A review of West of Here
In his novel, Jonathan Evison tackles the far-flung history of a fictional Northwestern community.
by Karen Rigby, May 01, 2011 -
Good-enough mothers: A review of Wrecker
In her second novel, Summer Wood tells the story of a troubled child and the rural, counterculture community that takes him in.
by Tania Casselle, May 01, 2011 -
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 dark corners of the heart: A review of Volt
The short stories in Alan Heathcock's collection, Volt, bring the troubled inhabitants of a small town vividly to life.
by Tara Rae Miner, Mar 20, 2011 -
Finding reassurance in change: a review of Wild Comfort
In her new collection of essays, Wild Comfort: The Solace of Nature, Kathleen Dean Moore writes her way to the knowledge that "sorrow is part of the Earth's great cycles."
by Chérie Newman, Mar 20, 2011 -
Unheard stories, unseen lives: A review of Southern Paiute, A Portrait
William Logan Hebner and photographer Michael L. Plyler document Native American lives.
by Teresa Jordan, Mar 17, 2011 -
Thirteen ways of looking at a mushroom cloud
Ann Ronald's Friendly Fallout 1953 is an experiment in literary fission that describes 11 actual nuclear detonations through the eyes of mostly fictional characters.
by Molly Beer, Mar 06, 2011 -
Regaining identity through restoration
Charles Wilkinson's new book, The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon describes how a tribe "terminated" by the federal government fought to regain its identity.
by Chérie Newman, Mar 06, 2011 -
Collateral damage
T.C. Boyle's new novel, When the Killing's Done, examines the awkward way humans interact with nature and with one another.
by Michael Engelhard , Feb 20, 2011 -
Glimpses of the high desert
The essays in Ellen Waterston's Where the Crooked River Rises pay homage to her home in the high desert of eastern Oregon.
by Emilene Ostlind, Feb 06, 2011 -
Reasons to persevere
In his novel, Blind Your Ponies, Stanley Gordon West looks into the heart of a fictional small town in Montana.
by Karen Rigby, Feb 06, 2011 -
Rethinking national parks and wilderness
William Tweed takes a loving but critical look at the National Park Service in Uncertain Path: A Search for the Future of National Parks.
by Laura A. Watt, Jan 24, 2011 -
Infinite problems, small solutions
In The Fate of Nature, Alaskan reporter Charles Wohlforth ponders how to save the planet, starting with Alaska.
by Jeremy Pataky, Dec 19, 2010 -
Excavating John
Kate Niles' wry and compassionate novel The Book of John tracks the travails of an archaeologist named John Gregory Wayne Thompson.
by Annie Dawid, Dec 19, 2010 -
Seven months of solitude
A young writer named Steve Edwards spends seven months living by Oregon's Rogue River in his memoir, Breaking into the Backcountry.
by Annie Dawid, Dec 05, 2010 -
A contaminated history unearthed
Investigative reporter Judy Pasternak describes uranium's effects on the Navajo Nation in Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed.
by Molly Beer, Dec 05, 2010
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