Book Reviews
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Dispatches from the other border: A review of A Good Man
A Good Man -- the third novel in Guy Vanderhaeghe's U.S.-Canada border trilogy -- thoughtfully explores life in that region during the late 1800s.
by Thomas Hayden, Apr 29, 2012 -
Living on faith: A review of The Man Who Quit Money
In The Man Who Quit Money, Mark Sundeen tells the story of Daniel Suelo of Moab, Utah, a well-educated idealist who has chosen to dumpster-dive for food and live illegally in public-land caves.
by Chérie Newman, Apr 15, 2012 -
Tales from the Edge: A review of Extremophilia
The essays in Fred Haefele's slim collection Extremophilia, River Rats, Timber Tramps, Biker Trash, and Realtors are both casual and transcendent explorations of the West.
by Kris King, Apr 15, 2012 -
Stroke of insight: A review of Before the End, After the Beginning
Dagoberto Gilb's remarkable new fiction collection captures the lives of struggling Southwestern people.
by Jenny Shank, Mar 18, 2012 -
Generosity of voice and heart: A review of Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Cheryl Strayed's memoir Wild describes her arduous trek along the Pacific Crest Trail as she seeks to recover from life-changing grief.
by Melissa Hart, Mar 18, 2012 -
Two degrees warmer and rising: A review of A Great Aridness
Books about climate change tend to be grim reading, but William deBuys' love for the American Southwest makes his new nonfiction book A Great Aridness beautiful as well as disturbing.
by Laura Paskus, Mar 04, 2012 -
Interior Landscapes: A review of The City Beneath the Snow
The short stories in Marjorie Kowalski Cole's posthumous collection The City Beneath the Snow take readers deep into the subarctic melting pot of Fairbanks, Alaska.
by Michael Engelhard, Mar 04, 2012 -
A life measured in cordwood: A review of Into the Heat: My Love Affair with Trees, Fire, Saws and Men
Cindy Bellinger's memoir, Into the Heat: My Love Affair with Trees, Fire, Saws and Men, introduces us to a determined, 60-something, chainsaw-wielding Western woman.
by Gussie Fauntleroy, Feb 19, 2012 -
Bucking the stereotypes: A review of West of 98
The anthology West of 98: Living and Writing the New American West assembles the thoughts of 67 Western writers.
by Charles Finn, Feb 19, 2012 -
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 05, 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 05, 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 22, 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 22, 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 25, 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 25, 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 11, 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 11, 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 27, 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 13, 2011
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