New reads for fall
Enjoy a sampling of the season’s best new books.
Here at High Country News, we’ve combed through hundreds of titles relevant to the West, mostly from indie presses and other small publishers, to bring you a sampling of the season’s best new reads. Listings appear alphabetically by author; if a book is already available, no publication month is given. —Jodi Peterson
FICTION
Buddhism for Western Children Kirstin Allio, University of Iowa Press
Chupacabra Meets Billy the Kid Rudolfo Anaya, University of Oklahoma Press
Nevada Days Bernardo Atxaga, Graywolf
Evening in Paradise: More Stories Lucia Berlin, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Ruby Dreams of Janis Joplin: A Novel Mary Clearman Blew, University of Nebraska Press
The Best Bad Things: A Novel Katrina Carrasco, MCD
Perpetua’s Kin: A Novel M. Allen Cunningham, Atelier26
Rough Animals Rae DelBianco, Arcade
Heartbreaker: A Novel Claudia Dey, Random House
The Sea of Grass Walter Echo-Hawk, Fulcrum Publishing
Crossing Vines: A Novel Rigoberto González, University of Oklahoma Press
Trinity Louisa Hall, Ecco
Mostly White: A Novel Alison Hart,
Torrey House Press
Trouble No Man Brian Hart, HarperPerennial, January 2019
A River of Stars Vanessa Hua, Ballantine
The Golden State Lydia Kiesling, MCD
Immigrant, Montana Amitava Kumar, Knopf
Driving to Geronimo’s Grave and Other Stories Joe R. Lansdale, Subterranean
The Feral Detective: A Novel Jonathan Lethem, Ecco
Lost Children Archive: A Novel Valeria Luiselli, Random House, February 2019
Son of Amity Peter Nathaniel Malae, Oregon State University
Wolves of Eden Kevin McCarthy, Norton
The Frame-Up Meghan Scott Molin, 47North
Gateway to the Moon Mary Morris, Doubleday/Talese
The Caregiver Samuel Park, Simon & Schuster
The Shortest Way Home Miriam Parker, Dutton
Hearts of the Missing Carol Potenza, Minotaur, December
Magdalena Mountain Robert Michael Pyle, Counterpoint
The Silence is the Noise Bart Schaneman, Trident Press
All That Is Left Is All That Matters Mark Slouka, W.W. Norton & Company
Don’t Send Flowers Martín Solares, Black Cat
The Removes Tatjana Soli, FSG/Crichton
The Electric State Simon Stålenhag, Skybound
Every Other Weekend Zulema Renee Summerfield, Little, Brown
Static Flux Natasha Young, Metatron Press
Family Trust: A Novel Kathy Wang, William Morrow
Whiskey When We’re Dry John Larison, Viking
NONFICTION, BIOGRAPHY, MEMOIR, ESSAYS
One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture Stephanie Anderson, University of Nebraska Press
How the West Was Drawn: Mapping, Indians and the Construction of the Trans-Mississippi West David Bernstein, University of Nebraska Press
Vaquita: Science, Politics and Crime in the Sea of Cortez Brooke Bessesen, Island Press
The Last Cowboys: A Pioneer Family in the New West John Branch,
W.W. Norton & Company
Polly Pry: The Woman Who Wrote the West Julia Bricklin, Globe Pequot Press/ TwoDot
Utah Politics and Government Adam R. Brown, University of Nebraska Press
Dirt to Soil: One Family’s Journey into Regenerative Agriculture Gabe Brown with Courtney White, Chelsea Green
Confessions of an Iyeska Viola Burnette, University of Utah Press
Outside Ourselves: Landscape and Meaning in the Greater Yellowstone Todd Burritt, Outside Ourselves
All You Can Ever Know Nicole Chung, Catapult
In Defense of Loose Translations: An Indian Life in an Academic World Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, University of Nebraska Press
Homelands: Four Friends, Two Countries, and the Fate of the Great Mexican-American Migration Alfredo Corchado, Bloomsbury
Across the Continent: The Union Pacific Photographs of Andrew J. Russell Daniel Davis, University of Utah Press
In Defense of Public Lands: The Case Against Privatization and Transfer Steven Davis, Temple University Press
Stigma Cities: The Reputation and History of Birmingham, San Francisco and Las Vegas Jonathan Foster, University of Oklahoma Press
Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America’s Forgotten Border Porter Fox, W.W. Norton & Company
A Dream Called Home Reyna Grande, Atria
The Woolly West: Colorado’s Hidden History of Sheepscapes Andrew Gulliford, Texas A&M University Press
Border Walk Mark J. Hainds, Sweetbill’s Enterprises
Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country Pam Houston, Norton, January 2019
Being and Becoming Ute: The Story of an American Indian People Sondra G. Jones, University of Utah Press, January
Wild Migrations: Atlas of Wyoming’s Ungulates Matthew J. Kauffman et al., foreword by Annie Proulx, Oregon State University
Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters, 1542 to 2018 David Kipen, Modern Library, December
Campfire Stories: Tales from America’s National Parks ed. Dave and Ilyssa Kyu, Mountaineers
The Oasis This Time: Living and Dying with Water in the West Rebecca Lawton, Torrey House Press, March 2019
A Study of Southwestern Archaeology Stephen H. Lekson, University of Utah Press
Debunking Creation Myths about America’s Public Lands John D. Leshy, University of Utah Press
It Happened Like This: A Life in Alaska Adrienne Lindholm, Mountaineers
The Salt Lake Papers: From the Years in the Earthscapes of Utah Edward Lueders, University of Utah Press
Stray: A Memoir of a Runaway Tanya Marquardt, Little A
Reimaging a Place for the Wild edited by Leslie Miller and Louise Excell, University of Utah Press, December
Caribou Rainforest: From Heartbreak to Hope David Moskowitz, Braided River
Food from the Radical Center: Healing our Land and Communities Gary Nabhan, Island Press
The Dreamer and the Doctor Jack Nisbet, Sasquatch Books
The Library Book Susan Orlean, Simon & Schuster
The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty That Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation Miriam Pawel, Bloomsbury
Impossible Owls: Essays Brian Phillips, FSG Originals
Gay Rights and the Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences Gregory A. Prince, University of Utah Press, February
Here and There: A Fire Survey Stephen J. Pyne, University of Arizona Press
The Spoils of Dust: Reinventing the Lake that Made Los Angeles Alexander Robinson, Applied Research + Design Publishing
Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore Elizabeth Rush, Milkweed
On Call in the Arctic: A Doctor’s Pursuit of Life, Love and Miracles in the Alaskan Frontier Thomas J. Sims, Pegasus
Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth Sarah Smarsh, Scribner
Retablos: Stories from a Life Lived Along the Border Octavio Solis, City Lights
Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765-1776 Patrick Spero, W.W. Norton & Company
The Sun is a Compass: A 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds Caroline Van Hemert, Little, Brown Spark
Sagebrush Collaboration: How Harney County Defeated the Takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Peter Walker, Oregon State University Press
Raw Material: Working Wool in the West Stephany Wilkes, Oregon State University
Path of the Puma: The Remarkable Resilience of the Mountain Lion Jim Williams, Patagonia
The Three-Minute Outdoorsman Returns: From Mammoth on the Menu to the Benefits of Moose Drool Robert M. Zink, University of Nebraska Press
