book cover: The Kindness of Strangers
In 1994 San Francisco journalist Mike McIntyre got it into his head to try to cross the county with no money. No money whatsoever. With a borrowed 50-70 pound backpack, he traveled literally penniless for 4,223 miles from San Francisco to Cape Fear, North Carolina. That's fourteen states, 82 rides, five laundry loads, and one golf round.
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Book cover: Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road

Lands of Lost Borders

Because I am gearing up for years of travel across America, especially the West, I am reading books of adventure travel. I have reread Travels with Charley of course, and the published journal of John Wesley Powell’s 1869 descent of the Green and Colorado Rivers.
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Cadillac Desert book cover
Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert has been around for a long time — since 1986 — but it continues to be the best introduction to the subject of Water in the West.
book cover: The Lance and The Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull
The Lance and The Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull by Robert M. Utley, first published in 1994. Bismarck, N.D. — I’m reading a biography of Sitting Bull (1831 – 1890).…
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Definitive Journals of Lewis and Clark
Gary Moulton edited a definitive thirteen volume set of the Lewis and Clark expedition journals. Over the Christmas holidays, because I was alone this year, I decided to read all the journals of Lewis and Clark, John Ordway, and Patrick Gass for the return journey of the Corps of Discovery, from March 23 to September 23, 1806.…
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Book cover: Why Read Moby Dick?

Why Read Moby Dick?

Why Read Moby-Dick? By Nathaniel Philbrick, 2011. Bismarck, N.D. — I’m reading Herman Melville’s Moby Dick. I’ll be teaching it at one of my literary retreats come next January, but I wanted to read it anyway.…
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Book cover: Sacagawea: They Got it Wrong
Out Story of Eagle Woman, Sacagawea: They Got it Wrong. By Gerard Baker, Calvin Grinnell, Bernard Fox, Carol Fredericks Newman, and Wanda Fox Sheppard. The Paragon Agency, 2021.…
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