Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water
Monday, May 29 2023
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.
- Published in Books
The Life and Times of Sitting Bull
Sunday, March 12 2023
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).…
- Published in Books
The Luxury of Reading the Lewis and Clark Journals
Tuesday, February 28 2023
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.…
- Published in Books
Happy Birthday John Steinbeck
Monday, February 27 2023
Bismarck, N.D. — Normally I don’t observe the birthdays of my literary and historical heroes. I know Jefferson’s birthday (April 13, 1743) and Shakespeare’s (April 23, 1564), and Bertrand Russell’s (May 18, 1872), and Samuel Johnson’s (September 18, 1709), and not many more, at least by day of month.…
- Published in Dispatches from the Road
The Tortuous Trail to Publish Lewis and Clark’s Journals
Sunday, February 26 2023
President Thomas Jefferson entrusted Meriwether Lewis with the first great exploration of the American West. At the journey’s successful completion, both men held high expectations for a book worthy of the singular accomplishment and the Age of Enlightenment of which it was a part.
- Published in Features
Why Read Moby Dick?
Saturday, February 25 2023
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.…
- Published in Books
Book Review — Our Story of Eagle Woman, Sacagawea: They Got It Wrong
Thursday, February 23 2023
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.…
- Published in Books