No comments about My Family History: Pioneers of Custer County, Montana And Leavenworth County, Kansas.

No comments about The WPA Guide to 1930s Montana.

No comments about 1920 Fallon County, Montana Census Index.

No comments about Create Your Own Life's Story: The Simple Way to Record Your Personal History (Mature Reader).

2 comments about Mining Cultures: Men, Women, and Leisure in Butte, 1914-41 (Women in American History).

1. This is a fascinating look at changing manners and mores in a major industrial community during the two decades between the two World Wars. The city which Murphy dissects, Butte (Mt.), adds its own quirky character to this study. But you don't need to know much about Butte or mining to enjoy Murphy's engaging style, entertaining anecdotes, and keen insights about a turbulent period of social and economic change in urban America.



2. Probably no book can do full justice to Butte, Montana which, for 50 years up to the start of World War II, was the most interesting city in America. While Butte was a wide open, boisterous mining town with illegal gambling and prostitution operating openly and unabashedly, it had vast flocks of fervent church goers and it managed to nourish its small pockets of refined culture and art. Butte had its millionaires, its poor, its highly diversified foreign cultures yet proudly asserting it Grand Americanism.

   With all of that, Butte was ugly, seared grey by acid fumes from smelters; it perched on a hillside spiked by mines gallows and blemished by countless yellowish mounds of ore tailings as if the earth had spilled out its guts like vomit.

   Mary Murphy's book, Mining Cultures; Men, Women and Leisure in Butte, 1914-41 does an admirable job of touring around the edges of what was Butte during those years. She got at only the edges for those are the limits she set for herself. Well researched and documented, she was careful not to report her numbers in boring, mind-numbing detail and she served them up garnished by an assortment of interesting and revealing anecdotes.

   Ms. Murphy's book is a valuable addition to a pitifully small collection of works on a city which deserves greater study.

3 comments about Scottish Highlanders, Indian Peoples: Thirty Generations of a Montana Family.

1. Dr. James Hunter, one of Scotland's most respected younger historians, recounts here the story of the MacDonalds of Western Montana -- a family whose roots run deep on two continents and among two seemingly disparate peoples: the Nez Perce of Oregon and Idaho's great inland plateau and one of the most legendary clans of the Scottish highlands. On one level, this is a first-class genealogical detective story, with plenty of local color. But it is much more than that, for what brings these two far-removed pasts together is not only the mingled blood of today's Montana MacDonalds, but the striking and, in many respects, tragic parallels in their people's histories. Just as every schoolchild in Scotland knows the dark tale of the MacDonalds' massacre at Glencoe, and their struggle to survive and maintain their identity and dignity in the aftermath, so Americans are haunted by the uprooting and dispossession of the Nez Perce and their legendary leader Chief Joseph. Those par! ! allels strike us as we readers see the MacDonalds' saga unfold, and they raise for us fundamental questions about human nature and the forces that shape history. Jim Hunter's work in both print and broadcasting, which is well-known in Britain, achieves that rare balance between sound scholarship and great popular appeal. He is a meticulous researcher, yet his interests are first and foremost human ones, and the stories he tells best are always those of common folk. The fact that this book has been a best-seller in Scotland while also earning critical acclaim shows how well he succeeds at this delicate balancing act. For North Americans with an interest in genuine flesh-and-blood Scottish history, not the bogus romanticized article that features prominently in so many clan gatherings and Scottish games [after all, how many Scots-Americans' ancestors were REALLY lairds and ladies living grandly in castles???], this book will prove very satisfying indeed. We can be thankful that ! ! the Montana State Historical Society has now made it availa! ble to North American readers. Aye, it's a fine work, and at a bargain price to boot!



2. Scottish Highlanders, Indian Peoples is a loving undertaking to document and treasure the dual heritage of a familial group of people descended from Angus McDonald (who was Scottish) and Catherine McDonald, who was half Nez Perce and part Mohawk. The author describes his revised purpose in writing this book as follows: "This book was begun in the naive conviction that it would have an unrelievedly happy ending. Its comparisons between the modern Scottish Highlands and the modern Flathead Reservation, it was anticipated, would be such as to allow the book's closing paragraphs to contend that Highlanders and Indians, two otherwise disparate peoples linked by the McDonald family, are today overcoming the legacies of their respective pasts in ways which will allow both Highlanders and Indians to reinvigorate their cultures, their languages and much else besides. That may still happen. But to spend even a few days on the Flathead Reservation is quickly to discover that the task of linguistic renewal - to take a single example of the many such distinctions which have clearly to be made - is enormously more daunting here than in the Scottish Highlands...(p. 194)." The reality of the poverty of the inhabitants of the Flathead Reservation hits the author and the reader hard indeed. Nevertheless, after reading the history, which includes many moments of less than glorious deeds of the ancestors, one can only concur with the Salish speaker quoted by the author:"We have a saying...that as long as our songs are sung our people will remain here. And our songs are being sung today more than they have been sung for many years (p. 194)." Though the prose style of Mr. Hunter is sometimes tedious to untangle, his text is worth reading. Scottish Highlanders, Indian Peoples will appeal to special interest adult audiences both amateur and academic.

   Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer




3. Good resource for anyone interested in history, particularly the connection between earl Scottish settlers and their interaction with Native Americans. The book appears well documented and thorough, although a bit slow to read.

1 comments about The Same Great Struggle: The History of the Vickery Family of Unity, Maine, 1634-1997.

1. Andrea Constantine Hawkes has done a wonderful job of describing New England social history through the lens of a family, the Vickerys. The Vickery history starts with fishermen in Massachusetts Bay who later settle in a farming community in mid state Maine, Unity. It is the most reader friendly geneology I've read as Ms. Hawkes weaves the events of the day into the story of 10 generations. I particularly enjoyed the "detour" to Montana, where one branch of the Vickerys ( and Unity, Maine) settled.
   I recommend the book for non professional readers of New England history who want a glimpse into the life of our ancestors.

5 comments about Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910.

1. This book could be some much more readable with, perhaps, an editor and another draft. The author has to juggle a lot of details - historical, political, social, biographical and statistical - but does so in an ungraceful confusing manner. The writing at times is distractingly florid. I compare this to Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas that handles a wealth of period detail with grace and a simplicity and directness of language that sweeps you along. I was very disappointed given the natural drama of the story.



2. I found this book through a newspaper review and eagerly bought it. I was very disappointed. It is overly academic, dull, poorly organized and excessively wordy. As a journalist, I understand the powers of brevity and clarity, but the author does not. Even the organization, by month, leaves a lot to be desired as the author still skips between months. The political background becomes so laborious that it is impossible to follow a chain of events or personalities. I would definitely skip reading this book, even though I forced my way through all of it, hoping that it would get better. It did not.



3. Although some of the other reviewers disagree, Pyne has done a fantastic job of pulling together many diverse strands of primary materials to make a compelling narrative. Not only does Pyne tell the stories of individual firefighters on the line, but he interweaves larger political and environmental issues as well. Really, this is a model work as far as coordinating the "big picture" with the details. Readers of this work will learn about bureaucratic infighting in the early 1900's, competing forestry theories, the physics of how fires actually work, as well as slices of social history here and there. Pyne's greatest weakness in this book is that he tends to be too wordy and a bit too flamboyant with imagery. If you can overlook that and can see the big picture Pyne is painting, the book will draw you in.



4. The story of the great fires of 1910 that raged along the northern tier of the country from Washington to the Great Lakes, but especially the Big Blowup that occurred along the Montana-Idaho border that claimed over 70 firefighters in two days in late August. Heroes, cowards, and fools all appeared during those two days before the fierce winds that made containment difficult abated. Ed Pulaski saved a large crew from destruction by his actions. But Baudette and Spooner, both in Minnesota, were destroyed in only 20 minutes.
   
   The country didn't really have a forest fire plan, in most cases just allowing fires to burn themselves out. But these fires, which destroyed so much property, forced officials to make big changes, among them the creation of the Forest Service.
   
   A debate raged over whether fires should be fought head-on or by employing light burning to prevent devastating fires from erupting. (Pyne is weakest in dealing with these debates and doesn't make the issues or outcome clear.) In some ways the debate still continues, especially now that so many homes and communities have been built on forest lands.
   
   A pretty interesting book, though Pyne's writing style is not very compelling.



5. In the summer of 1910, wildfires in the Northern Rockies spread across millions of acres; the soot darkened the skies of New England and even drifted as far as the ice of Greenland. Seventy-eight firefighters died fighting the "Big Blowup" along the Montana-Idaho border. Nationally recognized fire historian Stephen J. Pyne presents Year of the Fires: The Story of the Great Fires of 1910, which tells of this tremendous catastrophe and how it forever changed America's policies for responding to forest fires. Accessible to scholars and lay readers alike, Year of the Fires is a welcome addition to American history shelves and highly recommended - especially considering that the lessons of the past remain just as relevant in "fire-prone" parts of the nation today.

3 comments about Traveler's Guide to the Great Sioux War: The Battlefields, Forts, and Related Sites of America's Greatest Indian War.

1. This book is fabulous in that in that it not only charts the tour sites of the Great Sioux was with excellent maps, directions and fantastic pictures but also provides excellent mini-histories on what occurred at each site including bios on the main participants. Just reading this book gives you a good historical perspective for the great plains war with chapters that categorize the historical sites by period starting with the Gratten marker in Wyoming. The Gratten monument was for a Lt. and his company that threatened Conquering Bear's village over the alleged theft of a cow resulting in his death and his companies (1856). This book proceeds with sites and histories flowing the Red Cloud War of 1866, through the Little Bighorn Campaign period and aftermath, the summer and winter campaigns. Also includes historical sites after 1877 such as sitting Bull's Canadian sites with descriptions of the sites and pictures. Hedren covers every major historical site from old forts, some of which have been reconstructed and some have actual structures that he describes and has pictures of. You can virtually follow the expeditions of the army or find exact locations of significant village sites. This book adds an extra dimension to any trip as Hedren shows you additional sites, some obscure, right next door to the more publicized sites. A great example is Little Bighorn, just 30 miles away is the pristine Rosebud Battlefield site where Crook encountered the Sioux and Cheyenne in a desperate and critical battle a week before Custer. In addition, the Powder River Battlefield where Crook's forces struck first but lost the initiative in March is just further west of the Rosebud Battlefield. This book provides so much information and easy directions including those that are on private property (includes caution to seek permission) that an adventurous traveler can seemingly so it all in a long week but perhaps two. The book's pictures are better than many books that are dedicated to a specific battle. The pictures of the massive Bear Butte Mountain are incredible as its mass is seen along a flat plain. The also book includes pictures of the main participants and their places of rest. A book that Walter Camp would be proud of as he documented many of these sites almost 100 years ago before they were lost to obscurity. I wish I had this book when I visited the Little Bighorn two years ago; however, there is so much great information I would have had to stay west another week.



2. This little book (only 126 pages) does many different things, all very well, and most better than books many times its size. Hedren has chosen 54 specific historical sites relating to the Great Sioux War and arranged them chronologically, with site 1 being the Grattan Battlefield in Wyoming (commemorating an 1854 incident which helped set the stage for later events) and site 54 being Sitting Bull's grave in South Dakota (he died in 1890). In addition to these 54 "official" sites, Hedren identifies and directs readers to many other related locations nearby.
   
   Each site gets a number (which is also pin-pointed on a map), a brief description of the its significance, and directions to it (also whether it's on private property or not); then follows a longer historical account of the site's role in the War and a number of photographs indicating what a visitor to the site would see. It's a magnificent tool for anyone touring the area (most sites are in Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska), but it's just as valuable (and exciting) for anyone interested in the Sioux War who can't leave his livingroom. A great book. Highly recommended.



3. Superb volume; spent happy hours reading about places we've been lucky enough to visit and reviewing ones still to come if we can ever cross the Atlantic again. Amazon is a fantastic storehouse for books on our favourite subjects.This one is a must as an aide memoire and a forward planner.

5 comments about All but the Waltz: A Memoir of Five Generations in the Life of a Montana Family.

1. While I enjoyed this book - it made me aware of just how fragmented my own family history is. How I wish my ancestors had written (or kept) diaries and especially wish they had written on the backs of all those old photos to know what states, counties, cities, villages they were in at the time of the photograph and what was the event or celebration, etc. Thanks for a good read, Ms. Blew



2. The book All but the Waltz is something you should read if you are interested in learning some things about Montana life from the 1880's on. You should only read this book if you have patience because it skips around a lot. The book is a lot of stories put together and don't really ever tie together. If that bothers you then you shouldn't read this book but if it doesn't then I think that you would like this book.



3. This fine book is a collection of essays that weave together remarkable accounts of four generations of the author's ancestors, from their settlement in central Montana in the 19th century to the latter years of the 20th. Pioneers of strong fortitude, originating in Pennsylvania, her father's family, the Hogelands, are among the first settlers along the headwaters of the Judith River.
   
   Good years, wise management, and a faith in the rewards of hard work serve them well - until the early death of the author's grandfather, followed by a decade of severe drought and then the Great Depression. While half of the homesteaders around them go broke and move on, her family continues to scrape a living from the land, the women on her mother's side of the family supplementing their incomes with teaching in remote one-room country schools.
   
   Reconstructing her family's story, the author brings vividly to life her father and mother, grandmothers, aunts, and her great-grandparents. She deciphers and transcribes the writings of her great-grandfather Abraham, interviews living relatives, and studies family photographs, many of which are included in her book. While the primary theme of the book is the survival of her family, she also has much to say about the role of women, focusing on the circumstances that invariably compromised their hopes and aspirations.
   
   There is her father's mother, Grammy, who does the work of a man while providing home and shelter for a live-in hired man without benefit of clergy. There's her mother's mother, who teaches school into her seventies to support her family and pay for her husband's care in a nursing home. There's the author's aunt Imogen, who remains unmarried and also teaches school. There's the author's mother, who marries a handsome cowboy and then struggles to make a place for herself in her husband's domineering family.
   
   Meanwhile, the men in her stories make equally interesting studies, especially her strong-willed father, Jack, who's a natural horseman and top hand; her mother's father, who cannot withstand the pressures of a lonely, hard life on the prairie; and a husband in later years, a wildcat oilman who is in complete denial that he is dying of pulmonary fibrosis.
   
   I highly recommend this well-written, absorbing and sometimes harrowing book that renders such a vivid picture of Montana homesteaders and the extremes of rural life. Thanks to the University of Oklahoma Press for keeping it in print. Readers of this book will also like Judy Blunt's memoir of growing up on a Montana ranch, "Breaking Clean."



4. Mary Clearman Blew pulls no punches in telling the story of the Hogeland and the Welch families and the tellingly tough times they faced in frontier Montana from the turn of the twentieth century onward. Drought, the Depression, inexperience, madness, bitterly cold winters and dust storms all conspire against these families, and yet they somehow managed to persevere, if not to prosper, at least to survive. Blew's finely wrought essays weave a tapestry that brings these people to life, from 1900 right up to the present day. Her own difficult marriages and fierce, almost ruthless, determination to succeed are not spared in the telling. This is one helluva good read, one which I will recommend highly. I have nothing but admiration for Mary Clearman Blew, both as a writer and as a woman.



5. To paraphrase what another reviewer has said: These people become your family. You love them as your own. Possibly you end up knowing them better, and more coherently than your own family from stories and memories you have pieced together. One senses an extraordinary effort on the part of the author to bring poetic exactness to, to reinvigorate the pain, the wind, the vast loneliness and silence, the indifference to ultimate human concerns of the Montana landscape.