Westerns: The Spur Awards 2024

Clara spends her summer visiting her grandma and cousin on Standing Rock reservation, where Clara and her family set up the ancestral tipi and grow closer together as they tell stories, sing songs, and learn about their Lakota roots. (6/23/23)

Wildfires are getting more destructive than ever before. Driven in part by climate change, the areas burned and prevalence of smoke in the skies is expected to skyrocket in the decades to come. At the same time that wildfires leave swathes of the country in ash, they also renew. Wildfire is crucial for ecosystems to function and flourish. We're putting out many of the fires our landscape needs, and the ones that escape our control are devastating for forests and communities. What we're doing isn't working. Wildfire is inevitable, and we need to learn to live with it. This book, offering everything you need to know about fire, reflects on the history of humanity's connection to flames; analyzes how our society arrived at this perilous moment; and recounts stories of those fighting fire and trying to change our relationship with it. It also offers practical advice: choosing your insurance and making your home resilient to burns; packing an emergency go-bag; and rebuilding after a fire.--From statement at Amazon.com.

Deep in the heart of the Wyoming countryside, Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, is called to a crime scene like few others that he has seen. This crime will force him to confront the ghosts of his past, as his grandfather's past offers clues for Walt's investigation.

"Deputy Mattie Cobb and her sister, Julia, travel to Mexico to visit their mother, but when they arrive, they discover that she and her husband have vanished without a trace. Back in Timber Creek, Mattie finds a chilling note on her front door telling her to look for "him" among the standing dead up in the high country. The sheriff's department springs into action and sends a team to the mountains, where Mattie's K-9 partner, Robo, makes a grisly discovery--a body tied to a dead pine tree. Mattie is shocked when she realizes she knows the dead man. And then another note arrives, warning that Mattie's mother is in desperate straits. In a last-ditch gambit, Mattie must go deep undercover into a killer's lair to save her mother--or die trying

"Elliott West lays out the main events and developments that together describe and explain the emergence of the American West and situates the birth of the West in the broader narrative of American history between 1848 and 1880"--

"The First Migrants explores the narrative histories of Black homesteaders in the Great Plains and the larger themes which characterize their shared experiences"--

"They say the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. But it's hard to know what's going on inside the twisted mind of Magnus Lamb, the charismatic leader of an isolated logging town known for its healing hot springs. Some might say he's created a peaceful utopia here on Gunmetal Mountain. But for Cleveland Trewe and his lovely traveling companion Berry, this little piece of heaven is more like Hell on Earth... Cleve and Berry first discover the town after an encounter with a dangerous band of Indians. Cleve vows to find "the Coyote," a young brave last seen headed for the strange settlement of Lambsville. At first, Cleve and Berry are charmed by the town's natural beauty and simple way of life. But soon they see the community for what it really is: a brainwashed cult with some oddball beliefs, a rigid caste system, and a leader who thinks he's the new Messiah. This not-so-innocent Lamb has heard about Cleve's legendary gunfighting skills and wants him to lead an army to expand his power across the West. It's bound to be a bloodsoaked mission, and Cleve wants no part of it. But if he refuses, there'll be hell to pay" --

"As a widower with three young boys, Duncan Hunter dreamed of a new life for his sons in the heart of Washington Territory. But the journey was doomed from the start. Before reaching Hell Gate, their wagon train was attacked by Blackfoot Indians. Most of the pioneers were viciously murdered. But Hunter's son Cody survived--taken in by Crow Indians and raised as one of their own. They called the boy Crazy Wolf. This is his story. From hunting and tracking on the American frontier to leading patrols on covert missions for the U.S. Army, Cody Hunter would become one of the most valued scouts in the nation. But a part of him would always be Crazy Wolf--a man of two worlds, as wild and free as the land itself. And every bit as dangerous" --Publisher.

"The most wanted man in the West, Big Bob McGraw has earned his reputation as a thief and killer. With a gang of trigger-happy desperadoes willing to do his bidding, McGraw has robbed banks, stagecoaches, and railroads, raised hell ravaging towns, and left bodies littering the streets in his wake. Carson Stone rode with McGraw's gang exactly once, minding their horses during a bank robbery, before quitting. But with the marshal of El Paso, Texas, gunned down in cold blood as the bandits escaped, he's been judged guilty by association. To clear his name, Carson teams up with bounty hunter Colby Tate to track down the outlaws--now scattered across the frontier--and bring them to justice. And Carson must convince his partner to bring McGraw in alive or he'll never escape the shadow of the hangman's noose" --

"Desperate for a fresh start, Rena Burke journeys from Texas to Oregon with only her father's pistol and a plodding old mule for company. She takes a job working with explosives at a mine, spends her free time emulating her hero Annie Oakley, and secretly longs to be loved. Saddlemaker Josh Gatlin has one purpose in life and that is his daughter. Gabi is his joy and the sunshine in his days. Then he meets a trouser-wearing woman living life on her own terms. Rena is nothing like his perception of what he wants in a wife and mother for his child, but she might just prove to be everything he needs. When tragedy strikes, will the two of them be able to release past wounds and embrace the possibilities tomorrow may bring?" --Amazon.

"For nineteen years, Wash Baker has been haunted by firing into the night at what he thought was a grizzly, only to kill his young son and narrowly miss a second boy, Trey. Now, in 1899, confirmed tracks of grizzly--a species of bear unknown in Texas--have been found at a Davis Mountains camp meeting attended by Wash and his daughter, Grace. The congregants include Trey, now an adult and courting Grace, and Trey's father, Ed Mulholland. Long ago, Mulholland's big talk about the dangers of a grizzly led Wash to panic and fire the fatal load of buckshot. With all of them now striking out to hunt down this confirmed grizzly, Wash has a chance to right the wrongful shot and perhaps deliver judgment on Mulholland. Meanwhile, up from Mexico has come twelve-year-old Rosindo Mesa, seeking to kill the same grizzly before the next full moon in order to free his dead father's wandering soul. This novel is based on the actual 1899 hunt for the only documented grizzly ever found in Texas." --