Bill Croke
Stories from Montana’s Enduring Frontier: Exploring an Untamed LegacyBy John Clayton (The History Press, 175 Pages, $19.99 paper) Montana’s history really began when it ran out of “frontier.” That is, when growing towns and economic development began to give it a…
I saw the “Yonder Mountain String Band” (Jeff Austin, Ben Kaufmann, Adam Aijala, Dave Johnston) in Missoula recently and it was a delightful, if musically heterodox experience. I’ve been listening to both recorded and live bluegrass for years, and I…
The Wilma Theater in Missoula, Montana, has its charms, but has seen better days. It’s a near century-old ornate opera house recalling a time in western history when a mining town or railroad terminus sought to shake off the dusty…
It snows a lot in the Rockies, even in relatively dry years, and some of the western national parks, such as Yellowstone, Glacier, and Rocky Mountain, require extensive plowing to open their roads in the spring. Yellowstone, for instance, closes…
What with the hysteria concerning the just passed sequester, I’ve been thinking about what the late Barry Goldwater — conservative Arizona senator and 1964 GOP presidential nominee — would make of it. So from the bookshelf I liberated (an apt…
“….the Roman government appeared everyday less formidable to its enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects. The taxes were multiplied with the public distress; economy was neglected in proportion as it became necessary…. If all the barbarian conquerors had…
I’m as surprised as anyone, considering my recent TAS punditry on who would succeed Ken Salazar as Secretary of the Interior. Sally Jewel, 56, the CEO of Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI), has no experience in public service, yet according to the…
To compare its trivial nature to our current fiscal mess and as a commentary on the media, Mark Steyn in one of his recent articles blasted ABC News for a story it ran in 2007 about a scandal at the…
River Notes: A Natural and Human History of the Colorado By Wade Davis (Island Press, 176 pages, $22.95) The Colorado River holds a special place in the minds of people who know rivers because of its ambiguous wildness. Other than…
