Our special once-a-year Books and Essays issue, focusing on community and connection. Sarah Gilman finds that closeness means survival in the harsh, vast spaces of Mongolia as well as in the American West. Ana Maria Spagna describes how Maidu Indians came together to reclaim a sacred California valley from a utility company. Plus book reviews and profiles of authors like Erika T. Wurth, Mitchell S. Jackson and Lucia Berlin.
A visual artist finds her literary voice in New Mexico
Bev Magennis once covered houses in colorful tiles. Now she writes novels about murder in the rural West.
Claustrophilia: Do wide-open lands bring us closer together?
A writer finds that Colorado small-town life and Mongolian mishaps strengthen her human connections.
How to redefine — and defend — wilderness
A review of a new way to look at what’s wild and what’s not, in Jason Mark’s ‘Satellites in the High Country’ and Fred Pearce’s ‘The New Wild.’
In the barren Central Valley, a woman unravels
A review of ‘Into the Valley’ by Ruth Galm.
Mitchell S. Jackson finds another Portland
An author speaks on growing up black in 1990s Portland and countering his city’s hipster image.
Notes from the road to bestsellerdom
An author’s promotional book tour includes incontinent owls and posh but uncomfortable luncheons.
Overlooked author Lucia Berlin gets brought back to the light
‘A Manual for Cleaning Women,’ her posthumous book of stories, reveals a formidable talent.
Self-published books: What to read
Some favorite under-the-radar writers and their recent releases.
Sketching water chemistry on the Animas, hunting mushrooms in the Northwest.
Hcn.org news in brief.
The fall reading list
Book recommendations for the cold months ahead.
The human cost of Westward expansion
A review of ‘American Copper’ by Shann Ray.
The myriad ways the natural world disappoints, delights and destroys.
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
The real work
On a hot, dusty August Saturday a few years ago, people from all over the North Fork Valley convened at a country veterinarian’s office just outside Paonia, Colorado (HCN’s hometown). We came with paintbrushes and paint, wheelbarrows, buckets, rakes and shovels, food and drink. About a dozen of us, ranging in age from 8 to…
A displaced California tribe reclaims sacred land
The Mountain Maidu return to their valley, but the work of reclamation never ends.
Where agriculture and aesthetics go hand-in-glove
Former Seattleite and author Bryce Andrews writes and ranches in Montana.
A look back at a Western artist guild’s colorful history
A review of ‘The Denver Artists Guild; Its Founding Members: An Illustrated History’ by Stan Cuba.
Writing beyond the reservation stereotype
A Native author creates characters who are making a life in the urban West.
A skipped issue and a trickle of visitors
Plus, a plug for our classroom subscription program and a gun-related correction.