We take a break from covering current events with our annual Books & Authors special issue, which hits themes familiar to every Westerner, echoing the conflicts common to our million-square-mile region. Book reviews, author Q&As, memoirs, excerpts and essays reimagine our relationships to each other, and to the land.
In these stories, the only real home is a phone’s home screen
Lydia Millet’s new book documents modern-day America from Los Angeles.
New reads for fall
Enjoy a sampling of the season’s best new books.
The contradictions of iconic lands
The photos inside two new volumes show the grandeur and vulnerability of landscapes like the Grand Canyon and Bears Ears National Monument.
The cultural milieu of anarchist and self-taught linguist Jaime de Angulo
A Q&A with the author of a new book about the early 20th century figure.
The search for Native identity on city streets
Tommy Orange deftly captures the urban-Indigenous experience in his debut novel.
When the health of your land is beyond your control
An excerpt from Rebecca Clarren’s new novel explores the effects of fossil fuel development on a Western ranch.
Edward Abbey’s warnings were right
Author Amy Irvine’s answer to the classic ‘Desert Solitaire’ on its 50th anniversary.
Reforestation and remeandering in Leopold’s bootsteps
A new book follows a family’s mission to heal the land.
When immigration and identity collide
A new novel reminds us that love can keep us together.
HCN bugles in the season
We experience some creature encounters and say a few goodbyes.
The persistence of place in Western writing
Authors find inspiration in the land, no matter its state.
What’s special about a good-for-nothing sunflower?
In an age of extinction, a sunny, endangered flower serves as a beacon of arid lands.
Fear and love in Oregon’s forests
How far will you go for the person you love?
‘A poet in the world’ who’s informed by the land
Award-winning Diné writer Tacey Atsitty discusses her recent book and the accessibility of poetry today.
Reconciling wildness and the American dream
A writer finds a home in the wild landscapes of the West.
A push for inclusivity in Seattle’s book publishing scene
‘The books are only as valuable as the community around them.’
Fabulous flab; reefer madness; unsportmanslike conduct
Mishaps and mayhem from around the region.
A voice for the overlooked
Writer Jonathan Evison flips the American Dream narrative upside-down.
Ode to a mountain
A duo pay a heartfelt tribute to Albuquerque’s Sandia Mountain.