Architecture critic Hess and photographer Weintraub portray the ranch-style house and the definitive home of the American West. They show a range of styles from around the West over the past 150 years, revealing the evolution from the simple, functional architecture of the 19th century to the opulent, vivid style that is popular today. Beginning with a look at real ranches, they show the country estates of the Western wealthy, the homes of media cowboys, and contemporary suburban examples. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Architecture critic Hess and photographer Weintraub portray the ranch-style house and the definitive home of the American West. They show a range of styles from around the West over the past 150 years, revealing the evolution from the simple, functional architecture of the 19th century to the opulent, vivid style that is popular today. Beginning with a look at real ranches, they show the country estates of the Western wealthy, the homes of media cowboys, and contemporary suburban examples. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
“Everything you need to know about the delicious new world of beans in this pioneering [recipe] book . . .A keeper.” —Paula Wolfert, James Beard and Julia Child Award–winning cookbook author Who would have thought a simple bean could do so much? Heirloom bean expert Steve Sando provides descriptions of the many varieties now available, from Scarlet Runners to the spotted Eye of the Tiger beans. Nearly ninety recipes in the book will entice readers to cook up bowls of heartwarming Risotto and Cranberry Beans with Pancetta, or Caribbean Black Bean Soup. Close-up photos of the beans make them easy to identify. Packed with protein, fiber, and vitamins, these little treasures are the perfect addition to any meal. “Heirloom Beans is no less than a promise of good things to come from this humble but rather magical food.” —Deborah Madison, James Beard and Julia Child Award–winning cookbook author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone “Heirloom Beans is the ultimate kiss and tell all of legendary legumes. A delicious recipe and savory story for every heirloom bean.” —Annie Somerville, cookbook author and chef, Greens Restaurant “We give Rancho Gordo beans a place of honor at our restaurants.” —Thomas Keller, James Beard award-winning chef, cookbook author and restaurateur, French Laundry
Ranch roping is at the heart of all ranch work, and unlike the rodeo variation of calf roping, the “vacquero” tradition calls for techniques that result in a skillful and graceful throw and catch. Buck Brannaman, a world-renowned master of the art, describes the essential tools, the partnership between horse and rider (incorporating the Natural Horsemanship approach for which the author is famous), and the mechanics needed to become a successful ranch roper, whether in competition or in actual cattle work. One-hundred full-color photographs of Buck in action enhance the step-by-step methodology that leads to mastering this essential Western skill. Whether you ride or rope or just wish you could, here’s a book for everyone who is captivated by Western traditions and contemporary life.
What does it mean to be a westerner? With all the mythology that has grown up about the American West, is it even possible to describe "how it was, how it is, here, in the West—just that," in the words of Lynn Stegner? Starting with that challenge, Stegner and Russell Rowland invited several dozen members of the western literary tribe to write about living in the West and being a western writer in particular. West of 98 gathers sixty-six literary testimonies, in essays and poetry, from a stellar collection of writers who represent every state west of the 98th parallel—a kind of Greek chorus of the most prominent voices in western literature today, who seek to "characterize the West as each of us grew to know it, and, equally important, the West that is still becoming." In West of 98, western writers speak to the ways in which the West imprints itself on the people who live there, as well as how the people of the West create the personality of the region. The writers explore the western landscape—how it has been revered and abused across centuries—and the inescapable limitations its aridity puts on all dreams of conquest and development. They dismantle the boosterism of manifest destiny and the cowboy and mountain man ethos of every-man-for-himself, and show instead how we must create new narratives of cooperation if we are to survive in this spare and beautiful country. The writers seek to define the essence of both actual and metaphoric wilderness as they journey toward a West that might honestly be called home. A collective declaration not of our independence but of our interdependence with the land and with each other, West of 98 opens up a whole new panorama of the western experience.
Joe De Yong: A Life in the West is the story of a life welled lived in the America West of the first part of the last century. Born in 1894 in Webster Groves, Missouri, a superb of St. Louis, De Yong had an immediate attraction to the cowboy way of life and when he was not at school he would help out a local ranches. If he wasn¿t riding he was sketching the subjects he loved the most ¿ cowboys and horses. At 13 years of age, he started working a local ranch when he heard a movie was being made in the area and they need cowboys. He jumped at the chance and met the silent-screens ultimate cowboy of the day, Tom Mix. Joe was hit with the idea of acting in moving pictures and followed the film company to Arizona in 1913. Somehow he came down with what was called at the time ¿cerebro meningitis¿ which would leave him totally deaf. Undeterred and further focused on his love of the cowboy ways, De Yong recouped by traveling the West and ultimately took in an exhibit of the works of the renowned artist, Charles M. Russell. The exhibit stopped young Joe in his tracks and he started writing to Russell resulting in Joe¿s opportunity to move to Great Falls, Montana in late 1914 to work with Russell in his studio. De Yong would be the first and only protégé of Russell¿s staying with he and his wife Nancy Russell until CM Russell¿s death in 1926. De Yong moved to Santa Barbara, CA just before Russell¿s death at the urging of their mutual friend, the artist Edward Borein. Borein would introduce De Yong to people in his circle that led to a meeting with film producer Cecil B. DeMille. De Yong would go one to a diverse career in the movie business, writing and creating artwork until his death in 1975.
Confident and robust, Jubilee Hitchhiker is an comprehensive biography of late novelist and poet Richard Brautigan, author of Troutfishing in America and A Confederate General from Big Sur, among many others. When Brautigan took his own life in September of 1984 his close friends and network of artists and writers were devastated though not entirely surprised. To many, Brautigan was shrouded in enigma, erratic and unpredictable in his habits and presentation. But his career was formidable, an inspiration to young writers like Hjortsberg trying to get their start. Brautigan's career wove its way through both the Beat–influenced San Francisco Renaissance in the 1950s and the "Flower Power" hippie movement of the 1960s; while he never claimed direct artistic involvement with either period, Jubilee Hitchhiker also delves deeply into the spirited times in which he lived. As Hjortsberg guides us through his search to uncover Brautigan as a man the reader is pulled deeply into the writer's world. Ultimately this is a work that seeks to connect the Brautigan known to his fans with the man who ended his life so abruptly in 1984 while revealing the close ties between his writing and the actual events of his life. Part history, part biography, and part memoir this etches the portrait of a man destroyed by his genius.
This four-volume reference work surveys American literature from the early 20th century to the present day, featuring a diverse range of American works and authors and an expansive selection of primary source materials. Bringing useful and engaging material into the classroom, this four-volume set covers more than a century of American literary history—from 1900 to the present. Twentieth-Century and Contemporary American Literature in Context profiles authors and their works and provides overviews of literary movements and genres through which readers will understand the historical, cultural, and political contexts that have shaped American writing. Twentieth-Century and Contemporary American Literature in Context provides wide coverage of authors, works, genres, and movements that are emblematic of the diversity of modern America. Not only are major literary movements represented, such as the Beats, but this work also highlights the emergence and development of modern Native American literature, African American literature, and other representative groups that showcase the diversity of American letters. A rich selection of primary documents and background material provides indispensable information for student research.
