The story of a grizzly bear named Millie: her life, death, and cubs, and what they reveal about the changing character of the American West. An "ode to wildness and wilderness" (Outside Magazine), Down from the Mountain tells the story of one grizzly in the changing Montana landscape. Millie was cunning, a fiercely protective mother to her cubs. But raising those cubs in the mountains was hard, as the climate warmed and people crowded the valleys. There were obvious dangers, like poachers, and subtle ones, like the corn field that drew her into sure trouble. That trouble is where award-winning writer, farmer, and conservationist Bryce Andrews's story intersects with Millie’s. In this "welcome and impressive work" he shows how this drama is "the core of a major problem in the rural American West—the disagreement between large predatory animals and invasive modern settlers”—an entangled collision where the shrinking wilds force human and bear into ever closer proximity (Barry Lopez). “Andrews’s wonderful Down from the Mountain is deeply informed by personal experience and made all the stronger by his compassion and measured thoughts . . . Welcome and impressive work.”—Barry Lopez
"Bee Livingston is a nervy, teenage beauty whose beloved father's sudden death in a snake charming accident has left her alone with her abusive mother. Her one salvation is Miles, the big-city photographer who promises escape and a life full of the adventure she craves. But when Bee is caught in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a government man who takes her family's land and won't stop until he claims her too, it may be Torch, the boy she grew up with on the mountain, who becomes the man she needs. Based on the true story of the hundreds of families who were forced from their Blue Ridge Mountain homes to make way for Shenandoah National Park in the 1930s, Go Down the Mountain is a tale of dispossession, coming of age, and love."
In 1834, fourteen-year-old Chance Early kills a man in self-defense and must leave his mountain home. He soon acquires both a slave named Lloyd and a mortal enemy named Radisson. His initial attempts to free Lloyd are unsuccessful, as Lloyd refuses to be manumitted in a slave state—but before they can leave town, Chance must fight a duel with Radisson. To make matters worse, he is being tracked by a brother of the man he killed. Will Chance live to free Lloyd and redeem himself? And will he keep his sense of humor through it all?
A Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Dave Eggers displays his emotional range in this quiet tour-de-force from How We Are Hungry, the often funny and masterful collection of short fiction. After giving up responsibility, in her usual passive way, of much that has been of importance in her life—her adopted children, a condo, financial security—Rita pays for a guided hike to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. An ebook Short.
FOR BART MOUNTAIN CLIMBING WAS A WAY OF LIFE. His money and his living on the edge attitude had taken him all over the mountain climbing world. Bart and his friend Thurwood had been a climbing team for more years then they could remember and they seemed inseparable. Then Cassie came into Barts life and they fell in love, and Bart got this ultimatum from his soon to be bride. Pick Thurwood and climbing or me. However, there was one more mountain to climb before he could willingly put his axe and crampons away and marry Cassie. There would be one last climb for Bart and Thurwood and the mountain was Alaskas Denali. Its the beast on the edges of the Arctic Circle and one of the most formidable peaks Bart or any climber has ever encountered. You only get to the top, if the mountain lets you. The mountain seemed to be giving them permission to climb and then took it back. A spring storm came up and battered them almost into submission and all the while Cassie was waiting at the bottom.
For almost a hundred years, locals have proclaimed a portion of the Uinta Mountains in Utah to be cursed. They call the area the Murmuring Caves, the site of the historic Yangguang Massacre, where distortions and reverberations beneath the earth's surface create something very akin to human voices. And if you listen long enough...you might just hear the dead... Josh Bridges, an experienced dark tourist, has finally convinced his three best friends to accompany him in search of the Murmuring Caves. But they only agreed because of the tragedy Josh just lived through, which seems to have broken him. They'd do anything for their friend... Even descend into darkness... But when they call out for help, what answers them might not be safe... It might not even be alive. Will Josh and his friends—Trey, Mandy, and Amber—make it down the mountain?
Another moving animal tale from the award-winning author of Soldier Bear One day, Mikis’s grandfather has a surprise for him: a new donkey waiting! Mikis falls in love with the creature, but his grandparents tell him that the donkey is a working animal, not a pet. However, they still let Mikis choose her name -- Tsaki -- and allow the two of them to spend their Sundays together. Mikis and Tsaki soon become fast friends, and together the two have some grand adventures. Eventually, both Mikis and his grandfather learn a bit more about what exactly it means to care for another creature. Brought to life by drawings from Philip Hopman, Bibi Dumon Tak’s gentle, humorous story is perfect for any readers who may have their own soft spot for animals.