This is American history told through the stories of an atypical, for Utah, region. Castle Valley is roughly conterminous with two counties, Carbon and Emery, which together formed a rural, industrial enclave in a mostly desert environment behind the mountain range that borders Utah's principal corridor of settlement. In Castle Valley, coal mining and the railroad attracted diverse, multiethnic communities and a fair share of historic characters, from Butch Cassidy, who stole its largest payroll, to Mother Jones, who helped organize its workers against its mining companies. Among the last major segments of the state to be settled, it was also a generally poor region that stretched the capabilities of people to scratch a living from a harsh landscape. The people of Castle Valley experienced complex, unusual combinations of both social cohesion and conflict, but they struggled through poverty, labor disputes, major mining disasters, and other challenges to build communities whose stories reflected the historical course of the nation as a whole. In order to convey her subject's both unique and representative qualities, Nancy Taniguchi has written an epic history that is not just local history, but American history written locally. Nancy J. Taniguchi, who lived for thirteen years in Castle Valley and was previously on the faculty of the College of Eastern Utah in Price, is professor of history at California State University, Stanislaus. She is the author of numerous published articles in mining, legal, women's, western, and Utah history and of one book, Necessary Fraud: Progressive Reform and Utah Coal.

Scotty's Castle is a study in contrasts, much like its setting in Death Valley. While the castle is known worldwide and has been visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists, many myths persist. It is not a castle, nor was it owned by Walter E. Scott, known as "Death Valley Scotty." But the Spanish-style hacienda, also known as Death Valley Ranch, has always been linked to Scott. This book explores the fascinating history of Death Valley Scotty, Albert and Bessie Johnson (the true owners and builders of the castle), and the castle itself from construction to private living quarters to a tourist facility owned and operated by the National Park Service.

For generations, boaters and train passengers have been mystified and intrigued by the sight of a castlelike structure looming in the Hudson River, near Fishkill. Bannerman Castle unveils the history of this site: an island arsenal, built to resemble a Scottish castle. The story begins in 1900, when Francis Bannerman VI purchased the island--officially Pollepel but later called Bannerman's Island--for storing used military goods purchased from the government. A native of Scotland, Bannerman designed his arsenal to resemble a Scottish castle.

Timely and unsettling essays from an important and beloved writer and conservationist In Erosion, Terry Tempest Williams's fierce, spirited, and magnificent essays are a howl in the desert. She sizes up the continuing assaults on America's public lands and the erosion of our commitment to the open space of democracy. She asks: "How do we find the strength to not look away from all that is breaking our hearts?" We know the elements of erosion: wind, water, and time. They have shaped the spectacular physical landscape of our nation. Here, Williams bravely and brilliantly explores the many forms of erosion we face: of democracy, science, compassion, and trust. She examines the dire cultural and environmental implications of the gutting of Bear Ears National Monument—sacred lands to Native Peoples of the American Southwest; of the undermining of the Endangered Species Act; of the relentless press by the fossil fuel industry that has led to a panorama in which "oil rigs light up the horizon." And she testifies that the climate crisis is not an abstraction, offering as evidence the drought outside her door and, at times, within herself. These essays are Williams's call to action, blazing a way forward through difficult and dispiriting times. We will find new territory—emotional, geographical, communal. The erosion of desert lands exposes the truth of change. What has been weathered, worn, and whittled away is as powerful as what remains. Our undoing is also our becoming. Erosion is a book for this moment, political and spiritual at once, written by one of our greatest naturalists, essayists, and defenders of the environment. She reminds us that beauty is its own form of resistance, and that water can crack stone.

Written by a career geologist with decades of experience in the field, North America’s Natural Wonders guides readers through the most iconic, geologically significant scenery in North America, points out features of interest, explains what they are seeing, and describes how these features came to be. Presented as classic excursions to some of the best-known natural wonders on the continent, Volume II focuses primarily on Central and Eastern North America, including the Appalachians, the Colorado Rockies, Austin-Big Bend Country, and the Sierra Madre. The trips detailed in this volume include stops at quintessential features, such as the Shenandoah Valley, Carlsbad Caverns, Big Bend National Park, and La Popa Basin of Nuevo León and Coahuila, Mexico, as well as many others. It also features discussions of lesser-known but equally interesting geologic formations and important information on accessing these sites. Features Clearly explains the geology of these regions with an emphasis on landscape formation Addresses issues of interest, such as fossils, earthquakes, mineral sites, mining, and oil fields Lavishly illustrated with numerous colorful maps and breathtaking geological landscapes and their various features These six self-guided tours explain to the curious layman, student, and geologist what they are seeing when they look at a roadcut or a quarry and enhances the experience far beyond simple sightseeing.

America’s national parks are breathing spaces in a world in which such spaces are steadily disappearing, which is why more than 300 million people visit the parks each year. Now Terry Tempest Williams, the author of the environmental classic Refuge and the beloved memoir When Women Were Birds, returns with The Hour of Land, a literary celebration of our national parks, an exploration of what they mean to us and what we mean to them. From the Grand Tetons in Wyoming to Acadia in Maine to Big Bend in Texas and more, Williams creates a series of lyrical portraits that illuminate the unique grandeur of each place while delving into what it means to shape a landscape with its own evolutionary history into something of our own making. Part memoir, part natural history, and part social critique, The Hour of Land is a meditation and a manifesto on why wild lands matter to the soul of America.