Long established as a standard reference work worldwide, this is a thorough bibliography of all mountaineering books that are of practical use to climbers or for reading pleasure or historical interest. Documenting more than 2000 books of mountaineering literature, it also includes nearly 900 climber's guidebooks, a sampling of more than 400 works of mountaineering fiction, plus journals and bibliographies.

Stirring tales, dating from the French and Indian War through the 1850s, recount desperate situations from the lives of westward-bound women and their families, including encounters with the Native Americans they ultimately displaced.