During the depression days of the early 1930s the Jordan family-Len Jordan (later governor of Idaho and a United States senator), his wife Grace, and their three small children-moved to an Idaho sheep ranch in the Snake River gorge just below Hell's Canyon, deepest scratch on the face of North America. "Cut off from the world for months at a time, the Jordans became virtually self-sufficient. Short of cash but long on courage, they raised and preserved their food, made their own soap, and educated their children."-Sterling North, New York World-Telegram "Home Below Hell's Canyon is valuable because it writes a little-known way of life into the national chronicle. We are put in touch with the kind of people who set the country on its feet and in the generations since have kept it there. . . . Primarily it is a book of courage and effort tempered by the warmth of those who trust in goodness and practice it."-Christian Science Monitor "The thrilling story of a modern pioneer family. . . . An intensely human account filled with fun, courage and rich family life."-Seattle Post Intelligencer

Provides an account of the massacre of over thirty Chinese gold miners on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon, a crime that has remained unsolved since 1887, and provides evidence that indicates the killers were a gang of seven rustlers and schoolboys who were never prosecuted for the murders.

In the early seventies, some of us were shot like stars from our parents' homes. This was an act of nature, bigger than ourselves. In the austere beauty and natural reality of Hell's Canyon of Eastern Oregon, one hundred miles from pavement, Pam, unable to identify with her parent's world and looking for deeper pathways has a chance encounter with returning Vietnam warrior Skip Royes. Skip, looking for a bridge from survival back to connection, introduces Pam to the vanishing culture of the wandering shepherd and together they embark on a four–year sojourn into the wilderness. From the back of a horse, Pam leads her packstring of readers from overlook to water crossing, down trails two thousand years old, and from the vantages she chooses for us, we feel the edges of our own experiences. It is a memoir of falling in love with a place and a man and the price extracted for that love. Written with deep lyricism, Temperance Creek is a work of haunting beauty, fresh and irreverent and rooted in the grit and pleasure of daily life. This is Pam's story, but the courage and truth in the telling is part of our human experience. Seen through a slower more primary mirror, one not so crowded with objectivity, Pam's memoir, is a kind of home–coming, a family reunion for shooting stars.

This is one helluva narrative about one helluva woman who believed that Hells Canyon was her heaven. You'll be captivated by Violet Wilson Shirley's stories about ranch life in the deepest part of Hells Canyon. The Pete and Ethel Wilson family lived exemplary lives. Could we survive and scratch out a productive life in this rugged terrain with rattlesnakes, fickle weather, steep slopes, and animal predators constantly challenging our bodies and minds? Could we successfully raise eight children? After she retired, Violet returned to the canyon as a U.S. Forest Service volunteer at the Kirkwood visitor center. She contributed time almost every year between 1986 and 2004. Violet's spirit is chiseled into the cliffs and slopes of Hells Canyon and floats above the rapids of Snake River as it plunges through that spectacular gorge. - Tracy Vallier

A realistic but nostalgic look at the land that is as much a state of mind as it is an actual place examines what it means to be a westerner today and how present actions are shaping the landscapes, institutions, culture, and potential of the American West for future generations. Original.

“Get your head into the clouds with Aerial Geology.” —The New York Times Book Review Aerial Geology is an up-in-the-sky exploration of North America’s 100 most spectacular geological formations. Crisscrossing the continent from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska to the Great Salt Lake in Utah and to the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico, Mary Caperton Morton brings you on a fantastic tour, sharing aerial and satellite photography, explanations on how each site was formed, and details on what makes each landform noteworthy. Maps and diagrams help illustrate the geological processes and clarify scientific concepts. Fact-filled, curious, and way more fun than the geology you remember from grade school, Aerial Geology is a must-have for the insatiably curious, armchair geologists, million-mile travelers, and anyone who has stared out the window of a plane and wondered what was below.

Gonzo journalist and literary roustabout Hunter S. Thompson flies with the angels—Hell’s Angels, that is—in this short work of nonfiction. “California, Labor Day weekend . . . early, with ocean fog still in the streets, outlaw motorcyclists wearing chains, shades and greasy Levis roll out from damp garages, all-night diners and cast-off one-night pads in Frisco, Hollywood, Berdoo and East Oakland, heading for the Monterey peninsula, north of Big Sur. . . The Menace is loose again.” Thus begins Hunter S. Thompson’s vivid account of his experiences with California’s most notorious motorcycle gang, the Hell’s Angels. In the mid-1960s, Thompson spent almost two years living with the controversial Angels, cycling up and down the coast, reveling in the anarchic spirit of their clan, and, as befits their name, raising hell. His book successfully captures a singular moment in American history, when the biker lifestyle was first defined, and when such countercultural movements were electrifying and horrifying America. Thompson, the creator of Gonzo journalism, writes with his usual bravado, energy, and brutal honesty, and with a nuanced and incisive eye; as The New Yorker pointed out, “For all its uninhibited and sardonic humor, Thompson’s book is a thoughtful piece of work.” As illuminating now as when originally published in 1967, Hell’s Angels is a gripping portrait, and the best account we have of the truth behind an American legend.

Mike Quigley has been exploring the Owyhee Canyonlands since 1975. Bonnie Olin joined him in 1993 and began keeping a personal record of their journeys together. Her journals, combined with Mike's 125 full color photographs of rarely seen landscapes, allow the readers to take a vicarious journey of their own, into the canyonlands of the Owyhee River in Nevada, Idaho and Oregon. Photos include the East Fork, South Fork, Main Stem and Lower Owyhee, as well as West Little Owyhee, Deep Creek, and Dickshooter Creek (Black Canyon).