Living in the Runaway West: Partisan Views from Writers on the Range

Rating:
Summary: Great collection of short essays on the West
Review: High Country News is a biweekly newspaper about live and issues of the Western United States. The short pieces in "Living in the Runaway West" are from its syndicated column "Writers on the Range." The book is a great collection of those essays, most of which are between two and three pages long -- the perfect length for browsing and getting your "West fix." The essays cover plenty of topics, from environmental controversies like dams and mines to the social repercussions of picking out-of-the-way small towns in which to live. I'd recommend this collection to anyone interested in the West, contemporary environmental issues, and the outdoors in general.

Rating:
Summary: Living in the Runaway Mountain Time Zone.
Review: Yes, "Living in the Runaway Mountain Time Zone" would be a much better suited title for this book. Apparently the editors of HCN were playing hooky when U.S. geography was being taught in their rural schools. The last time I checked "those wine drinking, cheese-eating" Californians watched the sun sink into the Pacific Ocean long after the rest of the country. But as a large part of the West, both geographically and politically, California is a no-show in the "Runaway West."

Otherwise, if you can fight through the tired sterotypes that are littered throughout most of the writings, then you might be rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: Living in the Runaway Mountain Time Zone.
Review: Yes, "Living in the Runaway Mountain Time Zone" would be a much better suited title for this book. Apparently the editors of HCN were playing hooky when U.S. geography was being taught in their rural schools. The last time I checked "those wine drinking, cheese-eating" Californians watched the sun sink into the Pacific Ocean long after the rest of the country. But as a large part of the West, both geographically and politically, California is a no-show in the "Runaway West."

Otherwise, if you can fight through the tired sterotypes that are littered throughout most of the writings, then you might be rewarded.