Read Me Treasure Valley– Visions of Idaho
Read Me Treasure Valley, the annual reading event sponsored by Ada Community Library, Boise Public Library, Boise State University, the Cabin, and The Idaho Statesman, features a new approach to honor and recognize the Sesquicentennial of Boise and the Idaho Territory, being celebrated in 2013. Instead of limiting the reading experience to a single title, for this special year we celebrate Idaho and Boise through many books, either placed in Idaho and the Boise area or memoirs of the state and southwest Idaho. We have selected a range of titles that include nonfiction, fiction, and memoir to provide readers a better understanding of our State and of our city, prior to Statehood and forward to today. We hope that through the experience of reading several of these titles covering 1863-2013, we will broaden our understanding of this unique community’s peoples, their life experiences, history and imagination.
Setting the Stage
Boise, Idaho 1882-1910: Prosperity in Isolation – Carol MacGregor (c2006). Bypassed by major railroad lines in the 19th century, Boise nevertheless managed to grow and prosper. The secret? Timber, mining, agriculture – and the determination of citizens who were (rightly) convinced the city had a bright future.
An Enduring Legacy: the Story of Basques in Idaho – John and Mark Bieter (c2000). John Bieter is a professor of history at BSU and his brother Mark is a Washington, D.C., attorney. (A third brother, Dave, is Boise’s mayor.) Themselves of Basque descent, the authors are eminently qualified to write about the vibrant Basque element in Boise’s history, life and culture.
Indians of Idaho – Deward Walker (c1978). The history of the Kutenai, Kalispel, Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock, and Northern Paiute Indians, not as dramatic as that of Plains or Southwest Indians, but nonetheless compelling.
Latinos in Idaho: Celebrando Cultura–Robert McCarl, ed. (c2003). A collection of essays and interviews offering a mix of history, how-to, cultural study and celebration of Idaho’s Latino community.
Life in Old Boise – Arthur Hart (c1989). Fascinating stories and photos of the people and events that shaped Idaho's capital city, from its primitive beginnings to its status as a regional center of commerce, industry and government.
1863-1913
Angle of Repose – Wallace Stegner (c1971). Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this novel intertwines the history of the West with the personal story of three generations.
Big Trouble: a murder in a small western town sets off a struggle for the soul of America – J. Anthony Lukas (c1997). The murder of former Governor Frank Steunenberg led to one of the most notorious trials of the early 20th century, and brought the country close to class warfare.
Buffalo Coat – Carole Ryrie Brink (c1944). Drawn by its name to the town of Opportunity (Moscow), Idaho, three men do indeed find opportunity in Idaho of the 1890s, but their destinies are not what they had envisioned.
A Chinaman's Chance: the Chinese on the Rocky Mountain mining frontier - Liping Zhu (c1997). The story of Chinese cultural, financial and political integration into the Boise basin provides a dramatic contrast to today’s at-times virulent debates over immigration.
Deep Creek – Dana Hand (c2010). The other side of Liping Zhu’s chronicle, this novel, based on a true but long-suppressed story, tells of a judge determined to find the murderer of 30 Chinese immigrants.
Land of Sunrise Mountains – Cloah Sebastian Cowling (c1956). A cavalcade of great Idaho events, perils, and toil, but also pleasures and rewarding moments of pioneer days through the 1940s related through personal experiences.
Mountain man: a novel of male and female in the early American West – Vardis Fisher (c1965). Racial conflict, vengeance and adventure are told within the context of a man’s love for two women.
Steel Rails and Territorial Tales: forty months building the Oregonshort line railroad through Idaho: a memoir – Edward Pierce Coleman (c1994). The title describes the book perfectly: How the OSL was built, and the story of the people who built it.
Tom and Julia Davis “Some Good Place” - Boise Idaho – Susan Stacy (c2007). They interacted with Indians, built the first cabin in Boise in 1863 and left a lasting legacy in Julia Davis Park.
A Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West: the reminiscences of Mary Hallock Foote (c1972). From an idyllic Quaker childhood in New York State, Mary Hallock Foote traveled to the West with her husband, found beauty and harshness, and translated her feelings into well-received illustrations.
We Sagebrush Folks – Annie Pike Greenwood (c1934). The autobiography of “a woman of education, refinement and culture” and her life in southern Idaho.
1914-1964
Across Open Ground – Heather Parkinson (c2002). A coming of age tale – dealing with love, duty, good and evil, man and nature – set in Idaho’s sheep country as the United States enters World War I.
Bluebird Will Sing Tomorrow: memoirs of Velma V. Morrison(c2003). Growing up on a California farm during the Depression, Velma Morrison became a nationally known patron of the arts, particularly revered in Boise.
Boys of Boise: furor, vice and folly in an American city –John Gerassi (c1966). A homosexual scandal in Boise in the mid 50s contrasts with, yet sheds light on, today’s gay and lesbian rights movement.
Diary of Ann Morrison – Ann Morrison (c1951). The wife of heavy-construction contractor and co- founder of Morrison Knudson Company Harry Morrison, relates four decades of interesting events and experiences in their lives and the draw that Boise always had as home sweet home.
Home Below Hells Canyon– Grace Jordan (c1954). Grace and Len Jordan were Idaho pioneers – in the 20th century – living a difficult, self-sustaining life and rearing three children. Len Jordan later became Idaho’s governor and a United States senator.
King of the Mild Frontier – Chris Crutcher (c2003). The Idaho-born-and-raised author of several novels for teen-agers tells his story with humor, poignancy and insight in this book subtitled An ill-advised autobiography.
The Pull of Moving Water – Alice Koskela (c1999). A coming-of-age story set in the 50s and 60s by an Idaho girl who feels separated from huge events happening in the United States.
Life in the Upper Country: the diary of Evelyn E. Amos (c1990). The life and death of a single-family farm.
A Little Bit of Wisdom: conversations with a Nez Perce elder - Horace P. Axtell (c1997). Reminiscences of a Christian Indian who manages to maintain and honor the culture of his people.
Short of a Good Promise – William Studebaker (c1999). The story of a family, told in verse, prose and photos by an Idaho poet and essayist.
Whatchagot Stew: a memoir of an Idaho childhood, with recipes and commentaries – Patrick McManus. (c1990). Outdoorsman, hunter and humorist McManus was struck by “a strange urge” to write a cookbook. Problem was, he didn’t know to cook. So he put together recipes from his family and friends and added predictably funny anecdotes about growing up in Idaho during the Depression.
1965-2013
And There We Were--: memoirs from Boise, Idaho [City], and McCall smokejumpers (c2003). Since 1943 Idaho Smokejumpers have been telling their jump stories around the campfire. Through this 60th-anniversary compilation, all can experience those spirited accounts of brave and adventurous fighters of forest fires.
Anything Worth Doing: a true story of adventure, friendship and tragedy on the last of the West's great rivers – Jo Deurbrouck (c2012). The book tells the true story of two whitewater raft guides who share a love of wild rivers and an unbending will to live life on their terms, no matter the cost.
Bitterbrush Country - Diane Josephy Peavy (c2001). A native Easterner who has come to love the West writes about her spiritual love of the land and her fear that the West as we know it will disappear.
Bloodlines: odyssey of a native daughter – Janet Hale Campbell (c1993). A Coeur d’Alene Indian selectively writes about her youth and adulthood, illustrating larger lessons about life and mirroring the fate of Native Americans.
Destination Idaho - Tim Woodward (c2011). A collection of columns capturing stories of Idaho’s people and places gathered over many years of life and work as reporter for the Idaho Statesman.
Five Skies – Ron Carlson (c2007). Three men seeking to escape their pasts are united on a construction job in the Idaho mountains and slowly come to terms with their lives.
God's Dogs: a novel in stories – Mitch Weiland (c2009). An Ohio retiree sets out to live alone in a cabin in the Idaho desert seeking solitude, wilderness reflection, opportunity for physical labor, and break from interpersonal failures.
Housekeeping – Marilynne Robinson (c1980). A tale of two sisters’ loss and their eventual survival is set in a small town that seems overwhelmed by its spectacular mountain setting.
Hungry for the World: a memoir – Kim Barnes (c2000). The story of a young woman’s rebellion and her search for knowledge -- and its consequences, both dire and beautiful.
Poetic Justice: a memoir – Byron Johnson (c2012). The former Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, who died recently, traces his life from Boise High School to Harvard to the bench to his embrace of poetry in order to better understand humanity.
Voices from the Snake River Plain – Bonnie Dodge, et al. (c2009). Funny or sad, the tales told by three authors illustrate the soul of Snake River country.
Way Out In Idaho - Rosalie Sorrels (c1991). Songs, stories, interviews, recipes, photos – all add up to a picture of the unsung people of Idaho, compiled by a renowned Idaho folklorist.
Where the Morning Light’s Still Blue: Personal Essays about Idaho – Rick Ardinger/William Studebaker. (c1994). This collection of evocative essays illuminates the influence that place has on our lives.
Boise, Idaho 1882-1910: Prosperity in Isolation – Carol MacGregor (c2006). Bypassed by major railroad lines in the 19th century, Boise nevertheless managed to grow and prosper. The secret? Timber, mining, agriculture – and the determination of citizens who were (rightly) convinced the city had a bright future.
An Enduring Legacy: the Story of Basques in Idaho – John and Mark Bieter (c2000). John Bieter is a professor of history at BSU and his brother Mark is a Washington, D.C., attorney. (A third brother, Dave, is Boise’s mayor.) Themselves of Basque descent, the authors are eminently qualified to write about the vibrant Basque element in Boise’s history, life and culture.
Indians of Idaho – Deward Walker (c1978). The history of the Kutenai, Kalispel, Coeur d'Alene, Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock, and Northern Paiute Indians, not as dramatic as that of Plains or Southwest Indians, but nonetheless compelling.
Latinos in Idaho: Celebrando Cultura–Robert McCarl, ed. (c2003). A collection of essays and interviews offering a mix of history, how-to, cultural study and celebration of Idaho’s Latino community.
Life in Old Boise – Arthur Hart (c1989). Fascinating stories and photos of the people and events that shaped Idaho's capital city, from its primitive beginnings to its status as a regional center of commerce, industry and government.
1863-1913
Angle of Repose – Wallace Stegner (c1971). Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this novel intertwines the history of the West with the personal story of three generations.
Big Trouble: a murder in a small western town sets off a struggle for the soul of America – J. Anthony Lukas (c1997). The murder of former Governor Frank Steunenberg led to one of the most notorious trials of the early 20th century, and brought the country close to class warfare.
Buffalo Coat – Carole Ryrie Brink (c1944). Drawn by its name to the town of Opportunity (Moscow), Idaho, three men do indeed find opportunity in Idaho of the 1890s, but their destinies are not what they had envisioned.
A Chinaman's Chance: the Chinese on the Rocky Mountain mining frontier - Liping Zhu (c1997). The story of Chinese cultural, financial and political integration into the Boise basin provides a dramatic contrast to today’s at-times virulent debates over immigration.
Deep Creek – Dana Hand (c2010). The other side of Liping Zhu’s chronicle, this novel, based on a true but long-suppressed story, tells of a judge determined to find the murderer of 30 Chinese immigrants.
Land of Sunrise Mountains – Cloah Sebastian Cowling (c1956). A cavalcade of great Idaho events, perils, and toil, but also pleasures and rewarding moments of pioneer days through the 1940s related through personal experiences.
Mountain man: a novel of male and female in the early American West – Vardis Fisher (c1965). Racial conflict, vengeance and adventure are told within the context of a man’s love for two women.
Steel Rails and Territorial Tales: forty months building the Oregonshort line railroad through Idaho: a memoir – Edward Pierce Coleman (c1994). The title describes the book perfectly: How the OSL was built, and the story of the people who built it.
Tom and Julia Davis “Some Good Place” - Boise Idaho – Susan Stacy (c2007). They interacted with Indians, built the first cabin in Boise in 1863 and left a lasting legacy in Julia Davis Park.
A Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West: the reminiscences of Mary Hallock Foote (c1972). From an idyllic Quaker childhood in New York State, Mary Hallock Foote traveled to the West with her husband, found beauty and harshness, and translated her feelings into well-received illustrations.
We Sagebrush Folks – Annie Pike Greenwood (c1934). The autobiography of “a woman of education, refinement and culture” and her life in southern Idaho.
1914-1964
Across Open Ground – Heather Parkinson (c2002). A coming of age tale – dealing with love, duty, good and evil, man and nature – set in Idaho’s sheep country as the United States enters World War I.
Bluebird Will Sing Tomorrow: memoirs of Velma V. Morrison(c2003). Growing up on a California farm during the Depression, Velma Morrison became a nationally known patron of the arts, particularly revered in Boise.
Boys of Boise: furor, vice and folly in an American city –John Gerassi (c1966). A homosexual scandal in Boise in the mid 50s contrasts with, yet sheds light on, today’s gay and lesbian rights movement.
Diary of Ann Morrison – Ann Morrison (c1951). The wife of heavy-construction contractor and co- founder of Morrison Knudson Company Harry Morrison, relates four decades of interesting events and experiences in their lives and the draw that Boise always had as home sweet home.
Home Below Hells Canyon– Grace Jordan (c1954). Grace and Len Jordan were Idaho pioneers – in the 20th century – living a difficult, self-sustaining life and rearing three children. Len Jordan later became Idaho’s governor and a United States senator.
King of the Mild Frontier – Chris Crutcher (c2003). The Idaho-born-and-raised author of several novels for teen-agers tells his story with humor, poignancy and insight in this book subtitled An ill-advised autobiography.
The Pull of Moving Water – Alice Koskela (c1999). A coming-of-age story set in the 50s and 60s by an Idaho girl who feels separated from huge events happening in the United States.
Life in the Upper Country: the diary of Evelyn E. Amos (c1990). The life and death of a single-family farm.
A Little Bit of Wisdom: conversations with a Nez Perce elder - Horace P. Axtell (c1997). Reminiscences of a Christian Indian who manages to maintain and honor the culture of his people.
Short of a Good Promise – William Studebaker (c1999). The story of a family, told in verse, prose and photos by an Idaho poet and essayist.
Whatchagot Stew: a memoir of an Idaho childhood, with recipes and commentaries – Patrick McManus. (c1990). Outdoorsman, hunter and humorist McManus was struck by “a strange urge” to write a cookbook. Problem was, he didn’t know to cook. So he put together recipes from his family and friends and added predictably funny anecdotes about growing up in Idaho during the Depression.
1965-2013
And There We Were--: memoirs from Boise, Idaho [City], and McCall smokejumpers (c2003). Since 1943 Idaho Smokejumpers have been telling their jump stories around the campfire. Through this 60th-anniversary compilation, all can experience those spirited accounts of brave and adventurous fighters of forest fires.
Anything Worth Doing: a true story of adventure, friendship and tragedy on the last of the West's great rivers – Jo Deurbrouck (c2012). The book tells the true story of two whitewater raft guides who share a love of wild rivers and an unbending will to live life on their terms, no matter the cost.
Bitterbrush Country - Diane Josephy Peavy (c2001). A native Easterner who has come to love the West writes about her spiritual love of the land and her fear that the West as we know it will disappear.
Bloodlines: odyssey of a native daughter – Janet Hale Campbell (c1993). A Coeur d’Alene Indian selectively writes about her youth and adulthood, illustrating larger lessons about life and mirroring the fate of Native Americans.
Destination Idaho - Tim Woodward (c2011). A collection of columns capturing stories of Idaho’s people and places gathered over many years of life and work as reporter for the Idaho Statesman.
Five Skies – Ron Carlson (c2007). Three men seeking to escape their pasts are united on a construction job in the Idaho mountains and slowly come to terms with their lives.
God's Dogs: a novel in stories – Mitch Weiland (c2009). An Ohio retiree sets out to live alone in a cabin in the Idaho desert seeking solitude, wilderness reflection, opportunity for physical labor, and break from interpersonal failures.
Housekeeping – Marilynne Robinson (c1980). A tale of two sisters’ loss and their eventual survival is set in a small town that seems overwhelmed by its spectacular mountain setting.
Hungry for the World: a memoir – Kim Barnes (c2000). The story of a young woman’s rebellion and her search for knowledge -- and its consequences, both dire and beautiful.
Poetic Justice: a memoir – Byron Johnson (c2012). The former Justice of the Idaho Supreme Court, who died recently, traces his life from Boise High School to Harvard to the bench to his embrace of poetry in order to better understand humanity.
Voices from the Snake River Plain – Bonnie Dodge, et al. (c2009). Funny or sad, the tales told by three authors illustrate the soul of Snake River country.
Way Out In Idaho - Rosalie Sorrels (c1991). Songs, stories, interviews, recipes, photos – all add up to a picture of the unsung people of Idaho, compiled by a renowned Idaho folklorist.
Where the Morning Light’s Still Blue: Personal Essays about Idaho – Rick Ardinger/William Studebaker. (c1994). This collection of evocative essays illuminates the influence that place has on our lives.
