Nonfiction Celebrating the West

From SA 07/01/05
The following are the 25 nonfiction titles from and about the West published during the first 25 years of the King's English, Salt Lake City, Utah, that the store has judged its favorites on the subject. This is just one of the many intriguing book lists that appear in co-owner Betsy Burton's new memoir, The King's English: Adventures of an Independent Bookseller (Gibbs Smith, $24.95).

1. This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind by Ivan Doig (Harvest, $14)
2. Basin and Range by John McPhee (FSG, $13)
3. The Desert Smells Like Rain: A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country by Gary Paul Nabhan )
4. The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich (Penguin, $12.95)
5. Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
6. Wild to the Heart by Rick Bass (Norton, $12)
7. Desert Solitaire by Ed Abbey (Ballantine, $6.99)
8. The Sagebrush Ocean: A Natural History of the Great Basin by Steve Trimble
9. Desert Notes, River Notes by Barry Lopez (HarperCollins/Quill)
10. Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place by Terry Tempest Williams (Vintage, $13)
11. Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West by Wallace Stegner
12. Hole in the Sky: A Memoir by William Kittredge (Vintage, $19)
13. The Eagle Bird: Mapping a New West by Charles Wilkinson (Johnson Books, $14)
14. Riding the White Horse Home: A Western Family Album by Teresa Jordan (Vintage, $12)
15. Temporary Homelands by Alison Hawthorne Deming (Mercury House, $18)
16. Downcanyon: A Naturalist Explores the Colorado River Through the Grand Canyon by Ann Zwinger
17. A Place in Space: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Watersheds by Gary Snyder (Counterpoint, $17)
18. Homestead by Annick Smith (Milkweed, $13.95)
19. Where Rivers Change Direction by Mark Spragg (Riverhead, $14)
20. Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West by Chip Ward (Verso, $16)
21. The Blood Runs Like a River Through My Dreams by Nasdijj (Mariner, $13)
22. Eye of the Blackbird: A Story of Gold in the American West by Holly Skinner (Johnson Books, $17.50)
23. The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American Desert by Craig Childs (Back Bay, $13.95)
24. Running After Antelope by Scott Carrier (Counterpoint, $14)
25. The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflecting on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky by Ellen Meloy