Koncocoo

Best Central U.S. Regional Travel

My Sixty Years on the Plains: Trapping, Trading, and Indian Fighting (1905)
They were pushing, adventurous, and fearless men, who thought nothing of laying down their lives in the service of a friend, or often, it might be, only as a matter of humanity. Equipped with nothing but their skill and endurance, a few ponies, a gun or two, and provisions enough to last them for the day, they set out to make their way through a vast wilderness that held all the terrors of the unknown. In 1882, while Mr. Hamilton was a witness in the Star Route trial in Washington, the Smithsonian Institution endeavored to photograph these signs, but with indifferent success. His story also gives, for the first time, an account of three years of the life of the great scout and mountaineer, Bill Williams, one of the prominent figures in the early history of the plains. William Thomas Hamilton was born into a wealthy family in England but was brought to American when he was two years old.
Reviews
"The contents are too perfectly well described by the title to require much comment, although I will say that, having reached the end, I am disappointed that more attention wasn't paid to describing and explaining the art of trapping to us moderneers who haven't much of a clue beyond the obvious broad outlines. While many incidents are mentioned, it is often passed over so cursorily that, in hindsight, I'm not sure I always even knew,what the particular animal being trapped was. Since much of the history takes place in the northwest, from Montana to Washington, beavers are often mentioned as being the prey, but what was being trapped in other places is less clear to me--and in any case, I would have liked to have been told how the work was actually carried out in more detail."
"Lots of heir raising adventures of trapping, trading and fighting with the Indians over the last 60 years of the 19th century."
"Interesting but short for a 60 year time frame."
"He describes mostly his early life as a trapper criss crossing the American West."
"A great example of the trappers life, this book points out that all of the individual trappers had different experiences and different repsponses to the lives they led."
"Recommend to anyone interested in the mountain man era."
"The book tells the story from the point of view of a white trapper which was not always sensitive to the Native American point of view, but it is what it is and is a valuable historical account."
"This book was fun to read, kept me interested all the time."
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My Life Among the Indians (1909)
Travelling to the American West five times during the 1830s, Catlin was the first white man to depict Plains Indians in their native territory. The author spent eight years traveling among the Indians of the Northwest and the prairies, noting their customs and recording his observations with pen and brush. Catlin published his observation in a multi-volume set of books on the Indian tribes he witnessed. It is a splendid book to read and to own, being made up from two large volumes of letters written by George Catlin, the well-known painter of Indian subjects. Many of these specimens, together with his paintings, which were so true to life among the Indians, are still preserved in Washington. It was Catlin who, in 1832, made the suggestion that the government should set aside a great National Park in the Yellowstone region. "Mr. Catlin's scheme, as it then took shape in his mind, and was carried out without deviation, was the formation of an Indian gallery, for which he would use his skill as a painter in securing portraits among the different tribes he would personally visit; in reproducing pictorially their customs, hunt games, and manner of living; in collecting their robes, headdresses, pipes, weapons, musical instruments, and articles of daily life; and in studying their social life, government, and religious views, that he might arrive at their own view of their relation to the world in which they lived. In brief, he wished to see the Indian in his native state, and, if possible, to discover his past. "Mr. Catlin's personal equipment for his task was a lithe, alert frame, about five feet eight inches tall, made sturdy and enduring by the outdoor life of his boyhood, a knowledge of woodcraft, a trained eye with the rifle, fine horsemanship, simple habits, a mechanical, even an inventive mind, and great steadfastness of purpose." Painting An Indian Dandy. V. Canoeing With Bogard And Batiste. VI.
Reviews
"One of the most informative books I believe ever written about the lives and pursuits of the native American, as well as his art of them, truly a masterpiece."
"Catlin was a man of high character who saw indian life of the early 1800 like few others."
"History owes a great debt to Carlin for his art an journal."
"I liked the information about the Indian tribe and the least I liked was that it seemed to ramble on about different aspects of it."
"Amazing life this man led."
"In depth look at the native american customs and motivations."
"HE WROTE ALMOST AS WELL AS HE PAINTED."
"Great book."
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Days on the Road: Crossing the Plains in 1865 (1902)
Sarah Raymond was an unmarried woman of twenty-four who in May 1865--barely a month after the end of the Civil War--mounted her beloved pony and headed west alongside the wagon carrying her mother and two younger brothers. Sarah Raymond Herndon left her home in Missouri in May 1865 and traveled west in the company of her mother, younger brothers, and fellow emigrants, finally arriving in Virginia City, Montana Territory, at the height of the Gold Rush boom in that rough frontier town.
Reviews
"She also describes some leisure time such as putting up swings during stops near large cottonwood trees and climbing Elk Mountain."
"An interesting Story, but pretty repeticious which I am sure there life was."
"Really enjoyed this book.I would totally lose myself in all the descriptions of sights,smells,the good times,the times when they were terrified of getting attacked by Indians.Felt like I was traveling along with them."
"In those days prior to the Civil War the road was tougher than in May of 1865, the time of this true story."
"The book gave me a new appreciation for those brave souls who ventured across the continent to start a new life, not knowing what that life might hold."
"To live in a wagon day and night for over four months would be a hardship that most people today would find unbearable."
"What makes this short book so interesting is that it is a day to day recounting of traveling from Missouri to Montana in the mid 1800's."
"It is a day by day recounting by a sensible, religious young women of her pioneer wagon train's progress from Missouri to Montaina at the very end of the American Civil War, Insead of high drama we have the day to day problems and joys.of real people Sadness at the death of a friend; saisfation af saving a sick animal; pride in successful experimentation with wild cranberries; an accidental shooting and a possible murder."
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Best South Dakota Travel Guides

Exploring the Black Hills and Badlands: A Guide for Hikers, Cross-Country Skiers, & Mountain Bikers
"Exploring the Black Hills and Badlands" features. trips for hikers, skiers, mountain bike riders and equestrians. Hiram Rogers, a geologist and hydrologist, is an avid outdoorsman who has written for several recreational publications.
Reviews
"This book needs an update badly but nonetheless is a great resource on the area."
"Surprisingly had to order from Amazon as none of our bookstores in town have a copy."
"I was told that this was the best hiking book written for the Black Hills and Badlands, so I bought several to spread them out to hiking buddies."
"I particularly like that the author goes into detail about what each trail can be used for."
"We are taking this along on a trip to the Badlands and Black Hills in a couple of weeks."
"good book to locate a hike in the black hills I also bought a national geographic topo map of both areas."
"I purchased the book entitled Exploring the Black Hills & Badlands."
"I bought this guide for the sole reason of a planned stay in the Badlands of SD."
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Best Western U.S. Regional Travel

Wild (Oprah's Book Club 2.0 Digital Edition): From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Oprah’s Book Club 2.0 selection: This special eBook edition of Cheryl Strayed’s national best seller, Wild ,features exclusive content, including Oprah’s personal notes highlighted within the text, and a reading group guide. Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2012: At age 26, following the death of her mother, divorce, and a run of reckless behavior, Cheryl Strayed found herself alone near the foot of the Pacific Crest Trail--inexperienced, over-equipped, and desperate to reclaim her life. While readers looking for adventure or a naturalist's perspective may be distracted by the emotional odyssey at the core of the story, Wild vividly describes the grueling life of the long-distance hiker, the ubiquitous perils of the PCT, and its peculiar community of wanderers. But Strayed doesn't want sympathy, and her confident prose stands on its own, deftly pulling both threads into a story that inhabits a unique riparian zone between wilderness tale and personal-redemption memoir. Two months before Wild was published I stood on a Mexican beach at sunset with my family assisting dozens of baby turtles on their stumbling journey across the sand, then watching as they disappeared into the sea. Echoing the ever-popular search for wilderness salvation by Chris McCandless (Back to the Wild, 2011) and every other modern-day disciple of Thoreau, Strayed tells the story of her emotional devastation after the death of her mother and the weeks she spent hiking the 1,100-mile Pacific Crest Trail. As her family, marriage, and sanity go to pieces, Strayed drifts into spontaneous encounters with other men, to the consternation of her confused husband, and eventually hits rock bottom while shooting up heroin with a new boyfriend. Woefully unprepared (she fails to read about the trail, buy boots that fit, or pack practically), she relies on the kindness and assistance of those she meets along the way, much as McCandless did.
Reviews
"I almost didn’t make it past the first 1/3 which is where we meet Cheryl in her most raw and wounded form. Too, she is fine being alone in the wilderness, despite her people skills, and this, along with her descriptions of the land and struggles, make for good reading. While I would never choose to live my life as she has, the fortitude to endure a self-sought and the much needed initiation into adulthood, while walking over a thousand miles, and looking at her psychological processes, earned my respect."
"This is one of those books where you see the movie first, then discover it was based on a book and a true story."
"There are interesting parallels and contrast between "Wild" and "Tracks", a book about a young Australian woman, similarly though less profoundly disaffected with her life, who makes a trek from Alice Springs to the Pacific Coast of Australia with 4 camels."
"The book jumped to page 259 after page 210- which read a sex scene."
"Reading Cheryl Stray's reflections upon the too-soon-death of her mother and an abusive, mostly absent father, would benefit any young person struggling to understand and overcome the strangling emotions that come from a difficult beginning. Her writing is crisp, however, it seemed her dialogue was mostly about her devastated feet, deters she made off the trail, the people she met at various rest stops along the way, and her constant cravings for food."
"There are so many great things I could say about this book and how much I loved it, but I'll leave you with this: Cheryl Strayed paints an emotional, visceral portrait of life on the Pacific Crest Trail that appeals to more than just long-distance hikers."
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Best South U.S. Regional Travel

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail)
The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes — and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. When this American transplant to Britain decided to return home, he made a farewell walking tour of the British countryside and produced Notes from a Small Island . Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance.
Reviews
"I'm a sexagenarian who, on a recent vacation, happened to walk out and back on the first three miles or so of the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (Springer Mtn, GA) and, in a fit of exhilaration, decided then and there that I would, by golly, hike the AT before I died. As I was joyfully entertained by his incisive sense of humor, I was simultaneously and seriously learning history, biology, geology (and several other -ologies) as well as being discomfitted by Bryson's documentation of our culture's dismissive practices regarding ecology."
"Read one and except for a few events, you've pretty much read them all and almost any extended backpacking trip involves the same rigors, risks, weather and that mixture of misery and exhilaration."
"One of the funniest books you will every read."
"Bill's storytelling captured me immediately...I was taking every step he took, I enjoyed every vista he looked out on, I was eavesdropping on his conversations with his fellow hikers and feeling the spectrum of emotions held for his friend and hiking companion."
"An adventure that walks you experientially and historically through the nation's longest series of trails from Georgia to Maine while feeling every fear from blisters, hunger, thirst, wildlife, climate changes, man's limitations and nature's nuances, all the while trekking with a forty pound pack on your back, and any one of these could do you in, well it's a wonder why the wild is so compelling."
"With the film in theaters, I decided to pick it up and give it a go. I loved this book, and place it among Jon Krakauer's "Into the Wild," Cheryl Strayed's "Wild," and Elizabeth Gilbert's "The Last American Man" in terms of well-written essays that explore our yearning to return to a simpler, untethered way of life."
"Unfortunately some of his stories about what happened to people along the trail, made me not that interested in walking any trail."
"I think Bill Bryson is an incredibly good writer whose humor extends to poking as much fun at himself as he does at others."
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Best Midwest US Travel Guides

Score of a Lifetime: 25 Years Talking Chicago Sports
A must-read for any of the thousands of listeners who made Boers part of their daily routine, The Score of a Lifetime is a freewheeling, frank portrait of a man, a career, a station no one thought would survive, and a city that loves its sports. Terry Boers is a legend in Chicago sports media.
Reviews
"I was staying with the in-laws in a small town due west of Chicago, not unlike where Terry grew up. I was bored and flipping through the radio dial as I like to do when I'm somewhere different, when suddenly I hear guys arguing sports. We went back to Virginia and I forgot about the Score until May 1992, when I transferred to Naval Station Great Lakes. He could have added another hundred pages giving us an in-depth peek at those magical early years and really shined a light on the ins and outs of sports radio."
"This book is written so that you feel as though you are sitting next to Terry in the studio, or at one of Chicago's finest places to watch 4 legged creatures race."
"As a longtime listener and caller to The Score (as Government Fromage), Terry's ability to turn the mundane into comedy and the redundant into required listening is an art form."
"It doesn't have to be an audio book, because the writing is so clearly Terry's voice that you can't help but hear him speaking the words on the page."
"His style of humor and entertainment is often attempted but never successful executed by other radio hosts."
"Terry is a favorite of mine as I listened to his show off and on."
"If you are a Chicago Sports fans, The Score fan, or a B&B listener, this is a fantastic read."
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Best Northeast US Travel Guides

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail (Official Guides to the Appalachian Trail)
The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes — and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings. When this American transplant to Britain decided to return home, he made a farewell walking tour of the British countryside and produced Notes from a Small Island . Accompanied only by his old college buddy Stephen Katz, Bryson starts out one March morning in north Georgia, intending to walk the entire 2,100 miles to trail's end atop Maine's Mount Katahdin. As Bryson and Katz haul their out-of-shape, middle-aged butts over hill and dale, the reader is treated to both a very funny personal memoir and a delightful chronicle of the trail, the people who created it, and the places it passes through. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance.
Reviews
"I'm a sexagenarian who, on a recent vacation, happened to walk out and back on the first three miles or so of the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (Springer Mtn, GA) and, in a fit of exhilaration, decided then and there that I would, by golly, hike the AT before I died. As I was joyfully entertained by his incisive sense of humor, I was simultaneously and seriously learning history, biology, geology (and several other -ologies) as well as being discomfitted by Bryson's documentation of our culture's dismissive practices regarding ecology."
"In total Bryson hiking around 800 miles of the 2,500 mile trail."
"You young guys can deal with that...[...], I should have done this trail 30 years ago!! What's funny is just a couple weeks back we did a small day hike in north Georgia on the High Shoals trail, down to a beautiful water fall, just a 1.2 mile hike. On the hike back up to the car I was huffing and puffing, my hip was hurting, I was sweating heavily in GOOD weather... and I think I want to do this with a 40 pound pack on my back??!! We spoke with the first two guys, one who wanted to celebrate his 65 birthday on the trail, the other guy, much younger, hiking the trail for several days on his own. I topped off their water bottles and thanked them, thinking I should do this hike!"
"Was told it was "Hilarious.""
"Read one and except for a few events, you've pretty much read them all and almost any extended backpacking trip involves the same rigors, risks, weather and that mixture of misery and exhilaration."
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