Distinctly Montana Magazine

24 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 5 Last Best Books Presents ISLE OF BOOKS 511 W. MENDENHALL BOZEMAN 406.219.3581 ISLE OF BOOKS & BOOKS 43 E BROADWAY ST. BUTTE 406.782.9520 THESE AND OTHER BOOKS AVAILABLE AT EITHER LOCATION WWW.ISLEOFBOOKSSHOP.COM BAITED BY COLLEEN O'BRIEN Writer Colleen O'Brien knows something about the subjects of this novel. For one, she taught English at Blackfoot Community College. She also used to work with the Park Ser- vice every summer for several years. If this fails to establish her bona fi- des, then listen to this praise from Debra Magpie Earling, who we re- spect an awful lot around here and who called the novel "a burn of a tale that begins to bubble and hiss, and then rapidly boil over." She also calls the novel "an intricately plotted masterpiece. A stunning, edge-of-your-seat drama. An exquisite all night read." If Debra Magpie Earling thinks that a book is worth reading, then we read it. And while Earling really says it all with her in- cisive words, we would only add this: we read it in three long sittings, each one more riveting than the last. You may experi- ence a sleepless night or two, unable to put the book down, but it's worth it. MARY MACLANE: HERSELF BY MICHAEL R. BROWN Author and researcher Michael R. Brown has spent years think- ing and writing about Mary MacLane, the enfant terrible of Butte letters who in 1902 scandalized the world with her first memoir, I Await the Devil's Coming, later The Story of Mary Ma- cLane. By the end of her career, the openly bisexual provocatrix had pioneered breaking the fourth wall in film, written about subjects not often acknowledged in those times, become a proto-feminist legend, and died much too young. Brown has devoted a great deal of time to the study and appreciation of Mary MacLane, including pub- lishing the first anthology of her work, Tender Darkness, and the ac- claimed Human Days: A Mary Ma- cLane Reader. Now he returns with the most in- depth biography ever written about MacLane, which seems destined to further secure her legacy as one of the most important writers, artists and thinkers of early 20th century American culture. This is highly recommended, nay, essential reading for fans and stu- dents of Mary MacLane, a group which, with any justice, should only grow and grow in number. ROOTED AT THE EDGE: RANCHING WHERE THE OLD WEST AND NEW WEST COLLIDE BY DONNA L. ERICKSON The "hilly-skirt of ground at the northern boundary of Missoula" is the subject of this work of narrative nonfiction that blends memoir, his- tory, meditation on development and its discontents, and elegy for the vanishing of the Montana rancher. In Erickson's hands, Missoula stands in for many Western towns, and the issues she explores in this book will apply to much of Montana as a whole. In the end the book is a plea to remember what is at stake when the urban/country fringe — and the rancher who lives and works there — are un- der dire threat. Thankfully, the book ends on an almost hopeful note, and the reader concludes that all is not yet lost. "YOU MAY EXPERIENCE A SLEEPLESS NIGHT OR TWO, UNABLE TO PUT THE BOOK DOWN, BUT IT'S WORTH IT."

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