Montana Authors & The Bookstore Trail

River Runs Through It

Norman Maclean

It is likely if you haven’t read the book you have seen the 1992 western drama starring Brad Pitt. The classic Montana story centers around the idyllic life of living in rural Montana and spending time fly fishing.

The book utilizes detailed descriptions of the landscapes, fishing, and the way of life for a young man living in the early 20th century Montana. The book, A river Runs Through It and Other Stories, is actually a three-part collection of stories, featuring the well know A River Runs Through It, as well as a story Logging and Pimping and 'Your pal, Jim' which tells the tale of working as a logger for the Anaconda Copper Company, and USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky which centers around work for the US Forest Service, extinguishing fires, building trails, stringing telephone wire, and working on lookout duty.

~ For those who like: fishing, movie adaptations, autobiographies, coming-of-age stories

This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind (1978), Nonfiction
English Creek (1984), Novel
The Whistling Season (2006), Novel
The Bartender’s Tale ( 2012), Novel

Ivan Doig

Ivan Doig was a third generation Montanan whose 16 original fiction and non-fiction works provide a glimpse into western history, celebrate the people of the post-war American west and explore our beautiful Montana landscapes. He is an iconic Montana author who has left a legacy of storytelling for generations to come.

~ For those who like: stories about the American west, memoirs

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (2009)

Jamie Ford

Currently living in Montana, Jamie Ford is an award winning novelist and short-story writer. His debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, won the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature and spent two and a half years on the New York Times bestseller list. This critically acclaimed work opens to the discovery of the belongings of Japanese families who had been sent to internment camps many years prior. Set primarily in Seattle, the story centers around Henry Lee and his childhood memories of WWII, a love story enduring decades, and his present day relationship with his college-aged son.

~ For those who like: Literary fiction, historical fiction

Fifty-Six Counties: A Montana Journey (2016)

Russell Rowland

Born in Bozeman, Russell Rowland is a critically-acclaimed author and literary podcast host.For his most popular book is the non-fiction narrative, Fifty-Six Counties, he interviewed people in every one of Montana’s counties to research the history of the area and find out what is going on around the state. This work continues as a radio program on NPR and in podcast form.

~ For those who like: Non-fiction, current events

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune

By Bill Dedman & Paul Clark Newell, Jr

For an account of true wealth and a glimpse into a wealthy and prominent American family, Empty Mansions connects Guilded Age opulence and the battle over a $300 million inheritance. This story’s reclusive heiress, Huguette Clark, was the daughter of W.A. Clark, one of three famed copper kings of Butte, Montana.

~ For those who like: Guilded Age, Heiress stories, historical non-fiction

The Pacific

Hugh Ambrose

Hugh Ambrose is perhaps best known for his literary work, The Pacific, which are centered around first-hand accounts by five military men who fought in the front lines in the Pacific during WWII. This book was later turned into an HBO miniseries, which Mr. Ambrose served as the historical consultant for.

While not born in Montana, after regularly visiting on family vacations growing up, he attended the University of Montana, studying history, and considered Montana home when he wasn’t leading battlefield tours through Europe, the Pacific Rim and serving as VP of Development of “America’s National World War II Museum” in New Orleans.

~ For those who like: historical accounts, film adaptations, war stories

Spirit Tailings: Ghost Tales from Virginia City, Butte and Helena (2002)
Montana Moments: History on the Go (2010)

Ellen Baumler

Chances are, while you are in Montana you will read something that Ellen Baumler wrote even if you didn’t intend to or know it. She is fondly revered across our state as a historical detective and well-loved author who wrote nearly all the historical markers for buildings on the National Register of Historic Places across Montana. She also wrote interpretive signs, walking tours, and roadside signs for the Montana Department of Transportation among many other literary contributions to our great state. Her contributions as Interpretive Historian for the Montana Historical Society will live on for generations to come.

~look for the Historical Register signs~

~For those who like: Historical non-fiction, Montana history, Ghost stories, paranormal activity, haunted places

The Journals of Lewis & Clark

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

While written long before Montana was considered a state, you might consider picking up a copy of the Lewis and Clark Journals at one of the stops along the Montana Bookstore Trail! They make for an intriguing roadside companion as you journey through Montana. See the state through their eyes as they ventured across the rugged Montana territory and imagine what their travels were like as you read their detailed journal entries. Many find their accounts riveting to read. It is quite an adventurous story!

Pair these readings with stops along the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Trail to enhance your reading experience.

~ For those who like: Adventure stories, historical diary entries, American history

Travels with Charley: In Search of America

John Steinbeck

Although rather Montana-adjacent, as Mr. Steinbeck was not Montana-born nor spent much time here, the quintessential quote about Montana, is found in Travels with Charley which follows the story of Steinbeck and his dog Charley as they make their way across the country in the 1960s. For those of you on a cross country road trip, you may enjoy this classic American story.

“I’m in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it’s difficult to analyze love when you’re in it.”

~ For those who like: travel journals, classic American authors

Beneath a Scarlet Sky

Mark Sullivan

Pino Lella wants nothing to do with the war or the Nazis. He’s a normal Italian teenager—obsessed with music, food, and girls—but his days of innocence are numbered. When his family home in Milan is destroyed by Allied bombs, Pino joins an underground railroad helping Jews escape over the Alps, and falls for Anna, a beautiful widow six years his senior.

The Last Green Valley

Mark Sullivan

In late March 1944, as Stalin’s forces push into Ukraine, young Emil and Adeline Martel must make a terrible decision: Do they wait for the Soviet bear’s intrusion and risk being sent to Siberia? Or do they reluctantly follow the wolves―murderous Nazi officers who have pledged to protect “pure-blood” Germans?

The Martels are one of many families of German heritage whose ancestors have farmed in Ukraine for more than a century. But after already living under Stalin’s horrifying regime, Emil and Adeline decide they must run in retreat from their land with the wolves they despise to escape the Soviets and go in search of freedom.

Montana Madams

Nann Parrett

Men flooded to the Montana frontier for gold, furs, rich land, and jobs. Women followed, but their options were more limited. Here are stories of women who made a desperate choice, turning the law of supply and demand to their advantage. Many eked out a meager but independent existence; grit and business acumen brought remarkable wealth and influence — even respectability — to a few. From Alzada to Yaak, these enterprising women shaped Montana communities, in some cases helping to fund social programs and public education.

The City That Ate Itself: Butte Montana and its Expanding Berkeley Pit

Brian Leech

Brian James Leech provides a social and environmental history of Butte, Montana’s Berkeley Pit, an open-pit mine which operated from 1955 to 1982. Using oral history interviews and archival finds, The City That Ate Itself explores the lived experience of open-pit copper mining at Butte’s infamous Berkeley Pit. Because an open-pit mine has to expand outward in order for workers to extract ore, its effects dramatically changed the lives of workers and residents. Although the Berkeley Pit gave consumers easier access to copper, its impact on workers and community members was more mixed, if not detrimental.