Book Reviews

Book Reviews – A Compendium of Curious Colorado Place Names

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By Jim Flynn
ISBN: 978-1-46713-732-4
The History Press: 2016
$21.99; 186pp, plus index

Reviewed by Eduardo Rey Brummel

Cannibal Plateau. Breckenridge. Westcliffe. Slumgullion Pass. Tin Cup. Saguache. Colorado is chockablock with odd and peculiar place names.

Fortunately, there are numerous books telling the varied tales of how these names came to be. (I own two other such books, myself.) But since so many of these books already exist, and many of us have at least one or two’ why bother with this one? Well, because two qualities distinguish this book from the rest. First, it’s not an alphabetic listing of Colorado place names, it’s divided into chapters. Second, Jim Flynn writes with a simpatico tone and winking sense of humor.

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Book Reviews – Herndon Davis: Painting Colorado History, 1901-1962

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davis_webBy Craig W. Leavett and Thomas J. Noel

University Press of Colorado

290 pages, 173 color, 8×10

ISBN 978-1-60732-419-5 (paper), ISBN 978-60732-420-1 (ebook)

 

Reviewed by Virginia McConnell Simmons

Readers who are interested in Colorado’s art and history will welcome this cornucopia of paintings and drawings by Herndon Davis. Although he might not have gained renown in the highest circles of art or society, this prolific artist won honor in his lifetime for evoking Colorado’s cultural story and for sharing it with skill, affection and his notable drinking companions.

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Book Review: Dirt: A Love Story

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Dirt: a love story Editor: Barbara Richardson ISBN: 978-1-61168-766-8 ForeEdge: 2015 $19.95, 200pp. An anthology about dirt. How is it possible to have over thirty writers tell us about something that is, well, as plain as dirt? Well, it helps when you’re able to bring in some of the big guns of land-based writing: Pam …

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Book Reviews – The Railroads of Leadville, Colorado

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SILVER RAILS: The Railroads of Leadville, Colorado By Christopher James Sierra Grande Press ISBN 978-0-9670867-2-6 Reviewed by Forrest Whitman This is the book I want for Christmas. I’ve read many books about railroads and railroading, but this one stands out. Many of these rail books have great pictures of a historical era or region. Others …

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Book Reviews

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Transient Landscapes: Insights on a Changing Planet By Ellen Wohl University Press of Colorado, 2015, 248 pp, $34.95 ISBN: 978-1-60732-368-6 (cloth) ISBN: 978-1-60732-369-3 (ebook) Reviewed by Virginia McConnell Simmons Whether you are a student just beginning to learn about geomorphology or fluvial systems, a traveler seeking destinations far from the beaten track, or a senior …

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Book Review – Under a Triumphant Sky: A Bike Across America Story

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Under a Triumphant Sky: A Bike Across America Story By Steve Garufi Mount Princeton Press: 2014 332 pp, $21.95 ISBN: 978-0692302897 Reviewed by Eduardo Rey Brummel Is there any of us who hasn’t dreamed of running away, of heading on out to the highway, never looking back, getting away from it all? Steve Garufi had …

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Book Review – Red Lightening

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Red Lightning: A Novel By Laura Pritchett Counterpoint, hardback, 208 pp, $24 ISBN: 9781619025332 1619025337 Reviewed by Annie Dawid What would be the relief in redemption if it were a simple sorry, forgive me? Grace is not achieved so easily. Redemption is to purchase back something previously sold, the recovery of something pawned or mortgaged, …

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Book Reviews – Simply Nora: High Heels and Diapers

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Simply Nora: High Heels and Diapers by Theodore Marquez Club Lighthouse Publishing ISBN 978-1499648430 Reviewed by Forrest Whitman This is a tender book about a mother, written by her son. It reads like a Christmas card or high school scrapbook. Theodore Marquez was born and raised in Del Norte, Colorado. Nora, his mother, had 24 …

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Book Review – Responding

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Responding Beatrice Strawn and Sue Mills CreateSpace: 2015 ISBN-13: 978-1503384378 $18.50, 48pp. Reviewed by Eduardo Rey Brummel Beatrice Strawn has been a consistent and sturdy contributor to Central Colorado’s art scene for close to three decades; and for 16 years, prior to retiring here, she crafted and taught in Denver. Here, in this book, 16 …

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Book Review – Hollywood’s Railroads, Volume Three: Narrow Gauge Country

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Hollywood’s Railroads, Volume Three: Narrow Gauge Country By Larry Jensen Cochetopa Press  72 pages ISBN 978-0-692-31351-0 Reviewed by Forrest Whitman Here’s a little gem of a railroad book that explains a lot about Colorado Central country. As recently as 1968, both of our narrow gauge railroads in southern Colorado were threatened with extinction. The D&RGW …

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Book Reviews – Phantom Canyon: Essays of Reclamation

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Phantom Canyon: Essays of Reclamation By Kathryn Winograd Conundrum Press, 2014, paper, 148 pp, $12.99 Reviewed by Annie Dawid Phantom Canyon, a rough and rustic valley in the Front Range, inspires Colorado essayist and poet Kathryn Winograd to write visceral essays that both wound and heal. Rich with mining history and the detritus of a …

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Book Review–The Kid’s Guide to Denver, Boulder & Colorado’s Ski Country

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The Kid’s Guide to Denver, Boulder & Colorado’s Ski Country By Eileen Ogintz Globe Pequot Press; December 2014 168 pages; ISBN 9781493016938 Reviewed by Ericka Kastner Leading family travel expert Eileen Ogintz has once again written a guidebook geared toward kids, only this time she’s guiding them through Colorado, or so she claims. Colorful and …

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Book Review–Desert Rims to Mountains High

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Desert Rims to Mountains High By Richard F. Fleck 224 pages, Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company 2013 ISBN-13: 9780871089687 Reviewed by Jane Koerner Richard Francis Fleck’s Breaking Through the Clouds, published in 2004 by Pruett, covered a lifetime of outdoor exploration on two continents. In his recently published, renamed revision, Desert Rims to Mountains High, …

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Reviews– The Garden of Dead Dreams

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The Garden of Dead Dreams By Abby Quillen Sidewalk Press: 2014 ISBN: 978-0-9899822-3-8 $13.95, 253 pp. Reviewed by Eduardo Rey Brummel In her novel’s opening lines, Abby Quillen tells us: Etta Lawrence wasn’t the only one who came to Roosevelt Lodge to become someone else. That’s why they’d all come. Forty-some years earlier, Vincent Buchanan …

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Reviews – Edward Wynkoop, Soldier and Indian Agent

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Edward Wynkoop, Soldier and Indian Agent By Nancy Oswald #7 in the “Now You Know” series for young scholars by Filter Press ISBN: 978-0-86541-184-5 Reviewed by Forrest Whitman Cotopaxi author Nancy Oswald does a nice job of presenting this historical Colorado figure. Some young scholars will recognize that Wynkoop Street down by Union Station in …

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Reviews – Plight of the Dam’d Rascals

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Plight of the Dam’d Rascals By Tom Rollings 178 pages, Dog Ear Publishing 2014 ISBN: 978-1-4575-2950-4 Reviewed by Forrest Whitman Literally thousands of books and articles have been written about the Zebulon Pike Expedition of 1806-1807. The expedition is especially interesting to readers from Central Colorado, since many of the dramatic events on Pike’s long …

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Book Review – Individuals Create Value

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Individuals Create Value By Kevin Barnes Self published, Booktango, Bloomington IN  58 pages Reviewed by Forrest Whitman In 58 pages, Salida author Kevin Barnes attempts to untangle one of the oldest questions about society: How does the individual create value within the sometimes oppressive rules of a society? Barnes gives credit to Thomas Jefferson for …

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Reviews – Intermission: A Place in Time

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By Glenda Lee Vollmecke Outskirts Press Paperback: 192 pages ISBN-10: 1478712406 ISBN-13: 978-1478712404 Reviewed by Elliot Jackson I confess, I started this book laboring under a misapprehension. From the cover art, which shows a handbill for a “Beatles Night Out” at “The Tower Ballroom, New Brighton,” I was expecting a lot more about the English …

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Reviews – The Hash Knife Around Holbrook

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By Jan MacKell Collins Arcadia Publishing ISBN 978-1-4671-3093-6 127 Pages, $21.99 Reviewed by Forrest Whitman The Hash Knife brand and the cowboys who were part of that legend have created a cottage industry around Holbrook, Arizona. Each year a well-funded trail ride, called the Hash Knife Pony Express ride, goes from Holbrook south to the …

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Book Review – Between Urban and Wild: Reflections from Colorado

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Between Urban and Wild: Reflections from Colorado By Andrea M. Jones University of Iowa Press, 2013 ISBN: 978-1-60938-187-5 $22.50, 196pp. Reviewed by Eduardo Rey Brummel I first opened this collection of essays after placing my order at Telluride’s Brown Dog, and was who-knows-how-many pages immersed in it before noticing that my pizza had arrived and …

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Book Reviews

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 Season of Terror: The Espinosas in Central Colorado, March-October 1863

By Charles F. Price
University Press of Colorado, 2013
ISBN 978-1-61732-236-8
$34.95, cloth, 352 pages

Reviewed by Forrest Whitman

A new book about an old terrorist threat is getting a lot of press in Central Colorado lately. Felipe and Vivian Espinosa, and later their nephew Jose Vicente, terrorized Colorado in 1863 (some would extend that threat into 1864). By some accounts they hoped to lead a revolt against the U.S. Government at a time when the U.S. was gradually taking control of New Mexico and Southern Colorado. By some accounts they killed upwards of forty people, all innocent Anglos. They themselves boasted that the kill was 42 Anglos, but other authorities point to 32. At least one of the murdered was of Salida interest. The victim, Henry Harkins, has descendents who knew Harkins well.

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