Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome (Bison Book) [Paperback]

Joseph Kinsey Howard (Author), A. B. Guthrie Jr. (Preface)

Book Description

Series: Bison Book | Publication Date: January 1, 1983

First published in 1943, Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome was chosen in 1981 by the readers of Montana: The Magazine of Western History as the most significant book on the state.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a book about a lot of things, from the dried buffalo bones that littered the plains in the nineties to the Federal Reserve Policy that dried the state up in the twenties. It is about John Wesley Powell, the prophet honored too late . . . the copper kings and their brazen capers in business and politics. . . . It deals with past, present, and future, with geography and climate, with politics and economics and belated but promising planning. . . . No one but a Montanan and no Montanan but Howard could have written this book. It is his, an expression of love and concern and knowledge told with rare skill. . . . It stands by itself."—from the Preface by A. B. Guthrie Jr.

(A. B. Guthrie Jr. )

“Superior history of the state of Montana by an indigenous editor who understands ecology as well as gun-play and who is tearing mad about what a mistaken land policy, monopoly practices, dust storms, and two wars have done to his native earth. Critical, well informed, and brightly written.”—New Yorker

(New Yorker )

"The best single book I know on the subject. Scholarly, yet eminently readable, entertaining all the way."—Weekly Book Review

(Weekly Book Review )

From the Inside Flap

"Superior history of the state of Montana, by an indigenous editor who understands ecology as well as gun-play and who is tearing mad about what a mistaken land policy, monopoly practices, dust storms, and two wars have done to his native earth. Critical, well informed, and brightly written."—New Yorker.

"The best single book I know on the subject. Scholarly, yet eminently readable, entertaining all the way."—Weekly Book Review.

In these pages you will come to fall in love with a ruggedly diverse and strikingly beautiful state, a land that takes hold and won’t let go. Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome is widely recognized as a classic history and delightful ode to the idiosyncratic personalities, restless landscape, unforgettable peoples, and lively history of the Treasure State. William Kittredge provides a new introduction for this edition. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 349 pages
• Publisher: Bison Books (January 1, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803272146
• ISBN-13: 978-0803272149
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #563,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is THE book on Montana., October 27, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome (Bison Book) (Paperback)

If you want to know the story of Montana, this is where you start. It's written by the best journalist-writer who ever lived in the state (excluding Bud Guthrie, of course, who chose fiction instead). It must be understood that it is not a "definitive history" as Howard himself stated, but a personal narrative of what matters. In the past two decades, a cottage industry of Howard-bashing has emerged in Montana, by historians eager to establish their own reputations. Yes, some of what Howard wrote was incorrect. Other aspects of his writings now seem outmoded (the colonial economy thing). But to say modern history proves Joe Howard was wrong is like saying Lewis and Clark are disproven by Rand-McNally. Howard was the visionary who showed the way to what Montana should and could be. But 50 years later, this remains the best non-fiction book that will ever be written about Montana.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting, interesting, well worth reading., December 19, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Montana: High, Wide, and Handsome (Bison Book) (Paperback)

I first read this book back in the early 60's when I was stationed in Montana. I found it full of facts that you don't find in history books. The characters are real and believable; makes you wish you had a time machine to go back and witness the action. A must for history buffs.