Smoke Jensen the fastest, toughest gun around decides to hang it up to get married and start a family. Now if you had lived in the same era as smoke would you even think of doing harm to Smokes wife or any off-spring? No!! But then you are not as dumb as Slater.

Outlaw Lee Slater is asking for trouble when he challenges Smoke Jensen's retired mentor, but when he shoots Smoke's wife, he gets more than he can handle.

Once again Richard Wheeler thrusts us into the turbulant world of Mountain man, Barnaby Skye and his two Indian wives, Victoria and Mary only this time the story takes a more familiar twist. All's not well in the Skye household and change for the worse and better is afoot.
Victoria has had enough and leaves the morose Skye and like the other books in this series that's only the beginning of an epic adventure.
There's enough action and adventure for any man while offering something substantial for the ladies as well. This book's about salvaging their lives and expectations and finding some scarred redemption in the hard fought process.
Wheeler tells a good story. You won't be disappointed.

Richard Wheeler, who has created some of the most memorable characters in all the literature of the American West, has outdone himself--and everybody else--with Barnaby Skye, Rocky Mountain trapper, guide and adventurer and late of His Majesty's Royal Navy. In Skye, Wheeler has outdone Frederick Manfred and Vardis Fisher and giving us a mountain man to remember. There are a dozen novels in the Skye series--beginning with SUN RIVER in 1989--so the reader who has yet to discover this Horatio Hornblower of the early West has an enviable treat in store. And, thankfully, DARK PASSAGE is not the last in the series.

If you're looking for the perfect "coffee table book" this is it. From first glance you will be captivated by the most beautiful pictorial you could ever lay your eyes on, no exaggeration! This book will have you calling your travel agent and planning a trip to Canada A.S.A.P. From Mt. Robson in Jasper to Red Rock Canyon in Waterton, over 100 pgs of full color landscapes, flora and fauna of the Canadian Rockies. Each picture is titled and described with historical facts and details which only enhance your enjoyment of this awesome book. I highly recommend this photographic masterpiece, you won't regret the money spent!

I recently went on New Year's ski trip to Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada (1998-99) and took some great pictures. Unlike my amature pictures, Douglas Lighton's pictures truly capture the spirit and raw beauty of this unsploiled landscape. In this book, on the inside cover, one line reads,

"Many of today's visitors are on their own kind of vision quest. These mountains rejuvenate tired souls."

Let me tell you, I left my high stress corporate job and graduate studies for 8 days to enter the most beautiful area I have ever visited in my 28 years of existance. I fully agree with the author when he wrote, "These mountains rejuvenate tired souls." I came back to Atlanta changed forever by the utter sense of "awh" when we stayed in the magnificint resort town of Banff and visited the surrounding areas like Lake Louise. I highly recommend this book to anyone who appreciates the splendor of mother nature doing her finest work. I also recommend visiting Banff National Park in either the summer and/or winter seasons; either time of year you will get the full effect of this magnificent and rejuvenating area. By the way, the residents of this area are among the friendliest people I have ever met too!

Really enjoyed this book. After reading all the Preacher books and almost all the Mountain Man Series, I felt that the author was repeating many sections in some of the books. Not this one! It tells the story of Preacher when he started out. So it was all new material. It was hard to put down!

Good Book Would like to read more. Please send a list of others

This is a historical approach to 27 hotels that remain ideal stopovers for celebrating the charm, folklore, rugged settings and history that typify the Rocky Mountains of North America. Included are phone numbers and addresses. Today it is possible to be a guest in a hotel that once welcomed Buffalo Bill Cody, Poker Alice, Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and many other frontier characters.

These hotels still play their original roles and remain ideal stopovers for celebrating the charm, folklore, rugged settings and history that typify the Rocky Mountains of North America. It is possible to be guest in a hotel that once welcomed such frontier characters as Buffalo Bill Cody, Poker Alice, WildBill Hickok or Calamity Jane.

I bought this book because Warren Angus Ferris is my Great (many times over) Grandfather and I was researching the family tree. What a delight to find that he was an accomplished writer and pioneer! His journal of his life in the Rocky Mountains is exceptionally well-written and a beautiful view of the time period. I recommend it to anyone with an interest of the early 1800's or fur-trading.

Day to day survival in the early American West at its best! Pick up any reputable book on the fur trade era during this time frame, and Warren Ferris' "Life in the Rocky Mountains" is always cited as a reference. There is good reason for this. Ferris joined the American Fur Company in 1830 at the age of nineteen and this is his journal of how life was back then from 1830-1835, so far removed from the luxuries of civlization. He spent most of his time in the central and northern Rockies, describing and recording just about everything one can possibly imagine from hostile Indians and the unrelenting forces of nature to grizzlies, days without food and water, etc. He was there at the Battle of Pierre's Hole and the death of William Vanderburgh. He also details the Yellowstone area with its geysers and other oddities, along with many other geographical areas which we now take for granted. Ferris vividly describes the many different Indian tribes of the region of their customs, cultures and habits. This is an excellent book and I can see why many historians use this book as reference material. A must read for fur trade era enthusiasts and arm chair explorers.

I just finished a trip to Wyoming and Montana for 2 weeks and was impressed with the utility of this book. I did a mix of camping and staying in hotel rooms, and this book did an excellent job of listing the hotels in each town and the prices. Several times, after I finished some hiking/camping, I looked in this book for nearby towns and went to a town and hotel that the authors listed as being good, but inexpensive. No need to go to Holiday Inn anymore! For the bigger towns, they list only the more recommended hotels - I made the mistake of stopping at one hotel off the highway that was not listed in this book, but was cheap, and ended up at some dive. --- Hey, learn from my lesson.

I also used the book very broadly to review my options for where to go hiking - I had previously gone to all the National Parks in the region and wanted to go to the national forests this time. I picked out the Bighorn Mountains/Cloud Mountain Wilderness from the description in this book, and liked it. (Note that it only gives a broad description of attractions, I also bought a topo map and trail guide once I got to the Bighorn Mountains). It appears that all attractions (restaurants, bars, hotels, various cultural attractions)are listed similarly.

This is an exceptionally informative and organized book.

I had the opportunity last year to visit the Rockie mountains. Mainly Colorado and a fast trek throught or should I say to Montana. Having bought Lonely Planets books on both Australia and South Africa earlier (trips that didn't come to fruition, yet) and also having enjoyed some of the tv programs from the same people I thought this would be the best bet for my trip. And it sure was. Now most of my stay in this erea was in Denver so maybe I could have just bought a book on Denver, but as much as I enjoy travel books they tend to be a bit expencive and this offered more value to me. An the books offers more than adequate information on Denver and it's immideate surroundings. Later on the book gave me what information I needed during my brief stay in Montana. The book also informed well about the strain of arriving in the Mile High City (Denver) when you are a lowland dweller, so it didn't come as a shock. Good thing that ! I'm going back to this region of the US, you can count on that and this book will come along on the next trip as well.

This is an excellent book for a young person because it teaches some great lessons about history, personal responsibility and cause-and-effect. The characters are incredibly life-like and the writing is spell-binding. This book is a "pager-turner". However, don't be shy of picking up this book if you are an adult, either. It's a great read. A belated "Thank You" for this book, Mr. White!

A great tale of the early west. A brave young man goes west with the early fur trappers. The long Rifle saves his bacon many times. He meets and traps with many of the famous old trappers and they share many wonderful adventures. Fiction at its best for youngsters. I read it first in 1953 and I still love it.

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.

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.

Don Whitman was the genius behind the Western Photography Guild taking male nude photography pictures in the outdoors from the late 40's to the early 60's. This was considered "The Golden Age of Bodybuilding." These are photos spanning this time period. A great collection of nude and non-nude photos of young men from the western states. Don's organization was based in Denver, Colorado. These are photos of rugged men, and also very handsome men. There are also couples featured together in various outdoor scenes. I especially enjoyed the photos on Page 51 and 52. There's a lost innocent in all these photos that you don't find today in male nude photography.

David Chapman gives a great introduction and history of Don Whitman and his life. This is another great male nude photography book helping to keep the history of that era of photography alive today. This would be a great addition to your collection.

In search of true male eroticism, I stumbled upon this fascinating book of beautiful history and men...before body building and steriods. During a time when men where the real thing. The photography done by various artists, was indeed stunning, and simplistic. This is a gorgeous book filled with gorgeous men from a time period we have failed to appreciate in gay history. The men who posed for each other formed an intertwining family of artists, dancers, writers (gay, straight and bi) similar to the scene in Paris in the '20s. The pictures are well chosen and the text is easily read and adds immeasurably to the understanding of the pictures. A must have for anyone collecting books of the erotic arts.