Hot Springs National Park - Books

Frommer’s(R) Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks, 4th Edition Eric Peterson From the Publisher: Frommers Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is packed with all the facts, tips and descriptions you need to have perfect park vacation, in a pocket size guide: The most memorable park experiences, from Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs, to Snake River raft trips. Great places to stay in and near the parks, ranging from historic lodges to family-friendly motels--plus a complete campground guide for each park. A fully illustrated nature guide to help you spot and identify bald eagles, bison, wildflowers, and more. The best hikes, from ranger-led interpretive walks to challenging backcountry overnights. What to see and do outside of the parks: rodeos, chuckwagon feeds, IMAX nature films, an elk preserve, Jackson Holes bars and boutiques, and more. Detailed, accurate park and trail maps Author Bio:Eric Peterson is a Denver-based freelance writer who has contributed to numerous travel publications, including Frommers National Parks of the American West, Frommers Texas, and Frommers Colorado. He also covers Colorados high-tech economy and punk-rock underground for local periodicals, makes a mean chicken chili, and hikes and treks through the Rockies as much as possible. List Price: $$10.99 Our Price: $9.89

Hidden Wyoming: Including Jackson Hole, Grand Teton, and Yellowstone National Park John Gottberg From the Publisher: Like other guidebooks in the Hidden series, Hidden Wyoming reviews the popular attractions — such as Jackson Hole, the quiet ranching community transformed into a collection of million-dollar alpine resorts — then invites readers to go further by exploring "hidden" spots other guides overlook such as Gros Ventre River Ranch with its inexpensive log cabins, nearby summer fly-fishing streams, and winter snowshoeing trails. Travel writer John Gottberg is equally comfortable describing a ride down a stretch of white water, the atmosphere at an exclusive resort, or the history of an Old West mining town, making him uniquely qualified to lead visitors through the state’s amazing landscape of high mountain peaks, alpine lakes, hot springs, ghost towns, and lost bits of wilderness. This guide covers Wyoming’s Wild West heritage, listing 18 Indian museums, ten trading post craft shops, and four cowboy museums. Over four dozen parks and wilderness areas are described including information on camping, hiking, boating, and horseback riding. Our Price: $15.95

Banff, Glacier and Jasper National Parks (Lonely Planet Travel Series) Lonely Planet From the Publisher: Paddle the turquoise waters of glacier-fed lakes, snowshoe through fresh powder and melt into soothing hot springs. Glimpse elk and bighorn sheep along the highest road in North America. Enjoy night stars from a backcountry campsite or the deck of a posh resort. Our comprehensive, inspiring guide to Banff, Jasper and Glacier will help you connect with this stunning region. Our Price: $19.99

Day Hikes Yellowstone: 54 Great Hikes Robert Stone From the Publisher: DAY HIKES IN YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK is a concise guide to 54 of the best day hikes in this magnificent park. The hikes include thundering waterfalls, geysers, hot springs, high mountain lakes, cascading rivers, meadows and panoramic views. These day hikes will take you to incredible scenery and natural features found nowhere else on earth. The hikes are easy to moderately strenuous, accommodating every level of hiking experience. (5 1-2 x 7 1-2, 120 pages, bandw maps) Our Price: $9.95

Frommer’s Banff and Jasper National Parks Christie Pashby From the Publisher: The essential guide to Canada’s top two national parksAn all-in-one guide for both summer and winter travelers, covering activities such as ice climbing, cross-country skiing, hiking, kayaking, and more Covers special points of interest such as hot springs, caves, and spectacular flora Includes itineraries, checklists, and safety tips for daytrippers or long-term campers Features maps and driving directions, recommended guides and services, campsites, and lodging Our Price: $10.95

Day Hikes in Grand Teton National Park Robert Stone From the Publisher: Day Hikes in Grand Teton Nat’l, Park includes a cross-section of 72 great day hikes in this majestic park. From scenic lakeshore paths to high-elevation treks, these hikes accommodate all levels of hiking experience. Highlights include glacier-carved canyons, alpine lakes, waterfalls, meadows, hot springs, craggy peaks, hikes atop the Jackson Hole Ski Resort, and some of the best views in the park. Our Price: $11.95

Day Hikes Around Yellowstone National Park Robert Stone From the Publisher: Yellowstone National Park is a magnificent area with beautiful, dramatic scenery and incredible hydrothermal features. Within its 2.2 million acres lies some of the earth’s greatest natural treasures.Day Hikes in Yellowstone National Park includes a thorough cross-section of eighty-two hikes throughout this national park. Now in its fourth edition, the guide includes all of the park’s most popular hikes as well as a wide assortment of secluded backcountry trails. Many hikes lead to hot springs, bubbling mud pots, steaming fumaroles, and geysers (including Old Faithful) that are predominant throughout the park. Several hikes explore the rim and interior of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, a 1,200 foot deep chasm cut by the Yellowstone River. Highlights include thundering waterfalls, unusual thermal features, expansive meadows, alpine lakes, secluded canyons, and 360-degree vistas of the park. All levels of hiking experience are accommodated, from level boardwalk trails to mountainous treks up to panoramic overlooks. Each hike includes a detailed map, accurate driving and hiking directions, distance-time-elevation statistics, a list of relevant maps, and summaries to help hikers find a trail appropriate to their ability and desire.Companion hiking guides include Day Hikes in Grand Teton National Park, Day Hikes Around Bozeman, and Day Hikes in the Beartooth Mountains. List Price: $$12.95 Our Price: $11.65

Letters from Yellowstone Diane Smith From the Publisher: Set in the late nineteenth century against the backdrop of one of America’s most famous wild places, Diane Smith’s debut novel tells of a young woman’s dramatic journey to a greater understanding of her place in the world. A. E. (Alexandria) Bartram is a high-spirited medical student from the East whose real passion is botany. In the spring of 1898, she is invited to join a field study in Yellowstone National Park when its leader, Howard Merriam, a mild-mannered professor from Montana, mistakenly assumes she is a man. Once the scientists get over the shock of having a woman on their team, we follow their experiences over the course of a summer of adventure and collecting as they move from Mammoth Hot Springs to a camp high in the backcountry.. "From the group’s human dilemmas emerge clashing concepts of science, nature, and economics. As the summer draws to a close, everything the team has accomplished is threatened, forcing them to change their perceptions of themselves and each other. From The Critics: Barbara NordbyThe real beauty of this book, the lively way it intertwines the summertime landscapes and wildlife of Yellowstone National Park with the wonder and challenges visitors faced there in 1898, is accomplished through its epistolary form. The majority of the letters, all feeling true to period language, are penned by medical student Alex Bartram, who relies on her endearingly sarcastic wit and strict, scientific methods to prove her capabilities in a male-dominated field. Through their letters to colleagues and family, all the members of the wildlife-cataloging project reveal rich opinions of their successes and failures with both their work and the other Yellowstone inhabitants. Alex learns through these strangers’ guidance as she struggles to find independence from a world where her rock-climbing, male-bonding behavior is embarrassingly unladylike. She establishes a religious belief in nature’s order during this unique period of growth in both United States history and a woman’s life. Publishers WeeklyIn the spring of 1898, the Smithsonian Institution organized an expedition for botanical research in Wyoming’s Yellowstone Park. First-time novelist Smith, an environmental and science writer, follows amateur botanist A.E. Bartram’s summer as the lone woman in that party of male professionals, telling her story through detailed letters (and the occasional Western Union telegram). When Cornell student Bartram arrives in the camp, she receives a cool reception from expedition leader H.G. Merriam, who expected "A.E." to be a man. As the botanists strive to get along and gather flora unique to the Rocky Mountain area, they encounter the U.S. Cavalry and Native Americans. Disturbed by Professor Merriam’s inventive, sometimes nonscientific methods, Dr. Philip Aber of the Smithsonian visits the park to inspect and perhaps close down the project. The troubled Dr. Aber finally wanders off unguided into one of Yellowstone’s scalding thermal springs; his death adds to the party’s web of tensions. As life in Yellowstone changes her, Miss Bartram must deal with her stiff-necked Cornell mentor, Professor Lester King, whose "black-and-white" thinking she finally comes to reject. Miss Bartram lights up the novel with her admirable intelligence, wit and honest desire to learn from everyone, but Smith wisely prevents her epistles from overwhelming the other characters’ voices. Instead, the collage of letters and telegrams produces a Rashomon effect--the same actions are viewed from many perspectives with no one narrator dominant. Serenely attentive, deliberately paced, as careful with psychology and history as it is with its botany, Smith’s epistolary narrative makes a worthy addition to the expanding category of history-of-science novels. Author tour. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. KLIATTThis epistolary novel charmingly achieves its modest goals. The letter-writers are members of a pioneering group of naturalists who spend the summer of 1898 discovering, studying, and drawing the flora and fauna of the new national park. Only the mildest of conflicts give the novel its momentum—should the scientists use the traditional folk names of plants or only the binomial Latinate forms? Are the Native Americans dependable sources of information about medicinal plants? Will the U.S. military be able to sidetrack plans to bring a railroad line into the park? The central character is Alex Bartram, who is revealed to the flustered leader of the expedition as a woman (Alexandria) only after she arrives at Mammoth Hot Springs in late May. The place of women in the field and in science itself forms a central theme in the book. Since the novel was first published in 1999, the reader can be assured that Miss Bartram conducts herself flawlessly and proves herself essential to the ultimate success of the summer’s work. It’s no accident that she is a descendent of the greatest family of naturalists in American history. Pleasant and unassuming, Letters from Yellowstone manages to entertain us with an appealing set of characters—including a talking raven—and inform us about the hazards and pleasures of scientific fieldwork. Teachers of biology and ecology might take note. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1999, Penguin, 226p, 21cm, 99-12904, $12.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Michael P. Healy; English Teacher, Wood River H.S., Hailey, ID January 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 1) Library JournalSmith has done a fine job with her first novel. Using the anonymity of correspondence, young A.E. (Alexandria) Bartram, a medical student and avid botanist, procures a spot on a Smithsonian-sponsored expedition to Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1898. After the initial confusion over her gender and abilities subsides, Alex is accepted as part of a team that includes a mild-mannered professor, an inebriated agriculturist, a seldom-seen entomologist, a Chinese cook, a Crow Indian family, and a series of benefactors. As the weeks pass, Alex finds herself "committed to both illustrating as well as collecting" the flora and fauna of the park. Told entirely in letters, the book offers abundant detail and a mannered style that perfectly capture the attitudes and atmosphere of the era. Display this title next to A.S. Byatt’s Angels and Insects and Annie Dillards’s The Living. Recommended for all fiction collections.--Charlotte L. Glover, Ketchikan P.L., AK Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. Kirkus ReviewsA colorful and credible first novel, by science-environment writer Smith, takes an epistolary approach to a tale of a budding young naturalist who’s invited to join a Smithsonian-backed expedition to Yellowstone in the summer of 1898, but who first has to overcome the dismay of her colleagues when they discover their naturalist is a woman. Although the initial correspondence between A.E. Bartram and the expedition leader, Montana college professor Merriam, is cordial and professional, the first sight of Alex (short for Alexandria) after she arrives in Yellowstone gives rise to a different dynamic. The mild-mannered, bespectacled Merriam hems and haws about what to do with her. Then, knowing how desperately shorthanded his expedition is, he decides to let her come along—secretly hoping she’ll soon call it quits herself. Alex quickly proves her competence, with a degree of scientific rigor easily exceeding Merriam’s own, yet her independence precipitates the team’s first crisis: she goes in search of specimens one day without telling anyone where she’s headed, so that when a spring snowstorm envelops them all, Merriam goes to her rescue. Then, however, he tumbles off a cliff and needs her to keep him alive. Other trials involve another member of the team, a brandy-soused meteorologist who prefers the park’s hotels to the outdoors, and Alex’s mentor and fiancandeacute;, a Cornell biology professor, who is sent by the young woman’s parents to Montana to bring her home. The fiancandeacute;, unable to adjust to Alex’s new free-spirited behavior, soon goes back east alone, and Alex finds herself changing even more, confronted with Merriam’s broader view of science and his obvious respectfor the herbal knowledge of his Crow Indian assistant. A warm, satisfying story. Despite repetition from overlapping correspondence and rather conventional plot twists, the magic of a Yellowstone summer shimmers here enticingly. Our Price: $14.00

Hiking New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness Bill Cunningham From the Publisher: New Mexico’s 555,000-acre Gila Wilderness is a vast untrammeled patchwork of virtually unlimited forest types, climatic conditions, and wildlife. This rugged landscape boasts sweeping tundra, hot springs, mountain views, and deep gnarled canyons. Within Gila’s boundaries, you can follow trails to views of the breathtaking peaks of the Mogollon Range, wonder at ancient cliff dwellings, and wind your way along stream-ribboned ponderosa forests. Our Price: $19.95

Jackson Hole Amber Travsky From the Publisher: Mountain bikers, beginner to expert, all share a common need - a place to ride. Mountain Biking Jackson Hole gives fat-tire enthusiasts the skinny on where to ride. Here are thirty-one of the best rides in the Jackson Hole area, from Hoback Canyon and Granite Hot Springs to Grand Teton National Park and Shadow Mountain; from Teton Pass and the Salt River Range to the National Elk Refuge and along the border of the Gros Ventre Wilderness Area. Take your pick from scenic recreational rides, hot singletracks, lung-burning climbs, and demented downhills. Detailed ride descriptions make it easy to find the trailheads and follow the routes. You stay on track with accurate distances keyed to easy-to-read maps and ratings for physical and technical difficulty. Our Price: $10.95

Panic in the Parsonage Margaret Franklin Zadow From the Publisher: Guy Carlson: The new preacher in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. He desires to preach at a huge cathedral, and a family has no place in his future. Danielle (Dani) Tweet: Owner of Tweet’s Sweets. Small-town girl with a dream of taking her chocolates national. A family would interfere with her goal. The two meet when Guy’s brake line is cut, and his car rams Dani’s. His house is broken into and his tires slashed among other terrifying events. Is someone trying to force Guy out of town? Will this stalker or would-be murderer keep Dani and Guy apart or drive them into each other’s arms? "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews l3:6) Our Price: $19.95

Frommer’s Portable Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park 1998 Frommer’s From the Publisher: Everything you need for the perfect park vacation, in an easy-to-carry pocket size: -The most memorable park experiences, from landmarks like Old Faithful and Mammoth Hot Springs to Snake River float trips and wildlife watching -Great places to stay in and near the parks--plus a complete campground guide -The best hikes, each complete with a trail description, estimated time, and difficulty rating, and tips on how to avoid the crowds Our Price: $9.95

Lassen Volcanic National Park and Vicinity Jeffrey P. Schaffer From the Publisher: Whether you’re interested in the panoramic view from atop Lassen Peak, or the geological history that produced the craggy peaks, hot springs and mud pots, and scattered lakes of the park, this book will help you plan and enjoy a trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park, Caribou Wilderness, Thousand Lakes Wilderness, Hat Creek Valley, or McArthur-Burney Falls Memorial State Park. With descriptions of over 60 hikes, you can enjoy hiking through fields of wildflowers, exploring volcanic wonders, relaxing by sparkling lakes, and the peaceful solitude of being surrounded by Lassen Park’s majestic mountain peaks. Our Price: $18.95

Yellowstone Norbert Rosing From the Publisher: Yellowstone National Park represents one of the planet’s most breathtaking natural landscapes. Occupying 3,500 square miles of territory that bridges Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, Yellowstone became the world’s first national park when it was created in 1872. To this day, it inspires such awe that it has earned the nickname the "Serengeti of America" "Yellowstone" celebrates the one-of-a-kind splendor of an unspoiled national treasure. In a stunning and comprehensive portfolio that documents each season of the park, award-winning photographer Norbert Rosing reveals Yellowstone’s rich and varied landscape of geysers, hot springs, pristine lakes, towering waterfalls and spectacular canyons, as well as the park’s thriving wildlife populations of elk, bear and buffalo. These annotated images are a unique tribute to this symbol of the American wilderness. Our Price: $24.95

Hidden Idaho: Including Boise, Sun Valley, and Yellowstone National Park Richard Harris From the Publisher: Hidden guides combine unique travel choices, outdoor adventures and little-known locales into a guide where vacations meet adventures. Each guide includes detailed maps, complete internet information for each listing, highlighted author favorites, suggested itineraries and walking and driving tours. In Hidden Idaho, well-respected veteran travel writer Richard Harris balances coverage of Idaho’s growing travel facilities, including dude ranches, alpine cabin rentals and secluded fishing lodges, with extensive details on the state’s many natural attractions. Truly two guides in one, Hidden Idaho serves as both a travel guide and an outdoor adventure handbook with full listings describing 53 parks, 29 wildlife viewing spots, 25 trout streams, and 143 campgrounds. It reveals those uniquely Idaho spots, including 40 ski resorts and 10 hot springs plus 23 mom ’n’ pop diners and 6 local wineries. Hidden Idaho also zeros in on the state’s many out-of-the-ordinary sites like the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, Swiss Village Cheese Factory and Oasis Bordello Museum. Our Price: $14.95

Camping out in the Yellowstone, 1882 Mary Bradshaw Richards From the Publisher: Camping Out in the Yellowstone, 1882 describes the park at a time when Yellowstone was truly an "out-back and beyond" experience. Writing just five years after the army chased the Nez Perce Indians through the area, and only ten years after the parks’s establishment, Mary Richards provides a vivid picture of the undeveloped and untouristed Yellowstone Park: Fire Hole Basin, Mammoth Hot Springs, Lower Falls, and the Excelsior Geyser, now defunct but mightier at the time than Old Faithful. Augmented by twenty-eight contemporary photographs, Camping Out in the Yellowstone offers a fascinating perspective for present-day park lovers. From The Critics: Library JournalTen years after the official founding of America’s first national park, Yellowstone was visited by Mary Bradshaw Richards and her husband, Jess, on a typical summer vacation tour. Of course in the late 1800s tours of the West were still quite arduous. Indian troubles (Nez Perce) still existed, roads were poor or nonexistent, and tent camping remained the height of luxury for a wilderness tour. Richards wrote a daily journal, which she published as a series of letters in her father’s newspaper, the Salem Observer of Massachussets. The letters, which appear here as chapters, are well written and illuminating, footnoted with extensive editorial comentary by editor Slaughter. The modern interest in her account of Yellowstone would be mostly to gain historical perspective, as many of the trails she writes about are now gone or paved-over; even some of the geysers, about which Richards waxes poetic in the style of the 1880s, are now quiet. This book is recommended for the true and total Yellowstone fan and for comprehensive Western Americana collections. [Illustrations and maps not seen.]-Thomas K. Fry, Penrose Lib., Univ. of Denver Our Price: $10.95

Letters from Yellowstone Diane Smith From the Publisher: Set in the late nineteenth century against the backdrop of one of America’s most famous wild places, Diane Smith’s debut novel tells of a young woman’s dramatic journey to a greater understanding of her place in the world. A. E. (Alexandria) Bartram is a high-spirited medical student from the East whose real passion is botany. In the spring of 1898, she is invited to join a field study in Yellowstone National Park when its leader, Howard Merriam, a mild-mannered professor from Montana, mistakenly assumes she is a man. Once the scientists get over the shock of having a woman on their team, we follow their experiences over the course of a summer of adventure and collecting as they move from Mammoth Hot Springs to a camp high in the backcountry.. "From the group’s human dilemmas emerge clashing concepts of science, nature, and economics. As the summer draws to a close, everything the team has accomplished is threatened, forcing them to change their perceptions of themselves and each other. From The Critics: Barbara NordbyThe real beauty of this book, the lively way it intertwines the summertime landscapes and wildlife of Yellowstone National Park with the wonder and challenges visitors faced there in 1898, is accomplished through its epistolary form. The majority of the letters, all feeling true to period language, are penned by medical student Alex Bartram, who relies on her endearingly sarcastic wit and strict, scientific methods to prove her capabilities in a male-dominated field. Through their letters to colleagues and family, all the members of the wildlife-cataloging project reveal rich opinions of their successes and failures with both their work and the other Yellowstone inhabitants. Alex learns through these strangers’ guidance as she struggles to find independence from a world where her rock-climbing, male-bonding behavior is embarrassingly unladylike. She establishes a religious belief in nature’s order during this unique period of growth in both United States history and a woman’s life. Publishers WeeklyIn the spring of 1898, the Smithsonian Institution organized an expedition for botanical research in Wyoming’s Yellowstone Park. First-time novelist Smith, an environmental and science writer, follows amateur botanist A.E. Bartram’s summer as the lone woman in that party of male professionals, telling her story through detailed letters (and the occasional Western Union telegram). When Cornell student Bartram arrives in the camp, she receives a cool reception from expedition leader H.G. Merriam, who expected "A.E." to be a man. As the botanists strive to get along and gather flora unique to the Rocky Mountain area, they encounter the U.S. Cavalry and Native Americans. Disturbed by Professor Merriam’s inventive, sometimes nonscientific methods, Dr. Philip Aber of the Smithsonian visits the park to inspect and perhaps close down the project. The troubled Dr. Aber finally wanders off unguided into one of Yellowstone’s scalding thermal springs; his death adds to the party’s web of tensions. As life in Yellowstone changes her, Miss Bartram must deal with her stiff-necked Cornell mentor, Professor Lester King, whose "black-and-white" thinking she finally comes to reject. Miss Bartram lights up the novel with her admirable intelligence, wit and honest desire to learn from everyone, but Smith wisely prevents her epistles from overwhelming the other characters’ voices. Instead, the collage of letters and telegrams produces a Rashomon effect--the same actions are viewed from many perspectives with no one narrator dominant. Serenely attentive, deliberately paced, as careful with psychology and history as it is with its botany, Smith’s epistolary narrative makes a worthy addition to the expanding category of history-of-science novels. Author tour. (July) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. KLIATTThis epistolary novel charmingly achieves its modest goals. The letter-writers are members of a pioneering group of naturalists who spend the summer of 1898 discovering, studying, and drawing the flora and fauna of the new national park. Only the mildest of conflicts give the novel its momentum—should the scientists use the traditional folk names of plants or only the binomial Latinate forms? Are the Native Americans dependable sources of information about medicinal plants? Will the U.S. military be able to sidetrack plans to bring a railroad line into the park? The central character is Alex Bartram, who is revealed to the flustered leader of the expedition as a woman (Alexandria) only after she arrives at Mammoth Hot Springs in late May. The place of women in the field and in science itself forms a central theme in the book. Since the novel was first published in 1999, the reader can be assured that Miss Bartram conducts herself flawlessly and proves herself essential to the ultimate success of the summer’s work. It’s no accident that she is a descendent of the greatest family of naturalists in American history. Pleasant and unassuming, Letters from Yellowstone manages to entertain us with an appealing set of characters—including a talking raven—and inform us about the hazards and pleasures of scientific fieldwork. Teachers of biology and ecology might take note. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1999, Penguin, 226p, 21cm, 99-12904, $12.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Michael P. Healy; English Teacher, Wood River H.S., Hailey, ID January 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 1) Library JournalSmith has done a fine job with her first novel. Using the anonymity of correspondence, young A.E. (Alexandria) Bartram, a medical student and avid botanist, procures a spot on a Smithsonian-sponsored expedition to Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1898. After the initial confusion over her gender and abilities subsides, Alex is accepted as part of a team that includes a mild-mannered professor, an inebriated agriculturist, a seldom-seen entomologist, a Chinese cook, a Crow Indian family, and a series of benefactors. As the weeks pass, Alex finds herself "committed to both illustrating as well as collecting" the flora and fauna of the park. Told entirely in letters, the book offers abundant detail and a mannered style that perfectly capture the attitudes and atmosphere of the era. Display this title next to A.S. Byatt’s Angels and Insects and Annie Dillards’s The Living. Recommended for all fiction collections.--Charlotte L. Glover, Ketchikan P.L., AK Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. Kirkus ReviewsA colorful and credible first novel, by science-environment writer Smith, takes an epistolary approach to a tale of a budding young naturalist who’s invited to join a Smithsonian-backed expedition to Yellowstone in the summer of 1898, but who first has to overcome the dismay of her colleagues when they discover their naturalist is a woman. Although the initial correspondence between A.E. Bartram and the expedition leader, Montana college professor Merriam, is cordial and professional, the first sight of Alex (short for Alexandria) after she arrives in Yellowstone gives rise to a different dynamic. The mild-mannered, bespectacled Merriam hems and haws about what to do with her. Then, knowing how desperately shorthanded his expedition is, he decides to let her come along—secretly hoping she’ll soon call it quits herself. Alex quickly proves her competence, with a degree of scientific rigor easily exceeding Merriam’s own, yet her independence precipitates the team’s first crisis: she goes in search of specimens one day without telling anyone where she’s headed, so that when a spring snowstorm envelops them all, Merriam goes to her rescue. Then, however, he tumbles off a cliff and needs her to keep him alive. Other trials involve another member of the team, a brandy-soused meteorologist who prefers the park’s hotels to the outdoors, and Alex’s mentor and fiancandeacute;, a Cornell biology professor, who is sent by the young woman’s parents to Montana to bring her home. The fiancandeacute;, unable to adjust to Alex’s new free-spirited behavior, soon goes back east alone, and Alex finds herself changing even more, confronted with Merriam’s broader view of science and his obvious respectfor the herbal knowledge of his Crow Indian assistant. A warm, satisfying story. Despite repetition from overlapping correspondence and rather conventional plot twists, the magic of a Yellowstone summer shimmers here enticingly. Our Price: $24.95