The Country Bookshelf in Downtown Bozeman—Montana’s largest independent bookstore since 1957—has an exciting slate of upcoming events for bookworms and literature enthusiasts alike.
An Author Event with Bruce Smith for Stories from Afield will be held Tuesday, October 4th at 7pm. Over the past four decades, Smith has worked with most big-game species in some of the American West’s most breathtaking and challenging landscapes. In Stories from Afield, readers join Smith on his adventures as a naturalist, sportsman, and wildlife biologist, as he pulls us into the field of learning and discovery across wilderness areas of western Montana, the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and a South African temperate forest. Ranging from humorous to harrowing, Smith’s essays recount capturing newborn elk calves, stalking mountain goats on icy cliffs, being stranded on a mountain after riding out a helicopter crash, confrontations with bears during his research, plus quirky and edifying hunting tales. Throughout his adventures, the magnetism and danger of wild nature are ever present, reminding us that our fascination with wilderness often stems from its unpredictability.
Smith retired from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004 after a thirty-year career as a wildlife manager and scientist. He was named Wyoming’s Conservationist of the Year in 1997 and received the John and Frank Craighead Wildlife Conservation Award in 2005. His latest book, Life on the Rocks: A Portrait of the American Mountain Goat, won two National Outdoor Book Awards.
Rachel Phillips will follow on Thursday, October 6th for Legendary Locals of Bozeman at 7pm. From its inception as a supply town during Montana’s gold rush in the 1860s, Bozeman has attracted visionaries, leaders, and pioneering thinkers. The first mayor, John V. Bogert, established a precedent for keeping the city clean, safe, and orderly. City commissioner and tireless worker Mary Vant Hull spearheaded efforts to build a new library and to expand local parks and trails, and early physician Dr. Henry Foster successfully performed one of the first cesarean sections in Montana. Incredibly talented outdoor advocates and athletes like mountain climber Alex Lowe and long-distance runner Ed Anacker have complemented Bozeman’s outdoor lifestyle. An emphasis on art, music, and culture began in the 1860s with piano and voice sensation Emma Weeks Wilson. Today, artist Jim Dolan’s sculptures are enjoyed all over town, and illusionist Jay Owenhouse wows children and adults with his live shows. Inspiring individuals like Cody Dieruf, who passed away from cystic fibrosis at the age of 23, and dedicated streetcar driver Larry O’Brien have added kindness and courage to local life.
Phillips is the research coordinator at the Gallatin History Museum in Bozeman, where she enjoys digging up fascinating tales and amazing photographs like the ones found within these pages.
Come visit with Aaron Parrett on Monday, October 10th who brings Montana Americana Music: Boot Stomping in Big Sky Country at 7pm. Montana’s relationship to Americana music is as wide and deep as the famed Missouri river that inspired countless musicians seated at its shores. From the fiddling of Pierre Cruzatte and George Gibson in the Corps of Discovery to the modern day loner-folk of Joey Running Crane and Cameron Boster, the Treasure State inspires the production of top-notch country music. In the 1950s, bands like the Snake River Outlaws fostered a longstanding love of hillbilly honky-tonk, and in the 1970s, the Mission Mountain Wood Band added a homegrown flavor of their own. Contemporary acts like The Lil’ Smokies and songwriter Martha Scanlan promise a vibrant future for the local sound. Author and musician Aaron Parrett explores this history to show what it means to boot stomp in Big Sky Country.
Author of Literary Butte: A History in Novels & Film and Montana Then & Now, Aaron Parrett released several albums of acclaimed Americana music himself, including The Sinners, The Legend of Jim Collins, and Left of the Mason Dixon Line. His music also appears in the Emmy-nominated film Libby, Montana. He teaches literature and philosophy at the University of Great Falls.
Jon Axline will bring The Beartooth Highway: A History of America’s Most Beautiful Drive on Thursday, October 13th at 7pm. Traversing the spectacular Beartooth Highway in Montana and Wyoming is an unforgettable experience. The unspoiled mountain scenery along the highway inspired famed news correspondent Charles Kuralt to label it “America’s most beautiful drive,” yet the story behind this engineering marvel is largely unknown. It is an epic account of man versus nature to construct a road through unforgiving wilderness. Built during the height of the Great Depression and rising 10,947 feet above sea level, the Beartooth Highway sparked an economic boom in Red Lodge, Cooke City, and Yellowstone National Park. Understandably, it continues to leave a profound impression on people priviledged to drive it. Historian Jon Axline tells the exciting and colorful narrative behind the origins and construction of the Beartooth Highway.
Author of Conveniences Sorely Needed: Montana’s Historic Highway Bridges and Taming Big Sky Country: The History of Montana Transportation from Trails to Interstates and editor of Montana’s Historical Highway Markers, Jon Axline has been the historian at the Montana Department of Transportation since 1990. Jon also conducts cultural resource surveys and contributes to Montana: The Magazine of Western History and Montana Magazine.
The Country Bookshelf is located at 28 West Main Street downtown. All events are free and open to the public. For more information about the store or these events, visit www.countrybookshelf.com/ or call (406) 587-0166. •
