Theres something fascinating about border towns. Who hasnt crossed the line into another state to buy fireworks, gamble, or even to get married? Here are border towns with names as unique as the places themselves, names that bridge the boundaries.Robert D. Temple brings you a quirky, fascinating, and wholly entertaining look at more than eighty North American border towns in Edge Effects. With an adventurers heart and a historians keen eye, Temple explores life on the edge and how ...

“Simon Winchester never disappoints, and The Men Who United the States is a lively and surprising account of how this sprawling piece of geography became a nation. This is America from the ground up. Inspiring and engaging.” —Tom BrokawSimon Winchester, acclaimed New York Times bestselling author of Atlantic and The Professor and the Madman, delivers his first book about America: a fascinating popular history that illuminates the men who toiled fearlessly to discover, connect, and ...

**Winner of the American Book AwardPEN Literary Award FinalistThese essays blending memoir, history, and landscape “will create seismic shifts in readers’ perspectives on race, gender, and nature” as they explore how America’s ideas of ‘race’ have marked its people and the land (BuzzFeed).**Sand and stone are Earth’s fragmented memory. Each of us, too, is a landscape inscribed by memory and loss. One life–defining lesson Lauret Savoy learned as a young girl ...

“Gracefully written . . . thoroughly researched . . . America is a banquet prepared by the Indians—who were forgotten when it was time to give thanks at the table.”—St. Paul Pioneer-Express“Well written, imagery-ridden . . . A tale of what was, what became, and what is today regarding the Indian relation to the European civilization that ‘grafted’ itself onto this ‘ancient stem’”—Minneapolis Star TribuneIn Indian Giver...

What begins as a road trip through America soon becomes a journey of discovery into themselves and into the heart of the next-door neighbour they thought they knew. For Wayne Grady, the thrill of landscape and history is tempered by memories of racism and his own family roots. Merilyn Simonds, her ear tuned for the offbeat, finds curious echoes of the ex-pat promised land she grew up with. Together they travel against the tide of American history, followin...

From bestselling author Simon Winchester, the extraordinary story of how America was united into a single nation.For more than two centuries, E pluribus unum – out of many, one – has been featured on America’s official government seals and stamped on its currency. But how did America become ‘one nation, indivisible’? In this monumental history, Simon Winchester addresses this question, introducing the fearless trailblazers whose achievements forged and unified America.Winch...

An ode to our national parks, timed for the centennial, by the beloved author of When Women Were Birds.Longlisted for an Andrew Carnegie Medal for ExcellenceA Washington Post Notable Book of the YearAmerica's national parks are breathing spaces in a world in which such spaces are steadily disappearing, which is why more than 300 million people visit the parks each year. Now Terry Tempest Williams, the author of the e...

The Rocky Mountain and Great Basin states are the heart of ghost-town country. Once-bustling pioneer outposts, mining camps, lumber towns, and railroad villages stand today as reminders of the glory days of gold rushes, industrial progress, and that pioneering spirit of the Old West. This book guides readers to the fascinating and scenic ghost towns of Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Nevada. Varney highlights popular tourist destinations as well as out-of-the-way spots unfamil...

Explore the mystery and beauty of historic ghost towns from Illinois to California with this gorgeously illustrated guide to America's favorite highway.The quintessential boom-and-bust highway of the American West, Route 66 once hosted a thriving array of boom towns built around oil wells, railroad stops, cattle ranches, resorts, stagecoach stops, and gold mines. Join Route 66 expert Jim Hinckley as he tours more than twenty-five ghost towns, rich in stories and his...

A traveler's guide to ghost towns and historic villages of Arizona and New Mexico, featuring maps, historical background, and color photos.The Southwest is home to an enticing array of ghost towns and historic villages. Once-bustling mining camps, frontier towns, and railroad towns stand today as reminders of the glory days of mining and the Wild West. Historic buildings, abandoned schoolhouses, old mills, and overgrown cemeteries offer fascinating glimpses into the...

As he crisscrosses America—driving in search of the present, the past, and himself—Larry McMurtry shares his fascination with this nation's great trails and the culture that has developed around them.Ever since he was a boy growing up in Texas only a mile from Highway 281, Larry McMurtry has felt the pull of the road. His town was thoroughly landlocked, making the highway his "river, its hidden reaches a mystery and an enticement. I began my life beside it and I wa...

A New York Times Notable Book of the YearWinner of the Mountains and Plains Book Seller's Association Award"Sprawling in scope. . . . Mr. Egan uses the past powerfully to explain and give dimension to the present." --The New York Times"Fine reportage . . . honed and polished until it reads more like literature than journalism." --Los Angeles Times"They have tried to tame it, shave it, fence it, cut it, dam it, drain it, nuke it, po...