Mountain Shadows

Idaho is now seen as one of the most intriguing and attractive states in the Union. Any view of the Gem State is likely to be broadened and deepened by this superbly written history of it, In Mountain Shadows. Carlos A. Schwantes illustrates the extent to which Idahoans have always been divided by geography, transportation patterns, religion, and history. Although the state motto should have been "Divided We Stand," as he says in affectionate jest, it is also true that Idahoans come together on some basics—on avoiding crowds and maintaining the good life close to scenic mountains and streams. Schwantes reaches back to 1805, when Lewis and Clark were among the first white men to enter present-day Idaho. He describes the Indians then living in the Great Basin and Plateau, and proceeds through layers of history to show how fur traders, missionaries, and overland emigrants defined the land that became a territory in 1863 and, finally, a state in 1890. The vigilantism, Indian wars, mining booms and busts, and an-imosity toward Mormons and Chinese immigrants that marked the territorial years gave way to more troubles in the early years of statehood: an economic downturn, industrial violence, political protest. The arrival of automobiles promised to end isolation, but the formidable terrain slowed the building of north-south highways, just as it had railroads. Nevertheless, future Idaho would be a product of engineering and witness the coming of irrigation systems and hydroelectric plants. Schwantes brings his history through the Great Depression, World War II, and the Cold War, noting everyday life, colorful personalities, political and economic cycles, raging controversies, and current trends.

The sequel to Shantaram continues Australian fugitive Lin's search for love and faith in a Bombay that has come under the rule of a new generation of mafia dons and where Lin becomes trapped by his married soulmate and an increasingly violent mission.

Can our dreams sometimes foretell something that may happen? Letty O'Bannon wonders about this. Set against the backdrop of the booming turn-of-the-century Pikes Peak gold rush era, this novel follows clairvoyant Letty through her life of pursuing her childhood dream, love, adventure, tragedy and handling loss. This novel offers a tale of suspense, mystery and romance as Letty learns life's lessons while never giving up her dream. An excerpt from the story follows: While changing clothes, the crystal dropped to the floor. She retrieved it, admiring its resplendent hues reflecting the light coming in the window. As she turned to finish dressing, she thought she saw movement in the crystal. She carried it close to the window and stared into its depths in disbelief. She seemed to see a small child standing at the top of the mountain, beckoning to her. She blinked and looked again, but the apparition was gone. She shook her head to clear it. It must have been her imagination. She gazed intently at the crystal, trying to conjure up the image a second time. The child did not reappear. She replaced the crystal on the table.

Thirty-year-old Lelia Snyder is devastated when her aunt Tressie dies after a battle with ALS; now she's the last living member of her family, and she feels truly alone. Even so, she manages to find joy in starting her life over, thanks to the generous inheritance Tressie has left her. Life only gets better for Lelia when she meets a blond Adonis named Jason Ferguson. The honeymoon is planned, and everything seems perfect--until Lelia discovers a shocking truth about Jason. She flees her home, driving frantically into a blinding winter blizzard and losing her way on a narrow mountain road. An avalanche of snow and rock then pushes her vehicle over the edge of a cliff, burying her in a grave of snow. But Lelia is not ready to die. Trevor Howard rescues Lelia and cares for her in his mountain cabin. As she awakes in his bed and looks into his smoldering gray eyes, she knows the two will never part. When Leila and Trevor return home, they reach new heights in their sensuous discovery of each other--only to find the demons of death have stalked them from the their idyllic mountain retreat.

From her world-famous dude ranch in Washington state's Yakima County, Kay Kershaw exerted tremendous influence on conservation efforts in the Pacific Northwest and, tangentially, on LGBTQ+ rights in the United States. After gaining local renown in sports and aviation, she established the ranch at Goose Prairie with her first partner, Pat Kane--a fraught undertaking in a region closely associated with the John Birch Society. Operating under the guise of two "spinsters," Kershaw and her later life-partner Isabelle Lynn guarded their privacy closely, but local encroachment by the U.S. Forest Service and the timber industry forced them into the public arena as environmentalists. In partnership with Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, Kershaw and Lynn spearheaded a decades-long campaign to save the ancient forests and ecosystem of Washington's Cascade Range. In the process, Kay and Isabelle's devoted relationship proved a marked contrast to Justice Douglas' own turbulent love life, perhaps affecting his perception of the law and his precedent-setting judicial opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which provided the basis for major LGBTQ+ Supreme Court decisions in the twenty-first century as well as Roe v. Wade in 1973.

High Ambassador Akira Muro has shielded herself from personal connections her whole life. Due to her immense power, her own people feared her. Now, she is a dynamic warrior and diplomat on her final mission. Akira must face the deadly Mors, also known as the Black Death, and to do so, she is willing to risk everything. Her mission takes Akira and her team to the mountain pass guarded by the Protectorate of Mountain Shadows. There, she encounters the man who abandoned her for the protectorate: Kilronan. Akira has always guarded her heart as desperately as she guards the elemental forces she commands. Kilronan threatens her self-made shields. In order to protect her country, Akira accepts an alliance with Kilronan. Together, they will fight the dark invaders. First, Akira must learn to fight together with a new breed of warrior, and she must also learn to trust. As the Black Death nears, will Akira choose duty or the emotional, human life she has always denied?

Erin Hunter’s bestselling Bravelands series continues with a brand-new arc! A gorilla with a deadly secret. A leopard struck by tragedy. A gazelle cast out of her herd. For generations, the Silverback gorilla troop has lived in peaceful seclusion high above the Great Herd, adhering to one rule: “blood pools on the plains.” But when a new and terrifying evil descends on their home, every animal must venture into the unknown to prevent darkness from overtaking all they hold dear. Full of epic adventure and thrilling intrigue, this new Bravelands adventure will thrill readers who love the Spirit Animals and Wings of Fire series, as well as the legion of dedicated fans who’ve made Erin Hunter a bestselling phenomenon.

After forming an intense bond with Natasha, a wolf cub she raised as part of her undergraduate research, Renée Askins was inspired to found the Wolf Fund. As head of this grassroots organization, she made it her goal to restore wolves to Yellowstone National Park, where they had been eradicated by man over seventy years before. In this intimate account, Askins recounts her courageous fifteen-year campaign, wrangling along the way with Western ranchers and their political allies in Washington, enduring death threats, and surviving the anguish of illegal wolf slayings to ensure that her dream of restoring Yellowstone’s ecological balance would one day be realized. Told in powerful, first-person narrative, Shadow Mountain is the awe-inspiring story of her mission and her impassioned meditation on our connection to the wild.