Get Real: Nonfiction Stories for your Thanksgiving Break
11/21/2024 04:14PM ● By Jennie Lay
Our media editor, Jennie Lay, shares her nonfiction picks for this winter.
“A Walk in the Park” by Kevin Fedarko
This year’s best present for every adventurous soul (and armchair traveler) on your list. “A Walk in the Park” is the longform tale from Kevin Fedarko that we’ve been waiting for ever since he and his bestie/photographer Pete McBride end-to-end hiked the Grand Canyon. We’ve seen Pete’s documentary film and read their National Geographic feature, but now we finally have glorious details wrapped in all the hijinks and philosophical thinking. Their traverse was hard. They were ill-prepared. And reading about a grueling year-long expedition and their discoveries in the labyrinth and layers below the famous canyon’s rim is positively intoxicating.
“Into Whooperland” by Michael Forsberg
Following up on the special sneak peek that award-winning conservation photographer Michael Forsberg shared with Steamboat Springs during September’s Yampa Valley Crane Festival, “Into Whooperland” has finally arrived. This is his much-anticipated collection of photos and stories from five years following whooping cranes, and the book is a stunning offering for birders, wildlife lovers, adventure seekers and anyone who appreciates pure awe or complex conservation stories. Michael immerses himself in whooping cranes, following the last wild population of some 540 birds on their narrow, 2,500-mile Great Plains flyway from the Texas Gulf Coast to nesting grounds in remote boreal forests of Canada’s Northwest Territories. In the tradition of great adventure stories, he followed the birds by small planes, trucks, and on foot through meadow and marsh. Go in the blind with him. Read the intimate journal entries. Be at the nests. Dance with whoopers in the wetlands. And commune in the joys and sorrows of protecting America’s tallest and most imperiled bird.
“Life After Dead Pool: Lake Powell's Last Days and the Rebirth of the Colorado River” by Zak Podmore
Years of drought, dwindling reservoirs, changing climate, and dam design flaws are helping push Lake Powell’s ecosystem and infrastructure toward collapse. Award-winning journalist Zak Podmore, who has rafted the full length of the Colorado River and kayaked the perimeter of Lake Powell, argues that the inevitable loss of Lake Powell could be a turning point for a more sustainable future of Western water management. Through science and personal storytelling, “Life After Dead Pool” considers the possibility of a dramatic transition for the Colorado River through Glen Canyon. This book is a studied and hopeful assessment for potential restoration of the once drowned landscape to expose submerged canyons, petroglyphs, and artifacts, and restore native ecosystems. He mines the salient matters with biologists, ecologists, economists, tribes, river rafters, houseboat recreationists, and more.
Hear from the author | Zak Podmore talks about “Life After Dead Pool” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 at Bud Werner Library.
“The Crazies” by Amy Gamerman
A narrative nonfiction debut by the Wall Street Journal’s real estate and culture reporter -- whereby billionaire estates are her beat (and that was her key to finding this particular drama near Big Timber, Montana). In a genuine 21st century range war, this is a showdown between a multi-generational rancher who is trying to make ends meet with his wind farm vs. the trophy rancher next door. As anyone who resides in the Rocky Mountain West can anticipate, the story features greed, resilience, and real estate, and the cast of characters includes rugged scenery, cowboys (real and self-imagined), oil tycoons, Native American activists, and even an Olympian.
Steamboat Kids & Phones is a grassroots group of Steamboat parents and community members who started meeting last summer. Dive deeper into the relationship between kids and smart devices. Their mission is to foster healthy relationships with technology and each other, and their community-wide meetings and newsletters have gained serious traction (and even some action at the school district level). Discussions have spawned intense interest and book club discussions of “The Anxious Generation,” a No. 1 New York Times bestseller that turns out to be not just for parents, but for anyone wondering about your own relationship with your smartphone, how we got so entangled with social media, and where we might be headed to be healthier human beings. Spoiler alert: Go outside and play.
Local Author Pick!
Nancy Sindelar, an Ernest Hemingway scholar and part-time Steamboat resident, has written a new book about the women in the famous author’s life. His machismo attracted four wives and a long list of legendary actresses, but he is said to have told Marlene Dietrich in 1950 that he truly loved only five women. Nancy probes Hemingway’s works, personal letters and previously unpublished photos to uncover his romantic relationships and reveal how they turned up in his literature.
Hear from the author | Nancy Sindelar talks about “Hemingway’s Passions” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23 at Bud Werner Library.
“A Walk in the Park” by Kevin Fedarko
This year’s best present for every adventurous soul (and armchair traveler) on your list. “A Walk in the Park” is the longform tale from Kevin Fedarko that we’ve been waiting for ever since he and his bestie/photographer Pete McBride end-to-end hiked the Grand Canyon. We’ve seen Pete’s documentary film and read their National Geographic feature, but now we finally have glorious details wrapped in all the hijinks and philosophical thinking. Their traverse was hard. They were ill-prepared. And reading about a grueling year-long expedition and their discoveries in the labyrinth and layers below the famous canyon’s rim is positively intoxicating.
“Into Whooperland” by Michael Forsberg
Following up on the special sneak peek that award-winning conservation photographer Michael Forsberg shared with Steamboat Springs during September’s Yampa Valley Crane Festival, “Into Whooperland” has finally arrived. This is his much-anticipated collection of photos and stories from five years following whooping cranes, and the book is a stunning offering for birders, wildlife lovers, adventure seekers and anyone who appreciates pure awe or complex conservation stories. Michael immerses himself in whooping cranes, following the last wild population of some 540 birds on their narrow, 2,500-mile Great Plains flyway from the Texas Gulf Coast to nesting grounds in remote boreal forests of Canada’s Northwest Territories. In the tradition of great adventure stories, he followed the birds by small planes, trucks, and on foot through meadow and marsh. Go in the blind with him. Read the intimate journal entries. Be at the nests. Dance with whoopers in the wetlands. And commune in the joys and sorrows of protecting America’s tallest and most imperiled bird.
Years of drought, dwindling reservoirs, changing climate, and dam design flaws are helping push Lake Powell’s ecosystem and infrastructure toward collapse. Award-winning journalist Zak Podmore, who has rafted the full length of the Colorado River and kayaked the perimeter of Lake Powell, argues that the inevitable loss of Lake Powell could be a turning point for a more sustainable future of Western water management. Through science and personal storytelling, “Life After Dead Pool” considers the possibility of a dramatic transition for the Colorado River through Glen Canyon. This book is a studied and hopeful assessment for potential restoration of the once drowned landscape to expose submerged canyons, petroglyphs, and artifacts, and restore native ecosystems. He mines the salient matters with biologists, ecologists, economists, tribes, river rafters, houseboat recreationists, and more.
Hear from the author | Zak Podmore talks about “Life After Dead Pool” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 at Bud Werner Library.
“Billionaire Wilderness” by Justin Farrell
A sleeper of a book that came out at the start of Covid, this Yale sociology professor’s illuminating work that glimpses into the world of the ultra-wealthy has become increasingly relevant in the Yampa Valley circa 2024. Taking a deep dive into Teton County, Wyoming (with some truly unprecedented access), Justin explains how America’s richest people are using conservation and nature as salve for the existential dilemmas of being affluent in a county where income inequality is the worst in the nation. Intense on personal interviews, many of the accounts are eye-popping, and the connected accumulations of wealth and pristine landscapes provide ample food for thought about what came to Jackson, Wyoming -- and what kinds of scenarios might be headed for Steamboat Springs.
“The Crazies” by Amy Gamerman
A narrative nonfiction debut by the Wall Street Journal’s real estate and culture reporter -- whereby billionaire estates are her beat (and that was her key to finding this particular drama near Big Timber, Montana). In a genuine 21st century range war, this is a showdown between a multi-generational rancher who is trying to make ends meet with his wind farm vs. the trophy rancher next door. As anyone who resides in the Rocky Mountain West can anticipate, the story features greed, resilience, and real estate, and the cast of characters includes rugged scenery, cowboys (real and self-imagined), oil tycoons, Native American activists, and even an Olympian.
Steamboat Kids & Phones is a grassroots group of Steamboat parents and community members who started meeting last summer. Dive deeper into the relationship between kids and smart devices. Their mission is to foster healthy relationships with technology and each other, and their community-wide meetings and newsletters have gained serious traction (and even some action at the school district level). Discussions have spawned intense interest and book club discussions of “The Anxious Generation,” a No. 1 New York Times bestseller that turns out to be not just for parents, but for anyone wondering about your own relationship with your smartphone, how we got so entangled with social media, and where we might be headed to be healthier human beings. Spoiler alert: Go outside and play.
Local Author Pick!
Nancy Sindelar, an Ernest Hemingway scholar and part-time Steamboat resident, has written a new book about the women in the famous author’s life. His machismo attracted four wives and a long list of legendary actresses, but he is said to have told Marlene Dietrich in 1950 that he truly loved only five women. Nancy probes Hemingway’s works, personal letters and previously unpublished photos to uncover his romantic relationships and reveal how they turned up in his literature.
Hear from the author | Nancy Sindelar talks about “Hemingway’s Passions” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23 at Bud Werner Library.
