The Big Sky Reader: A Treasury of the Best Writing from Big Sky Journal

by Allen Jones (Editor), Russell Chatham (Illustrator), Jeff Wetmore (Editor)

An entertaining anthology captures a collection of essays and short fiction about the west from a number of popular authors and features the work of Rick Bass, Tim Cahill, Russell Chatham, John Barsness, and Wally McRae, among others. Reprint. 12,500 first printing.

272 pages, Paperback

First published June 15, 2000

Reviews

[Kerry Pickens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big Sky Journal started out in 1994 as a literary and photography journal of Montana and western literature, and it’s morphed since then into a slick publication with more emphasis on architecture and tourism. This collection published in 1997 includes well known authors like William Kittredge, James Crumley and Rick Bass. Most of the other authors worship at the shrine of Edward Abbey and Norman McLean, and tend to copy their style of writing. I like to read collections like these to find new authors to read, and I enjoyed artist Russell Chatham’s writing as well as Gary Ferguson’s work so I have those to TBR list.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Big Sky Journal," based in Bozeman, Montana, is for the most part a celebration of the great outdoors, a kind of literary Field and Stream. This "treasury" of articles from the journal features a fair number of accounts of fishing and hunting, but if that's not your interest, there's more here to choose from. I particularly enjoyed Kim Zupan's reminiscences of riding in punkin roller rodeos, Ralph Beer's humorous essay on restoring a 1930s Montana State Highway Department snowplow, and Fred Haefele's mini-memoir of working as a timber faller. Laugh-out-loud hilarious is Jon Jackson's account of a 1972 cross-country trip with Raymond Carver in what turns out to be a stolen car.

A section on rivers includes Annick Smith's appreciation of the Big Blackfoot, the centerpiece of Norman Mclean's much-loved "A River Runs Through It." Rick Bass captures that self-effacing, wonky pride of long-time Montana residents in his essay about a rain-soaked fishing trip on the Yaak River. John Barsness describes an archaeological dig along the Missouri River, unearthing the site of a fort that burned down in 1844.

The spirit of Edward Abbey also infuses the pages of this book. Doug Peacock (inspiration for the Monkey Wrench Gang's Hayduke) has a fishing essay, and Ralph Beer writes an "apology" for being once angered by Abbey's famous diatribe against ranching. I happily recommend this book for lovers of the outdoors and good writing and to anyone whose imagination is inspired by the mountains, prairies, and rivers of Big Sky country.