Outback Nevada: Real Stories from the Silver State

by John M Glionna

Join author John M. Glionna on a journey to discover the real Nevada, a place inhabited by diverse, spirited, and sometimes quirky people who make up the fabric of the Silver State. Outback Nevada explores the far-flung corners of the seventh-largest state in the nation and introduces its readers to the humanity, courage, strength, and charm of these little-known Americans. Each story is part of the vast collection of published articles Glionna has written during his decades of work as a journalist for the Los Angeles Times and the Las Vegas Review-Journal . 

Glionna’s interest in Nevada’s rugged, isolated landscape and the people who choose to live in this often-harsh environment was born of his own wanderings into the “outback.” Through his stories, he shares intimate portraits of rural and small-town lifestyles not many understand. Readers meet men with names like Flash and Mr. Cool; will listen to a cowboy minister preach the word of God to his parishioners; will walk with an antiques dealer from Genoa as he hunts for denim in Nevada’s abandoned nineteenth-century mine shafts; and will learn from an ex-paramedic– turned–coffee-shop–owner who provides Boulder City with a true sense of community. Full of humor, eccentricities, and compassion, these stories reveal the state’s true nature and extend an invitation to get lost “somewhere out there” in the real Nevada.

302 pages, Paperback

Published March 15, 2022

Reviews

[Tina Milledge · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has visited Nevada twice from the UK for road trips to experience small towns, desert and places of historical interest, I was glad to have received a digital copy of this book to review. The author’s offerings of accounts of various people living in Nevada, and their history as well as the history of the state, are rich, diverse and interesting. My thanks to NetGalley, publisher and author for providing me with a copy. I enjoyed reading it.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is sort of a combination travelogue and human interest study. A collection of profiles that originally appeared in newspaper and lifestyle magazines. I grew up in rural Nevada (Nye County) and spent well over twenty years out there so it may be a case of being too close to the subject. Many of the stories have a certain sameness to them, people who make their living in the middle of nowhere and isn't it great that they're so self reliant? I've been to many of the places mentioned and met a handful of the people profiled and they aren't all that interesting compared to some of the really wild eccentric characters running around out there.

A reoccurring theme is the rich person who falls in love with the Old West charm. The city dweller who decides to try something new in the middle of some of the driest country in America. Once or twice is enough, no need to fill an entire book with them. There are some true misfits, kooks, and oddballs whose spirit for life and eccentric personalities cannot be tamed included here and it's their stories that make up the really interesting parts. Unfortunately there aren't enough of them to carry the whole book.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Gliona has a way of describing the real life CHARACTERS in this book that illustrates the grit and determination of those who choose to live and thrive in the harsh Nevada “Outback”. I look forward to visiting some of the off-the-beaten-path towns…as soon as I get a 4WD!

[John Glionna · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new nonfiction collection, “Outback Nevada: Real Stories from the Silver State” has just been published by the University of Nevada Press. It’s about an unadorned place and unvarnished people. Give it a read. Amazon named it the #1 new release in mountain west travel writing on its first day out. Not a bad start.