Inventing Montana: Dispatches from the Madison Valley

by Ted Leeson

Every summer for two decades, Ted Leeson and a maverick group of close companions have returned to an old ranch house on the benchland overlooking the Madison River. Trout and fly fishing may be at the heart of their ritual return, but their experience goes far beyond the fishing. Leeson contemplates both the human and natural landscape brilliantly: the fly-anglers’ passionate, ironic, and sometimes hilarious allegiances to what they do; the intriguing Madison Valley and its creatures and flowers; the trout town of Ennis; maps and their revelations; the “green-card” experience of living in a place in which you are not native; the nature of leisure.  

Full of wit, surprise, shrewd observation, and wisdom, this book tells a story about creating a place of temporary liberty, and inhabiting a world fashioned of your best imaginings, where you might, for a time, live the potencies of a place that you have shaped and has shaped you. No lover of the very best writing about fly fishing and the natural world can afford to miss this stunning book.

Genres: Nature, Nonfiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Chris Warren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book and certainly not just about fishing but about place and life too.

[Timothy Kidder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a new book by any means, but one that I just finished reading, "Inventing Montana - Dispatches from the Madison Valley" proved to be a great read. The descriptive word-painting throughout conjures visions of places I've never been. With characters like "The Painter", "The Mechanic" and "The Artist" among others creates a feeling that this could be any group of friends spending the summer together in a rented ranch house. The "Dispatches" format allowed me to enjoy reading even with my consistently inconsistent schedule. I read it over a few weeks by taking in a few pages each night, though it was often hard to stop. Leeson's wit and easy going mannerisms come through in this book, and leaves me feeling like I would enjoy fishing with him, and his group of companions. Which is pretty high praise in my world.

"Certainly in the end we cast a fly on the water for the same basic reason that we test a hypothesis or read a story - we want to see how it all comes out." - pg. 146

[Ron Patch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A sense of place.

[Bob Peru · Rating 4 out of 5]

fly fishing literature of the first-class. all of leeson's books are well worht hte time.