Innovators of the American West Book List

Innovators of the American West Book List

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Over the years, I’ve interviewed dozens of innovators who are shaping the future of the American West—writers and ranchers, athletes and artists, conservationists and entrepreneurs, to name a few. While their vocations and backgrounds vary widely, they’re all connected by a shared love of books. All of my guests read widely and deeply, and they credit books with shaping their outlooks, work, and lives.

On each episode’s webpage, the exhaustive “episode notes” link to all books, authors, and other pertinent information discussed in the interview. So in an effort to consolidate all of this valuable information in one easy-to-access location, I compiled every book mentioned by each of my guests into this single comprehensive super-mega-list—the Innovators of the American West Book List. I’ve tried my best to organize them into logical categories, taking into account that many of the books span several genres.

As you’ll see, the books are as diverse as the guests, with topics ranging from the obvious western history and biographies, to more esoteric subjects such as military history, religion, and philosophy. Each book has played an important role in at least one of my guests’ fascinating lives, so it’s safe to say these books have been vetted and come highly recommended. For curious readers who love the American West, this list is a treasure trove.

I will continue to update this list after episodes (last update: 3-13-19), adding newly mentioned books or authors to their respective categories. I hope this list directs you to some books that you would not have otherwise discovered and that you will continue to check back as the list grows. Enjoy!

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Western History

• Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival by Peter Stark
• Jefferson’s America: The President, the Purchase, and the Explorers Who Transformed a Nation by Julie Fenster
• Blood and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West by Hampton Sides
• The Big Burn: Theodore Roosevelt and the Fire that Saved America by Timothy Egan
• The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy Egan
• American Buffalo: In Seach of a Lost Icon by Steven Rinella
• Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden
• Beyond the 100th Meridian: John Wesley Powell and the Second Opening of the West by Wallace Stegner
• Sweet Promised Land by Robert Laxalt
• Winter: Notes from Montana by Rick Bass
• Dust Bowl: The Southern Plains in the 1930s by Donald Worster
• Roughing It by Mark Twain
• The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West by Patricia Limerick
• Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose
• An American Idea: The Making of the National Parks by Kim Heacox
• Lassoing the Sun: A Year in America’s National Parks by Mark Woods
• Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
• Cattle Kingdom: The Hidden History of the Cowboy West by Christopher Knowlton 
• Bad Land: An American Romance by Jonathan Raban
• Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis by Timothy Egan
• Cougar Annie’s Garden by Margaret Horsfield
• Down the Santa Fe Trail and Into Mexico: The Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin by Susan Magoffin
• Montana: An Uncommon Land by Ross Toole
• Big Bend: A Homesteaders Story by JO Langford
• The Big Ranch Country by JW Williams

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Biographies & Memoirs

• The Naturalist: Theodore Roosevelt, A Lifetime of Exploration, and the Triumph of American Natural History by Darrin Lunde
• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
• Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
• Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
• The Wilderness Warrior – Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley
• Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands: A Young Politician’s Quest for Recovery in the American West by Roger Di Silvestro
• An African Obsession: The Life and Legacy of Carl Akeley by Penelope Bodry-Sanders
• All the Wild that Remains: Edward Abbey, Wallace Stegner, and the American West by David Gessner
• No Destination: Autobiography of a Pilgrim by Satish Kumar
• Shadows of the Koyukuk: An Alaskan Native’s Life Along the River by Sidney Huntington
• Confessions of a Maverick: An Autobiography by Farrington Carptenter
• Call Me Ted by Ted Turner
• Last Stand: Ted Turner and His Quest to Save a Troubled Planet by Todd Wilkinson
• On the Road by Jack Kerouac
• The Hippy Guide to Climbing the Corporate Ladder and Other Mountains: How JanSport Makes It Happen by Skip Yowell
• Memoirs of the Second World War by Winston Churchill
• The Prophet of Dry Hill: Lessons from a Life in Nature by David Gessner
• Knife Fights: A Memoir of Modern War in Theory and Practice by John Nagl
• Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan
• House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind by Ivan Doig
• Heart Earth: A Memoir by Ivan Doig
• The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeanette Walls
• The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball
• Temperance Creek: A Memoir by Pamela Royes
• Ladies of the Canyons: A League of Extraordinary Women and Their Adventures in the American Southwest by Lesley Poling-Kempes
• Two in the Far North by Margaret Murie
• Claiming Ground by Laura Bell
• Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris
• The Cloister Walk by Kathleen Norris
• Where the Rivers Change by Mark Spragg
• 60 Meters to Anywhere by Brendan Leonard
• Life at Full Draw: The Chuck Adams Story by Gregg Gutschow
• Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life by Kathleen Dalton
• Breaking Clean by Judy Blunt
• The Mountain and the Father: Growing Up in the Big Dry by Joe Wilkins
• Bad Luck Way: A Year on the Ragged Edge of the West by Bryce Anderson
• The Far Horizons: 30 Years Among the Gauchos of Uraguay by Christopher Empson
• The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich

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Western Issues

• Colorado Water Law for Non-Lawyers by P. Andrew Jones
• Cadillac Desert: The American West and its Disappearing Water by Marc Reisner
• Man Meets Gizzly by F.M. Young
• Death in Yellowstone: Accidents and Foolhardiness in the First National Park by Lee H Whittlesey
• The Abstract Wild by Jack Turner
• Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
• Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey
• Wild Idea: Buffalo and Family in a Difficult Land by Dan O’Brien
• Ranching West of the 100th Meridian edited by Knight, Gilgert, and Marston
• Crossing The Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West by Charles Wilkinson
• The Secret Knowledge of Water: Discovering the Essence of the American West by Craig Childs
• Where the Water Goes: Life and Death Along the Colorado River by David Owen
• The Grand Canyon: Between River and Rim by Pete McBride
• A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American West by William deBuys
• Losing Eden: An Environmental History of the American West by Sara Dant
• Revolution on the Range: The Rise of a New Ranch in the American West by Courtney White
• Recovering a Lost River: Removing Dams, Rewilding Salmon, Revitalizing Communities by Stephen Hawley
• A River Lost: The Life and Death of the Columbia River by Blaine Harden

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Adventure

• The Emerald Mile: The Epic Story of the Fastest Ride in History Through the Heart of the Grand Canyon by Kevin Fedarko
• Beyond the Mountain by Steve House
• River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by Candice Millard
• The Horizontal Everest: Extreme Journeys on Ellesmere Island by Jerry Kobalenko
• Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
• Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by John Krakauer
• Touching the Void: The True Story of One Man’s Miraculous Survival by Joe Simpson
• Fire on the Mountain: The True Story of the South Canyon Fire by John Maclean
• Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean
• The Fire Line: The Story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots by Fernanda Santos
• Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing
• Fire by Sebastian Junger
• The Wild Places by Robert MacFarlane
• The Man-Eaters of Tsavo by John Henry Patterson
• The New American Road Trip Mixtape by Brendan Leonard
• Horns in the High Country by Andy Russell
• Death in the Long Grass by Peter Capstick
• Death in the Silent Places by Peter Capstick
• My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell

Native American History

• Crowfoot: Chief of the Blackfeet by Hugh Dempsey
• The Apache Wars: The Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in American History by Paul Andrew Hutton
• The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
• Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne
• Corn Among the Indians of the Upper Missouri by George Francis Will and George E. Hyde
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown
• Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria, Jr.
• God is Red: A Native View of Religion by Vine Deloria, Jr.
• Mitakuye Oyasin: We Are All Related by A.C. Ross
• Indian Why Stories by Frank B Linderman
• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
• Blood Struggle: The Rise of Modern Indian Nations by Charles Wilkinson
• I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the New Perce War by Merrill Beal

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Land Management & Agriculture

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History & Natural History

• Citizens of London: The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest Hour by Lynee Olson
• Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging by Sebastian Junger
• The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinction by David Quammen
• Fire: A Brief History by Stephen Pyne
• Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History by Dan Flores
• American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains by Dan Flores
• American Wolf: A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West by Nate Blakeslee
• Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
• The Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World’s Wild Places by Bernie Krause
• Seeing Nature: Deliberate Encounters with the Visible World by Paul Krafel
• Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
• Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond
• The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
• Backcountry Bow Hunting by Cam Haynes
• The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer by Siddhartha Mukherjee
• Deer Hunting with Jesus: Dispatches from America’s Class War by Joe Begeant
• On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean War’s Greatest Battle by Hampton Sides
• Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England by William Cronon
• Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert Putnam
• Seeing Like a State: How Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James Scott
• Manhunt: The 12-Day Hunt to Catch Lincoln’s Killer by James Swanson
• Body of Water: A Sage, a Seeker, and the World’s Most Elusive Fish by Chris Dombrowski
• Coming Into the Country by John McPhee
• One River: Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rainforest by Wade Davis
• Down from the Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear by Bryce Andrews

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Athletics

• Training for the New Alpinism: A Manual for the Climber as Athlete by Steve House and Scott Johnston
• Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
• Natural Born Heroes: How a Daring Band of Misfits Mastered the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance by Christopher McDougall

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Personal & Creative Development

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Good to Great for the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer by Jim Collins
• War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win You Inner Creative Battle by Stephen Pressfield
• The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Business and Life by Charles Duhigg
• The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss
• Forever Changed: How Summer Programs and Insight Mentoring Challenge Adolescents and Transform Lives by Linda Mornell
• Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain
• Sit Like a Buddha: A Pocket Guide to Meditation by Lodro Rinzler
• Walk Like a Buddha: Even if Your Boss Sucks, Your Ex Is Torturing You, and You’re Hungover Again by Lodro Rinzler
• Make It Till You Make It: 40 Myths and Truths About Creating by Brendan Leonard
• In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki
• Wabi Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets, and Philosophers by Leonard Koren
• Life Work by Donald Hall
• How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence by Michael Pollan
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
• The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard
• The Four Agreements by Don Migel Ruiz
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
• Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv
• Presence: Human Purpose and the Field of the Future by Peter Senge et. al.
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• The Compassionate Achiever by Christopher Kukk
• Draft No. 4 by John McPhee

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Fiction

• Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
• The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck
• The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
• Anthill: A Novel by E.O. Wilson
• My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
• Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
• Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey
• The Drifters: A Novel by James Michener
• The Dog Stars by Peter Heller
• The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy
• Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy
• Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
• The River Why by David James Duncan
• The Rum Diary: A Novel by Hunter S Thompson
• Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway
• The Short and Happy Life of Francis Macomber by Ernest Hemingway
• The Snows of Kilimanjaro by Ernest Hemingway
• Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen
• Something of Value by Robert Ruark
• The Old Man and the Boy by Robert Ruark
• A River Runs Through It by Normal Maclean
• Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls
• Travels with Charley in Search of America by John Steinbeck
• Youth by Joseph Conrad
• Typhoon by Joseph Conrad
• Little Britches series by Ralph Moody
• Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• Little Big Man: A Novel by Thomas Berger
• Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
• A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggars
• The Painter by Peter Heller
• A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
• Blind Your Ponies by Stanley Gordon West
• Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
• The Wolves of Currumpaw by William Grill
• Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
• A Thousand Acres: A Novel by Jane Smiley
• The Road Home by Jim Harrison
• Legends of the Fall by Jim Harrison
• All the King’s Men by Robert Warren Penn
• Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs by Wallace Stegner
• Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
• Ismael by Daniel Quinn
• Trails Plowed Under by Charles Russell
• 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Marquez
• The Sheep Queen by Thomas Savage
• My Antonia by Willa Cather
• The Meadow by David Galvin
• Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
• Gallatin Canyon by Thomas McGuane

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Philosophy & Essays

• The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
• The Walk by William deBuys
• A Native Hill by Wendell Berry
• The Problems of Work by L Ron Hubbard
• Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew Crawford
• Meditations on Hunting by Jose Ortega y Gasset
• A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold
• The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
• Walking by Henry David Thoreau
• The Public and Its Problems: An Essay in Political Inquiry by John Dewey
• West of 98: Living and Writing in the New American West by Lynn Stegner

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Specifically Mentioned Authors

• Wendell Berry
• Aldo Leopold
• Edward Abbey
• Nick Hornby
• Gary Snyder
• Joseph Campbell
• Hubert Selby Jr.
• David Gessner
• Tom Dorrance
• Satish Kumar
• Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• Wallace Stegner
• Mary Oliver
• Sinclair Lewis
• Cormac McCarthy
• David Quammen
• Thomas McGuane
• Ernest Hemingway
• Ivan Doig
• Michael Pollan
• Kristin Kimball
• John Muir
• Annie Dillard
• Zane Grey
• David Montgomery
• Joel Salatin
• Charles Wilkinson
• Robinson Jeffers
• Robert Frost
• Loius L’Amore
• Max Brand
• Craig Childs
• Donald Hall
• Burns Ellison
• Philip Roth
• Shelby Foote
• Jim Harrison
• David Grann
• Candice Millard
• Laura Hillenbrand
• Nathaniel Philbrick
• David McCullough
• Tim Cahill
• David Quammen
• Jon Krakauer
• Sebastian Junger
• Hal Rothman
• Willam deBuys
• Hal Herring
• David James Duncan
• Chris Dombrowski 
• Wade Davis
• Reinhold Niebur
• JRR Tolkien
• Peter Heller
• James Salter
• Gary Snyder
• Christian Wiman

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