The Battle for Butte

A classic history is back in print.

First published in 1981, The Battle for Butte has remained the best treatment of the influence of copper in the political history of Montana. "Fine history: rich in detail, full of finely drawn people, masterfully clear where the subject matter is most complex, constructed to preserve something of the tone and atmosphere of the age."-American Historical Review

William L. Lang is professor of history at Portland State University, former Director of the Center for Columbia River History and founding coeditor of the award-winning Oregon Encyclopedia of History and Culture. He is the author or editor of many books on Pacific Northwest history, including Confederacy of Ambition: William Winlock Miller and the Making of Washington Territory (University of Washington Press, 1996) and Explorers of the Maritime Northwest: Mapping the World through Primary Documents (ABC-Clio/Greenwood, 2016).

William L. Lang is professor of history at Portland State University.

"Malone’s superbly crafted narrative treats the political economy of Butte and Montana from the gold boom of the 1870s through the absorption of the copper independents by the Standard Oil financed Amalgamated Copper Company in the first decade of the twentieth century. . . . The Battle for Butte is fine history: rich in detail, full of finely drawn people, masterfully clear where the subject matter is most complex, constructed to preserve something of the tone and atmosphere of the age."