University of Texas Press
Montana Ghost Dance
About this book
Montana has been the "last best place" for so many people. A century ago, Native Americans gathered here to perform the Ghost Dance—a last, doomed attempt to make white settlers vanish and bring back the old ways of life. Today, people are still pouring into Montana, looking for the pristine wilderness they saw in A River Runs through It.
The reality of Montana—indeed, of all the West—has never matched the myths, but this book eloquently explores how the search for a perfect place is driving growth, development, and resource exploitation in Big Sky country. In ten personal essays, John Wright looks at such things as Montana myths; old-timers; immigrants; elk; ways of seeing the landscape; land conservation and land trusts; the fate of the Blackfoot, Bitterroot, and Paradise valleys; and some means of preserving the last, best places.
These reflections offer a way of understanding Montana that goes far beyond the headlines about militia groups and celebrities' ranches. Montana never was or will be a pristine wilderness, but Wright believes that much can be saved if natives and newcomers alike see what stands to be lost. His book is a wake-up call, not a ghost dance.
Author / Editor information
John B. Wright, of Missoula, is a conservationist with twenty-five years of experience in Montana.
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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CONTENTS
vii -
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PREFACE
xi -
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xiii -
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1 GHOST DANCE
1 -
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2 ST. PATRICK'S DAY IN BUTTE
11 -
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3 MYTHS
19 -
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4 THE PURITAN EPIC, PROHIBITION AND MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS PARTY
57 -
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5 LAND TRUSTING
79 -
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6 THE REAL RIVER THAT RUNS THROUGH IT
105 -
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7 THE CURSE OF CHARLOT
131 -
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8 THE CHURCH LADY IN PARADISE
157 -
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9 THE ELK'S GOLDEN EYE
179 -
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10 MEDICINE
195
