A relative is moving to Colorado (from the East Coast), and I’d like to get him two or three books on the area as a present, to sort of whet his appetite. Ideally, one would be a general use guide book (ala Lonely Planet), and then one or two history books, or other books that illuminate something about the area (travelogue? sociology? biography?). I’m not as interested in novels, but if there’s a classic Colorado novel out there, by all means mention it!
Trouble is, I’m having some trouble finding books matching these descriptions - there are lots of glossy picture books about Colorado, and a number of small history books, but nothing that quite feels right. So, Dopers, I turn to you: what books would you recommend as giving a good feel for Colorado to a newcomer?
And even though he’s moving to Colorado specifically, the whole region is new to him - so an excellent book on the Rocky Mountain states, or even the American West in general might do very nicely.
I realize not everyone’s going to be as passionate about this aspect but I’ve always loved the “Roadside Geology of …” series. Here it is for Colorado. In addition to rocks, it also discusses history, area attractions, etc.
As for novels, there is of course Michener’s Centennial.
I’ve got some good reads that fit your description more closely but need to check the home library for titles after work.
A Colorado History was my textbook for a 200-level college course in the subject; it’s very, very readable.
In addition to the Roadside Geology book suggested by lieu, we’ve also got the Roadside History book in our vehicle – both are very interesting.
I’ll also second lieu’s recommendation of Centennial; it takes the reader through all of Colorado history, from orogeny (really) up through the mid-1970s, with fictionalized accounts of actual events. NBC did a miniseries in the mid-1970s based on the book; it’s well worth watching as well.
Good recomendations. About 20 years ago a very good coffee table book came out under the name of Colorado. It was very good. The Rockies, referring to the mountain range rather than the baseball team is also very good. There is a non photographic book that is a very good one Men to Match the Mountains (might be “My Mountains” - I’m doing this from memory).
Isabella Bird’s A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains might seem like an unusual recommendation, but…seriously, it’s awesome. Bird was a single, 40-something, Englishwoman travelling all over the world in the late 1800s, and she spent a year or so in Colorado in 1873 and wrote about her experiences in letters to her family. She was enchanted by the landscapes and the colorful characters she met (like the famous tracker, “Rocky Mountain” Jim Bridger, who became a good friend of hers and possibly more), and her lucid, lyrical descriptions of Colorado life and its settlers in that time really do it justice. I spent a few days in the Estes Park area a few years ago, and reading this book made me ache to back there. It absolutely captures the “feel” of Colorado in those days.
I thought about mentioning this book as well, but I didn’t because I haven’t read it – Mrs. Urquhart did several years ago, and she shared with me a lucid, lyrical line from Ms. Bird regarding some imperfect action on the part of her mountain guide: “Although he tried his incompetent best, he failed miserably in his task.” We use it quite often.
No education about the modern American West is complete without a bit on water, so I offer up Cadillac Desert. Water is so precious that the Colorado River barely gets out of the starting blocks before it winds up in a reservoir where some of it is piped under Rocky Mountain National Park to the eastern slope (just a little factoid there).
Also, depending on if he has any interest in these sorts of things:
One of best I know is John McPhee’s Encounters with the Archdriud. About 40 years old, but still is one of the best books concerning the political and environmental tensions of the Rocky Mountain West. Here is the discription from the author’s webpage:
“The narratives in this book are of journeys made in three wildernesses–on a coastal island, in a Western mountain range, and on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Four men are involved: Charles Park, a mineral engineer who believes that our economic well-being rests on finding metals and extracting them from the earth wherever they are found; Charles Fraser, a resort developer who regards all conservationists as druids (“religious figures who sacrifice people and worship trees”); Floyd Dominy, a builder of gigantic dams, who grew up in dry Western country and deeply believes in the impoundment of water; and David Brower, the most militant conservationist in the world. In turn, Park, Fraser, and Dominy encounter Brower, whether in rapids, in forests, on mountain trails, on a raft, in a jeep, or on foot–now reserved, now friendly, now fighting hard across a philosophical divide.”