Ghost Hunting In Montana: A Search For Roots In The Old West

Ghost Hunting In Montana: A Search for Roots in the Old West

Review "Very wonderful and unusual--a travel book that is also genealogy, a plucky and often funny questing-backwards in search of remarkable ancestors. An irresistible American tale, thoroughly engaging and companionable."--Christopher Buckley, editor of Forbes, FYI "Barnaby Conrad takes Montana, literally, in his stride. He has the eye and the ear of a true travel writer. His impressions are vivid, his perceptions acute, he uncovers the small scenarios that make up the big picture of that big land. This is a book for travelers, whether chair-bound or visiting this remnant of the Old West."--James A. Michener Everyone dreams of jumping in their car and hitting the road for parts unknown, and ultimately discovering the mysteries of the "Old West." In the summer of 1989, Barnaby Conrad did just that. For five months, he journeyed nine thousand miles through all the rough terrain of the Montana landscape in search of adventure, his family roots, and the history still breathing in the carcass of myth. With humor and insight, Conrad encounters car-fighting cowboys, wolf biologists, modern-day mountainmen with flintlock rifles, xenophobic fly fishermen, philosophical Indians, New Age religious groups, and even grizzly bears drunk on fermented corn. Between accounts of his adventures, he pays literary homage to Montana's originals, like Charlie Russell, Will James, A. B. Guthrie, and Thomas McGuane. While traveling through such historic sites as Fort Benton and Glacier Park, Conrad revives such colorful ghosts as Calamity Jane, Butch Cassidy, General Custer, and the Sundance Kid. GHOST HUNTING IN MONTANA provides an engaging insight into the past and present of this mystifying known as Big Sky Country. In this evocation of the old and new West, Conrad discovers not just the insider's Montana, but also the American in himself. From the Back Cover Everyone dreams of jumping in their car and hitting the road for parts unknown, and ultimately discovering the mysteries of the "Old West." In the summer of 1989, Barnaby Conrad III did just that. For five months, he journeyed nine thousand miles through all the rough terrain of Montana landscape in search of adventure, his family roots, and the history still breathing in the carcass of myth.With humor and insight, Conrad encounters car-fighting cowboys, wolf biologists, modern-day mountainmen with flintlock rifles, xenophobic fly fishermen, philosophical Indians, New Age religious groups, and even grizzly bears drunk on fermented corn. Between accounts of his adventures, he pays literary homage to Montana's originals, like Charlie Russell, Will James, A.B. Guthrie, and Thomas McGuane. While traveling through such historic sites as Fort Benton and Glacier Park, Conrad revives such colorful ghosts as Calamity Jane, Butch Cassidy, General Custer, and the Sundance Kid.Ghost Hunting in Montana provides an engaging insight into the past and present of this mystifying state known as Big Sky Country. In this evocation of the old and new West, Conrad discovers not just the insider's Montana, but also the American in himself. About the Author BARNABY CONRAD III is the author of the popular books The Martini, Cigar, and Absinthe. His articles have appeared in more than thirty publications, including Smithsonian, The San Francisco Chronicle, Art in America, and Travel & Leisure. He lives in San Francisco, California.