Adding to Your Nevada Bookshelf

Ten years ago I wrote a piece about essential books for your Nevada Bookshelf. When I came across it recently and decided to update it, it occurred to me that because lots of likely candidates have been published in the meantime and we humans don’t all share the same taste, I could ask fellow Nevada lovers for their picks.

I sent a request for one, two or three favorite Nevada books to 76 people I was confident would have worthy favorites. They responded with more than 60 titles, enough to fill a whole bookcase, several of which were suggested multiple times. I should have asked for a two or three sentence description of each title and I will if I do this again in another ten years.

But even without descriptors you’ll recognize many of them, and if you poke around online you’ll be able to find more about almost any title that looks intriguing. Not all of them — I wanted a copy of The Last Free Man (about Quejo, I believe) but couldn’t find it for sale anywhere. While building this list I bought 4 books online. I invite you to do the same and report the outcome in the Comments below.

If you have a favorite or two to share, add it as a Coment below and I’ll add them to the list I have also taken the liberty of adding the forthcoming David Toll’s Nevada. I’d be proud to have it on your Nevada bookshelf. Details here.

1881 History of Nevada Thompson and West -3-

20 Miles From a Match by Sarah E. Olds

50 Miles from Home by Carolyn Dufferena (text) and Linda Duferrena (photographs) -3-

At the Sands by David G. Schwartz

The Backyard Traveler: 54 Outings in Northern Nevada by Rich Moreno

Basin and Range by John McPhee

Big Bonanza by Dan DeQuille

The Bloomin’ Desert by Juniper Rose

The Bonanza King, John Mackay & the Battle over the Greatest Riches in the American West by Gregory Church -2-

Bones Set Against the Drift by Bill Cowee

The California Trail by George R. Stewart

The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins

The City of Trembling Leaves, Walter Van Tilburg Clark -5-

The Complete Nevada Traveler by David W. Toll -5-

Comstock Mining and Miners by Elliot Lord

Conflict on the Carson by Grace Dangberg

Creating Vya by Erich Obermayr -2-

The Curious Life of Nevada’s LaVere Redfield: The Silver Dollar King by Jack Harpster

Death Valley in ‘49 by William Lewis Manly

The Deep Blue Memory by Monique Urza

Don’t Skip Out on Me by Willy Vlautin -2-

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Fighting Back by James McMillan

Fire! by George R. Stewart

Founding the Far West: California, Oregon, and Nevada, 1840-1890 by David Alan Johnson

Gem Trails of Nevada by James R. Mitchell

The Genesis of Reno by Jack Harpster

Ghost Towns & Mining Camps by Stan Paher -5-

Ghosts Of The Glory Trail by Nell Murbarger

The Green Felt Jungle by Ed Reid and Ovid Demaris

Guide to the High Rock Canyon and the Black Rock Desert by Chuck Dodd

A Guide to the Rural Regions by Cynthia Delaney

The Gold Rush Letters by Ethan Allen Grosh and Hosea B. Grosh

Hang Tough! An oral history of Grant Sawyer interviewed by Gary Elliott

Helping Hands Helping Hearts, the Story of Opportunity Village by Jack Harpster

The History of Nevada (2 volumes) by Samuel Post Davis.

I Want to Quit Winners by Harold Smith

In The Shadow of Fox Peak by Catherine S. Fowler

Lady in Boomtown by Mrs. Hugh Brown

The Last Free Man by Dayton Hyde

The Main Event by Richard Davies

Martha and the Doctor by Marvin Lewis

Metropolis by Marjorie Hammond Holbrook

Mountain City by Greg Martin

My Adventures With your Money by George Graham Rice

My Memories of the Comstock by Harry Gorham

NEVADA by Deon Reynolds (photography) Jon Christiansen (text) -3-

Nevada A Journey by Jonas Dovydenas

Nevada Ghost Town & Desert Atlas by Stan Paher -2-

Nevada Ghost Towns & Mining Camps Atlas by Stan Paher -3-

Nevada, The Great Rotten Borough 1859-1964 by Gilman M Ostrander

Nevadans, The Spirit of the Silver State by Stanley Paher

No Limit: The Bob Stupak Story by John L. Smith

Ordeal by Hunger by George R. Stewart

The Outfit by J. P. S. Brown

Rabbit Boss by Thomas Sanchez

Railroads of Nevada and eastern California by David Myrick

Reno, by Max Miller

Reno’s Big Gamble: Image and Reputation on the Biggest Little City by Alicia Barber

Reno, Las Vegas, and the Strip: A Tale of Three Cities by Eugene Moehring

Roadside History of Nevada by Richard Moreno

The Roar and the Silence by Ron James

Roughing It by Mark Twain -5-

The Saga of the Comstock Lode by George D. Lyman

The Saga of Lake Tahoe by Edward B. Scott

Saving Lake Tahoe by Mike Makley

Senator Alan Bible and the Politics of the New West by Gary Elliott

Sheep Rock by George R. Stewart

Shoshone Mike by Frank Bergon

The Silver Short Line: A History of the Virginia & Truckee Railroad by Ted Wurm & Harre Demoro

Slippery Gulch: Guide to Gold Hill by Maitland Stanley

Smoky by Will James

Squaw Tom Speaks: Stories from Old Nevada by Tom Sanders -3-

Storm by George R. Stewart

The Story of the Paiute People by Sarah Winnemucca

Survival Arts of the Primitive Paiutes by Margaret M. Wheat

Sweet Promised Land by Robert Laxalt -6-

Ten Years in Nevada by Mary McNair Mathews -2-

Territorial Lawmen of Nevada, Vol. I by Bob Ellison

The Track of the Cat by Walter Van Tilburg Clark

Treasure Hill by W. Turrentine Jackson

US 40 by George R. Stewart

Vegas by John Gregory Dunne