Bitterbrush Country: Living on the Edge of the Land
When Diane Josephy met Idaho state senator and rancher John  Peavey in 1980, she hardly suspected that her urban existence  was about to end and that she would find herself married to this  third-generation rancher and living in blissful isolation at the  end of a 24-mile dirt road. This is a collection of short essays  revealing humorous, heartwarming, and heartbreaking moments from  her life on Flat Top Sheep Ranch. Originally read on Idaho  Public Radio, the essays reveal the heart of Western rural  culture rodeos, county fairs, and sheep shearing, as well as the  struggle of family farms to survive unpredictable weather,  unfavorable U.S. farm policy, encroaching development, and  globalization. Peavey writes of her passion for the land in all  its beauty and complexity, which is the common ground between  her rancher and environmentalist sides. Her compelling writing  evokes the smell of sagebrush, the sweltering heat of a cattle  drive on a 100-degree day, and the pleasant melancholy of a  winter landscape. Highly recommended for all public libraries  and for academic libraries with Western or nature-writing  collections. Maureen J. Delaney-Lehman, Lake Superior State  Univ., Sault Ste. Marie, MICopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.