Growing Up Western: Recollections of a Time Gone by

Seven grand old writers of the West, most of them in their 80s, reminisce about their growing-up years. One common thread in the lives of Dee Brown, A. B. Guthrie, Jr., Wright Morris, Clyde Rice, David Lavender, Wallace Stegner and Frank Waters is that all were culturally deprived youngsters who lived on isolated ranches, in oil-boom towns, mining camps, prairie hamlets. Guthrie notes that Montana's open spaces shaped his life; Stegner, whose father kept the family on the move, feels that motion was a force in his life. The late Backes, book editor of the Denver Post , introduces each writer with a brief portrait of his present life and a review of his work. Individually and collectively, these memoirs represent authentic western Americana. Photos. BOMC alternate. (Feb.)