Bitterroot: A Memoir: Echoes of Beauty and Loss

Faulkner (Waterwalk: A Passage of Ghosts) marched—and drove, biked, hiked, and portaged—into history when he and his 18-year-old son Alex bonded on the Lewis and Clark Trail in the Great Northwest. In this fulsome popular history of their “risky travels,” Faulkner juxtaposes the past with the present. He contrasts his family vacation, topped by bedtime readings from Tolkien, with explorations of the Corps of Discovery and missions of Fr. Pierre DeSmet, among other intrepid 19th-century westward pioneers. The teams, past and present, share demanding land, threatening weather, and colorful interactions with people along their trail. “Baggy-bellied” father and shy son did not prepare well (no bails, no rehearsal with 60-pound packs), but they encountered nothing like the demands of the book’s historical subjects when they slogged west. Faulkner honors DeSmet’s baptisms, miles, and commitment to cooperation, and White Thunder’s record of the generous Nez Perce nation. Faulkner’s verbs vivify, his quotes enlarge his experience, and his poetic descriptions exploit all five senses colorfully; still, keener editing would have pared the backwoods baroque. [em](Aug.) [/em]