Our reading list

Each spring we require undergraduate students taking part in our summer program to read a series of books that chronical the history of central Montana, ranging from Native American accounts provided by Black Elk, to early pioneer and cattlemen days, to the post-homestead era up to modern day.

Ambrose, S.  1997.  Undaunted Courage:  Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West.  Simon & Schuster (account of the Lewis & Clark expedition)

Neihardt, J.G.  1979.  Black Elk Speaks.  University of Nebraska Press. (account of Lakota elder during the late 1800’s)

Hampton, H.D.  2011.  Life and Death at the Mouth of the Musselshell. Stoneydale Press. (account of earlier pioneer at a trading post on the Missouri River in the mid to late 1800’s).

Coburn, W.  2011.  Pioneer Cattlemen of Montana. University of Oklahoma Press. (account of outlaws and happenings on and around Circle C ranch during the open range days of the late 1800’s).

Blunt, J.  2003.  Breaking Clean.  Vintage Press.  (account of life on a ranch in mid to late 1900’s).

Flores, D.  2017.  American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains.  University Press of Kansas.  (natural history of large wildlife in the Great Plains and potential to restore them)