Camping Grounds: Public Nature in American Life from the Civil War to the Occupy Movement
Phoebe S.K. Young
CU Boulder professor Phoebe S.K. Young’s new book tells the story of one of Colorado’s favorite pastimes. The book delves into the history of camping, from the popularization of backpacking in the 1970s, to the act of camping as public protest, to the surprising impacts of COVID-19. Professor Young also traces the exclusion of African Americans from outdoor recreational landscapes and efforts by Black activists to desegregate them and create more inclusive facilities.
Book listing at boulderbookstore.net.
Into The Dust: The Virgin: A Burning Man Story
Jack Lyons
When Diane accepts an invitation to attend Burning Man, she expects a hedonistic music festival, surrounded by hippies and burnouts. Instead, she finds herself forever changed by the unimaginable experiences and the people she meets in the Black Rock Desert. This story takes the reader through ten days at Burning Man, from building the city to tearing it down, through the eyes of a first timer. Author Jack Lyons, a Burning Man veteran, worked with the Burning Man Project and a non-profit tribal organization to capture what he has found to be the most important parts of the festival.
Book listing at boulderbookstore.net.
Mixed Company
Jenny Shank
Award-winning author Jenny Shank’s new book, “Mixed Company,” is a collection of short stories based on Shank’s experiences attending Denver Public Schools during the era of court-ordered busing for integration. “Mixed Company” follows characters from Denver and Boulder, including a girls' basketball team at a majority Black Denver high school, middle-aged white adoptive parents and their Black teenage son, a white middle schooler attending a majority Black school, and the connections they find across generations, race, gender and class.
jennyshank.com
The Angel of Shavano
Joe Reed
In the summer of 1980, just days before its annual whitewater festival, the small town of Salida, Colorado, is rocked by a sudden and mysterious disappearance. Joe Reed’s suspenseful debut novel, “The Angel of Shavano,” is a fictional story loosely based on the still-unsolved disappearance and death of Beverly England. In a story of a young mother with a secret and the clashing of two families, Reed’s characters bring to life his own version of the motivations behind this mystery.
Book listing at boulderbookstore.net.