Ghosts of Wyoming: Stories

An unsentimental vision of the west, new and old, comes to life in a gritty new collection of stories by the author of Snow, Ashes

In Ghosts of Wyoming, Alyson Hagy explores the hardscrabble lives and terrain of America's least-populous state. Beyond the tourist destinations of Jackson Hole and Yellowstone lies a less familiar and wilder frontier defined by the tension wrought by abundance and scarcity. A young runaway with a big secret slips across the state border and steals a collie pup from the Meeker County fairgrounds. A chorus of trainmen details a day spent laying rail across the Wyoming Territory, while contemporary voices describe life in the oil and gas fields near Gillette. A traveling preacher is caught up in a deadly skirmish between cattle rustlers and ranchers on his way from Rawlins to the Indian reservation on the Popo Agie River. Locals and activists clash when a tourist makes an archaeological discovery near Hoodoo Mountain. With spirited, lyrical prose, Hagy expertly weaves together Wyoming's colorful pioneer and speculator history with the notoften- heard voices of petroleum workers, thrill-seeking rock climbers, and those left behind by the latest boom and bust.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Published: 02/02/2010
ISBN: 9781555975487
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.52lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.50d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 12/07/2009 pg. 36
Booklist 01/01/2010 pg. 40
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2010 pg. 58
Foreword 12/17/2009