"Where the Waters Divide" by Karen Berger

"While people in big cities lock their history in museums and textbooks, people in the rural West still live with their version of history. They believe in it and are inspired by it; sometimes, even, they are defined by it." Karen Berger

Although I read the hardcover edition, the paperback version is essentially the same. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I while read I followed along with another title of Berger's called "Hiking the Triple Crown" which is a guide to the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), the Appalachain Trail (AP) and the Continental Divide Trail (CDT).
Berger and her new husband traversed many terrains, including dry desert in New Mexico and Wyoming and rugged mountains in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. In contrast, the AP is essentially a jaunt through eastern mountains otherwise described as a tunnel through the trees.
The geological and historical anecdotes were essential to keeping the reader engulfed with the living hsitory of the land of the west, whereas "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson was filled with statistics that sink the reader. Bryson's charming wit is what keeps "A Walk in the Woods" afloat. In contrast there were no holding back chuckles to save embarrassment while riding the stationary bike at the gym in "Where the Waters Divide."
Most importantly the book layed out empathy for the lifestyle of the ranchers and their way of life, which Berger struggles with openly in many instances throughput the pages. She always seems to come down on the side of the environemntalists, but rather sheepishly and with a precautionary principle in mind presuming that it is better to overprotect the land, than to rape and ravage it.