This is a local historian writing about obscure historical byways of the Bitterroot Valley, Montana where I live.

There are lots of interesting incidents: the first automobile purchased by a resident of the area was blown up; Japanese incendiary balloons landed in the southern part of the valley during WWII; KKK activity in the valley in the 20’s. There are other more well documented accounts including WWW camps and the SheSheShe camps (the women’s equivalent started by Eleanor Roosevelt), various industries and people both well known and those whose names have mostly fallen by the way side.

My biggest negative of the book is that I think it needed better editing. It sometimes becomes confusing where one newspaper account of an event ends and a different account by another source of the same incident begins. You can get a feel for the writing style, just from the title of the book.

Still, I would recommend it to people living or interested in this area. I’ve lived in the Missoula and Bitterroot Valley for over fifty years and learned many new well documented stories of the area. ( )