Daughter of the Dragon

Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong's Rendezvous with American History. by Yunte Huang. This biography of the Chinese-American actress covers her life from the early 1900s to her death in the early 1960s. She grew up in Los Angeles, her father owned a laundry where she worked as a teenager, but became interested in the theater and film at an early age. This is of course the story of descrimination in the US, most chinese characters in films were played by white people made to look 'oriental'. She was mostly able to get bit stereotypical parts, with a few successes. She had more success on the stage and did spend several years in China before WW2 studying Chinese theater.

Rocky Mountain High

Rocky Mountain High: A Tale of Boom and Bust in the New Wild West, by Finn Murphy This second book by the auther of Long Haul, which was about the long distance moving business, is about the culture of growing hemp in Colorado as it was legalized several years ago. The author is great at describing the details of the business and the pitfalls involved, the gold rush mentality around legalizing that sent things into the stratosphere. But also he is good at telling the bigger picture story of the history of hemp and the culture that develops around boom and bust economies.

Trail of the Lost

Trail of the Lost: The Relentless Search to Bring Home the Missing Hikers of the Pacific Crest Trail. by Andrea Lankford The author is a former search and rescue ranger for the park service and for law enforcement. She focuses on 3 hikers who disapeared on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 2015, 2016 and 2017. They all disapeared on different parts of the PCT, but she saw similarities in their stories. Along the way Andrea meets many people associated with the PCT and family and searchers looking for answers. Lots of info here about the trail and trail culture, the pitfalls that can be found and the shady characters that are attracted to the trail, and other long distance trails. Good story but sadly the people she is looking for are never found, and the families continue to mourn.

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny

Brave the Wild River: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped the Botany of the Grand Canyon by Melissa L. Sevigny. This is a great true story of two female botonists at the Univ. of Michigan, who in 1938 chartered with a river rafter to go through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado river. The aim was to catalog the botony of the canyon, which had not been done previously. They assumed they would find new species in this isolated area and they were right. The 2 women and 4 men started at the Green river and then went down the Colorado to Lake Mead. This was long before the Glen Canyon damn was built so this is a great story of the wild Colorado. At that time only a handful of people had rafted the Colorado, and they were the first women to do so.

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald

Here latest after the amazing best seller H is for Hawk, this collection of essays continues to provide excellent nature writing and allows the author to explore themes beyond birds, though that is mostly what she focuses on. While H dealt specifically with how she dealt with the grief of her father's passing, this collection allows her to explore many tangents of the natural world. She also addresses some pressing issues of our natural environment that are now important; the disapearance of many natural habitats and the effects of climate change.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

The amazing story of one of the greatest art thiefs in history. This takes place in the 1990s and 2000s and I guess was a big story in Europe, where it all took place, but some how never made it into US media stories, at least that I remember. The 'thief' got away with the most amazing crimes for years, until stupid mistakes tripped him up. A complicated family psychology adds to the story, and an amazing reaction from the authorities. The fact that he never stole for profit helps to illustrate the uniqueness of this story.

Revolutionary Roads: Searching for the War That Made America Independent...and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong by Bob Thompson

Revolutionary Roads: Searching for the War That Made America Independent...and All the Places It Could Have Gone Terribly Wrong by Bob Thompson

In a similar vein to Travels with George, this books takes the reader to what are the present day situation of the geography that was the American Revolution. Told in a friendly style the author examines many of the personalities of the revolution, Benedict Arnold, Lafayette etc.