Library Journal Review
When Diane Josephy met Idaho state senator and rancher John Peavey in 1980, she hardly suspected that her urban existence was about to end and that she would find herself married to this third-generation rancher and living in blissful isolation at the end of a 24-mile dirt road. This is a collection of short essays revealing humorous, heartwarming, and heartbreaking moments from her life on Flat Top Sheep Ranch. Originally read on Idaho Public Radio, the essays reveal the heart of Western rural culture rodeos, county fairs, and sheep shearing, as well as the struggle of family farms to survive unpredictable weather, unfavorable U.S. farm policy, encroaching development, and globalization. Peavey writes of her passion for the land in all its beauty and complexity, which is the common ground between her rancher and environmentalist sides. Her compelling writing evokes the smell of sagebrush, the sweltering heat of a cattle drive on a 100-degree day, and the pleasant melancholy of a winter landscape. Highly recommended for all public libraries and for academic libraries with Western or nature-writing collections. Maureen J. Delaney-Lehman, Lake Superior State Univ., Sault Ste. Marie, MI (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.