The Yellowstone

Publisher Marketing: "An adventurer's story told as never before." The Los Angeles Times. Imagine ... Exploration and the grace to surrender to the dark, delicious grasp of a river. Native Americans, the first few white people who dared to explore the West, and the settlers who followed-all braved a glorious, and treacherous, wilderness. And, all of them pinned their lives to the great rivers charging out of the Rocky Mountains. One such man, willing to risk it all, is Mac "The Dancer" Maclean, who finds his destiny high in the headwaters in the Yellowstone, the swift river that rumbles through two majestic waterfalls and charges across the vast plains of Montana. Mac Maclean came far ahead of the emigrants to that land with a few friends. For companionship they found Indians. They became husbands and fathers to Indian women and children. Mac hunted, he traded, he battled. He gave his all for a life that made his heart soar. Maclean has the sort of courage and deep compassion that work to make him a legend. As he creates a life fully his own, he has no idea that future generations will honor his memory and build upon the life he created on the fertile banks of the river he called home. Some believe that his spirit still inhabits the Yellowstone country. Others hear the joyous voice of the Dancer inside the Yellowstone-tumbling river of life, death, and dreams. Reviews "Through the lives of Mac "Dancer" Maclean and his daring companions, delve here into the experiences of the few white men who ventured into the Rocky Mountains ahead of all others, their lives thunderous with danger, dazzling in with excitement, deeply satisfying in their creation of a new and ever-surprising way of life. In these pages ride with the true discoverers of the West, their story told as never before." -The Los Angeles Times "Richly told American historical fiction. The longings, determination, adventure and liberties that built the U. S. are richly and deeply experienced in the characters, events and luxurious descriptive writing. Read it. Live it." - Kennedy Library, Ball State University Contributor Bio:  Blevins, Win "I came naturally by my yen to wander far places, physical, imaginary, and spiritual..."-"Win Blevins" Win Blevins, of Cherokee, Irish and Welsh descent, is from a family that was on the move, always west. Win's childhood was spent roaming, his dad a railroad man. Win went to school in St. Louis, and the family spent summers in little towns along the tracks of the railroads. He listened to the whistles blow at night and wanted to go wherever the trains went. Seldom has a young man been in more of a hurry. Using scholarships, Win ran through a succession of colleges, receiving his master's degree, with honors, in English from Columbia University. He taught at Purdue University and Franklin College, then received a fellowship to attend USC. Win became a newspaperman - a music, theater, and film critic for both major Los Angeles papers. In 1972 he took the big leap-he quit his job to write out his passions-exploring and learning wild places-full time. His greatest passion of all has been to set the stories of these places, their people and animals, colors and smells, into books. Win climbed mountains for ten years. A fluke blizzard caught him on a mountaintop and froze his feet, an end to climbing mountains, but not to exploring them. He's rafted rivers in the west, particularly the Snake and the San Juan, and was briefly a river guide. His love of the great Yellowstone River gave him a fine appreciation for the people who first loved these wild places. Along the way, Win lost the use of his legs and learned to sail, deciding a boat was a good place for a man without legs. He regained the use of his legs, and maintains his love of the open seas. His first book, "Give Your Heart to the Hawks", is still in print after thirty years. Other works include "Stone Song", a novel about Crazy Horse, for which he won the 1996 Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award and the 1996 Spur Award. He's written 15 books, including a Dictionary of the American West, numerous screenplays and magazine articles. He lives quietly in the canyon country of Utah. His passions grow with time-his wife Meredith, the center of his life, their five kids and grandkids. Classical music, baseball, roaming red rock mesas in the astonishing countryside, playing music He considers himself blessed to be one of the people creating new stories about the west, and is proud to call himself a member of the world's oldest profession-storyteller.