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In Trace of TR: A Montana Hunter's Journey Hardcover – April 1, 2010
Accompany Aadland as he rides the broad prairies in search of TR’s “prongbuck,” tracks elk through the rugged Big Horn Mountains, and pursues a glimpse of the grizzly in the Absaroka Wilderness. Along the way the author’s campfire musings and reflections on Roosevelt’s writings further deepen and enrich this unique examination of our twenty-sixth president. With the trill of the western meadowlark and the bugle of the elk, the creak of saddle leather and the scent of sage, Aadland’s journey takes readers into TR’s beloved Dakota Territory then and now, offering a kindred spirit’s moving, deftly drawn portrait of both the land and the man across the space of a century.
- Print length282 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherUniversity of Nebraska Press
- Publication dateApril 1, 2010
- Dimensions5 x 1 x 8.75 inches
- ISBN-100803216270
- ISBN-13978-0803216273
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Readers who hunt big game will enjoy the many interesting stories and will quickly recognize that Dan knows firsthand 'whereof he speaks,' whether it is in the terminology associated with packing, or as his wife suspects, in the 'mysterious code' that we cartridge reloaders converse in."—Montana Sporting Journal
"In a book that is part history lesson and part memoir, mixed with a healthy dose of hunting lore and a sprinkling of political comment, Aadland offers a unique and local perspective of the man he refers to as 'TR.'" —Linda Halstead-Acharya, Billings Gazette Published On: 2010-04-18
"Aadland's unique experiences allow the reader to understand TR in an intimate way and appreciate how the Western landscape helped shape his character."—Lauren Halley, American Cowboy
"Seemingly as accomplished as his subject, author Dan Aadland, while not (yet) president of the United States, is an astute student of American history, a hunter, horseman, horse breeder, retired teacher, former Marine—and he's also a heck of a writer. . . . [In Trace of TR is] a powerful book that I think Theodore Roosevelt would have understood and enjoyed."—Matthew P. Mayo, Roundup Magazine
"Aadland is a good writer who has pursued an unusual set of interests into some of the best country left in the United States. He's worth a read."—Chris Madson, Wyoming Wildlife
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : University of Nebraska Press; First Edition (April 1, 2010)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 282 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0803216270
- ISBN-13 : 978-0803216273
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 5 x 1 x 8.75 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,984,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #4,636 in Hunting
- #12,996 in Travelogues & Travel Essays
- #19,362 in Traveler & Explorer Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
I'm a rancher, retired teacher, and former Marine officer, but the role of writer has been my primary preoccupation since I learned to love the written word as a child. Early tastes included the best outdoor writers of the day, and of course Mark Twain, the master. After service in Viet Nam I attended the University of Utah, where I earned an MA in English and a Ph.D.in American Studies and creative writing. Then it was back to Montana for a busy life divided between ranching and teaching high school English and various extension courses for the university system.
But it's been my love of horses, of raising and training them, and my passion for riding a good horse under the Big Sky, that has spawned my best writing--SKETCHES FROM THE RANCH: A MONTANA MEMOIR; THE BEST OF ALL SEASONS: FIFTY YEARS AS A MONTANA HUNTER; and my newest and eighth, IN TRACE OF TR: A MONTANA HUNTER'S JOURNEY.
For that latest work I sought to know Theodore Roosevelt from the perspective of a fellow hunter, rancher, and horseman. I rode where he rode, hunted as he hunted, and found that the century intervening was but a skip in time between hunters' hearts. Apparently my approach has struck a chord--the book received a first place award in the Book Division of Excellence in Craft Awards from the Outdoor Writers Association of America in 2012.
--Dan Aadland
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- Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2016One of the best writers ever! Compare to Ivan Doig.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2011The book deals more with the authors relationship to his horses than insights about "TR" the man. Pretty boring even with the implied connections of hunting and the Montana outdoors.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2011BOOK REVIEW
The TR Connection
This is a wonderful read. Like a glass of well-aged whiskey, it goes down smooth and warms you through and through. Aadland's prose is as worthy of superlatives as outdoor writing can be.
By V. Paul Reynolds
As an outdoor writer the biggest reward for me is positive feedback from readers. Sometimes, when you really make a connection, a reader will be moved to let you know. This a special moment for any writer. For what you the writer have done, with your words, is help a reader express, and perhaps understand, his own feelings or treasured recollection about an outdoor experience.
Among contemporary American outdoor writers there is one who really makes that connection for me. Dan Aadland. A rancher, horseman, and avid hunter from Absarokee, Montana, Aadland has just released another book. His other hunting book, The Best of All Seasons: Fifty Years as a Montana Hunter, is a real keeper! His newest book is In Trace of TR.
TR, in case you haven't guessed, is Teddy Roosevelt, our former President and the iconic father of the American conservation movement. This excerpt from the book's dust jacket outline's Aadland's quest with his new book: "Dan Aadland has long felt a kinship with Theodore Roosevelt. One day, on a single-footing horse, lever action rifle under his knee, Aadland set out to become acquainted with TR as only those who shared his experiences could. In Trace of TR documents that quest, inviting readers to ride along and get to know Theodore Roosevelt through the western environment that so profoundly influenced him."
To me, Teddy Roosevelt has always been a fascinating American leader, with much having been written about his life.To his credit, Aadland did his spadework and dug deeply into the historical backdrop behind TR's love affair with the West. Aadland, however, did more than dig in the archives in his effort to get to know TR. He personally visited TR's old haunts in the Dakota Badlands. He rode his horse on TR's favorite ground and hunted the same coulees for antelope and elk. He visted the site of TR's beloved ranch, the Elkhorn.
This is a wonderful read. Like a glass of well-aged whiskey, it goes down smooth and warms you through and through. Aadland's prose is as worthy of superlatives as outdoor writing can be. Aadland is hardpan honest, refreshingly authentic, and always thoughtful in his work. He paints pictures of the West with words on paper almost as deftly as Remington did with oils on canvas. Best of all, Aadland overcame his biggest writing challenge, if you ask me. He did, indeed, connect with TR. And he did so in a smooth, seamless way, crafting a relationship with TR out of common ground and shared avocations - hunting and horsemanship.
"And it seems as if I've barely missed TR, as if he, Merrifield, and the weather-beaten plainsmen were hunting here mere days ago. A century and a quarter is a mere skip in time between hunters' hearts," writes Aadland.
Teddy Roosevelt, like the rest of us, was a flawed human being for all of his legendary feats and accomplishments. Because he did so much for American game conservation and preservation of wild and scenic places, we are rarely told about TR's conversion. For many years, as hunter, TR was a greedy, rapacious guy killing far more wild animals than he or his friends could ever eat! Aadland doesn't let TR off the hook in this regard. In fact, he takes the icon to the woodshed.
"Here again we have the paradox: the father of American conservation, the man we know as having had not only the ethic but the political power to effect changes that have given the modern American hunter nearly everything he or she currently enjoys, seems no better than the extermination of the bison when you consider his total take of game on this one trip to the Big Horns. Morris tallies TR's total take of animals and birds on his forty-seven day Big Horn safari, including those shot on the return trip to Elkhorn, at 170 critters! "
While Aadland concedes that his book-writing journey with TR left him with a lot of "admiration for one of the most remarkable men I have known," he adds that there "is no hero worship here. Toward the end of the book, Aadland gets introspective about the connection he forged in writing In Trace of TR. " At what point does another, long dead, his time having come and gone, become a fellow human being, an acquaintance, even a friend? I suppose this stage is reached when one no longer simply thinks about the person, but begins to feel happiness at his happiness, sorrow at his sorrow. I am there."
Mark my words, if you are a hunter, an outdoorsperson, a history lover, or, like me, a person merely fond of the West, you will really enjoy riding along with Dan Aadland in the Big Open as he forges what he calls "simpatico" with Theodore Roosevelt, the hunter and horseman.
In Trace of TR, by Dad Aadland, published by University of Nebraska Press, is available on Amazon.com and at book stores.
_________________
The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal and has written his first book, A Maine Deer Hunter's Logbook. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program "Maine Outdoors" heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WCME-FM 96.7) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is paul@sportingjournal.com.
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- Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2011From my blog:
For folks who enjoy the outdoors and want to learn more about eastern Montana / western North Dakota, this is an absolutely fascinating book: In Trace of TR: A Montana Hunter's Journey, by Dan Aadland.
Perhaps as I go along, I will post some tidbits from the book. Here's one:
It's strange how life in the West has changed the connotation of many words. "Pasture," to the easterner, may mean a ten-acre enclosure. Here it means several sections (square miles) of sparse grass of deceptively high nutrition if only it's not abused. Roosevelt the rancher soon learned a fact that John Wesley Powell tried unsuccessfully to shove down the craws of disbelieving easterners: the lifeblood of the West is water, there's never enough of it, and all eastern agricultural truisms must be discarded. It takes vast acreage to sustain cows int his country, but the grass is high in protein, evolved for grazing by bovines and elk, and is sustainable if cared for.
I did not know this about pronghorn:
Antelope, unlike deer, are not nocturnal. They bed down at night like cattle. Across the United States, anywhere deer are abundant (and that's nearly everywhere) automobile collisions with deer are rampant. Drive through territory densely populated with antelope, however, and the sight of any killed in collisions with vehicles is relatively rare by comparison. The difference is that at night, while deer are traveling and feeding and playing chicken with oncoming headlights or, at the last moment, sprinting across the highway in front of a speeding car, antelope are bedded down. Often selecting a slight depression to protect them from the wind, pronghorns will bed in a tight group, sheep-like.
Perhaps more later. It's a great book and I highly recommend it. Maybe a nice Christmas gift.
- Reviewed in the United States on June 30, 2010"In Trace of TR" chronicles the legacy of one of our greatest Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, while simultaneously interweaving a memoir of Aadland's life in the American West. This is a genuine story, written with a great deal of heart, that relates the shared admiration that both the author and TR have for the West.
Aadland brings you along on foot for rugged hunting expeditions, campfire visits, or riding on horseback through the mountains and forests of western Montana and northern Wyoming. It's obvious that Aadland did an exceptional amount of research into TR's character, life, and values. Interspersed throughout the book are quotes, letters written by TR, and stories of the President's own experiences of the West, many in the very same setting as the author. Aadland creatively relates his own experiences while on the trail, and also with his family and friends, to those which Roosevelt witnessed more than a century ago.
I see quality books as transporting the reader to experience the same setting and plot that is unfolding before him in the novel. Aadland's style does just that, keeping me entertained and interested in his experiences, and those of TR, while pursuing the outdoors of the American West. I would be happy to recommend this book, without reservation, and to give it a solid five stars.