Still Wild

I recently picked up this magazine at the book store, after a long-ended subscription. I'll definitely be signing up again. In the past, similar magazines, including this one, focused so much on outlaws as the "wild" part of the West. Though the outlaws definitely made it wild, and the stories were very interesting, there is much more to learn about that time period of American history.

If this issue is anything to go by, the approach is much more balanced. The December 1999 issue covers a wide range of articles. There still are a couple of articles about outlaws and the lawmen who caught them. One of the stories discusses Sacajawea, the Shoshone Indian woman who guided Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean. There is a story about Fort Laramie, a fort that protected Oregon Trail pioneers from Indians. There is an interesting story about the real first Gold Rush that took place in Georgia in the 1820s. My favorite is an article about botanist Thomas Nuttall. In this story he is hiking through the southern Rockies. Many botanical names for plants were named after Nuttall, so it is interesting to learn where the name came from.

The magazine has the regular features you would expect too, such as letters to the editor, book reviews, and a listing of events related to the old west that are happening around the country. The ads aren't too obtrusive, and many of them are for bookstores and other ads that help the reader find more information about the Wild West. Single copies are $3.99, a year subscription is $19.99. You can probably find it for less at Enews.com or other on-line newsstands.