Rooted at the Edge: Ranching Where the Old West and New West Collide

Finalist for the 2026 Spur Award

Longlisted for the Reading the West Book Award

Rooted at the Edge paints a portrait of a ranching community in a threatened landscape steeped in history, conflict, and beauty. In this narrative nonfiction work, Donna L. Erickson explores the hilly skirt of ground at the northern boundary of Missoula, Montana, separating the town from the wilderness beyond. The North Hills region represents the critical--and often highly personal--issues at play at the edge of ...