A master storyteller and esayist, Kittredge is best known for his unflinching vision of the hardscrabble landscape of the American West and the people who survive and die on it. His stories are stripped down, but bristle with life to offer a dusty, relentless terrain: the smell of freshly turned dirt; the blunt conversations about work that needs doing; and the rare, quiet moment of reflection that amounts to nothing less than poetry. This new volume represents the best of Kittredge's stories, available together in a handsome new edition.