William Kittredge's stunning memoir is at once autobiography, a family chronicle, and a Westerner's settling of accounts with the land he grew up in. This is the story of a grandfather whose single-minded hunger for property won him a ranch the size of Delaware but estranged him from his family; of a father who farmed with tractors and drainage ditches but consorted with movie stars; and of Kittredge himself, who was raised by cowboys and saw them become obsolete, who floundered through three marriages, hard drinking, and madness before becoming a writer. Host hauntingly, Hole in the Sky is an honest reckoning of the American myth that drove generations of Americans westward -- and what became of their dream after they reached the edge.
Autobiography/Memoir
"A pleasure to read ... [Kittredge] has written a remarkably frank account of his own life, and at every stage it was interesting.... You will not have read another Western like this."
-- Washington Post Book World
"A grand and true story by one of our finest writers."
-- Annie Dillard
"The story of the Kittredges ... intersects mightily with the myth of American expansion and 'improvement' of the 'wilderness.'... a valuable memoir that should be read with care ... [Kittredge's] voice should be a prophetic one."
William Kittredge is the author, The Willow Field,The Nature of Generosity, among others, and, with Annick Smith, he edited The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology. He grew up in Oregon and now lives in Missoula, Montana, where for many years he taught at the University of Montana.
View titles by William Kittredge
William Kittredge's stunning memoir is at once autobiography, a family chronicle, and a Westerner's settling of accounts with the land he grew up in. This is the story of a grandfather whose single-minded hunger for property won him a ranch the size of Delaware but estranged him from his family; of a father who farmed with tractors and drainage ditches but consorted with movie stars; and of Kittredge himself, who was raised by cowboys and saw them become obsolete, who floundered through three marriages, hard drinking, and madness before becoming a writer. Host hauntingly, Hole in the Sky is an honest reckoning of the American myth that drove generations of Americans westward -- and what became of their dream after they reached the edge.
Praise
Autobiography/Memoir
"A pleasure to read ... [Kittredge] has written a remarkably frank account of his own life, and at every stage it was interesting.... You will not have read another Western like this."
-- Washington Post Book World
"A grand and true story by one of our finest writers."
-- Annie Dillard
"The story of the Kittredges ... intersects mightily with the myth of American expansion and 'improvement' of the 'wilderness.'... a valuable memoir that should be read with care ... [Kittredge's] voice should be a prophetic one."
William Kittredge is the author, The Willow Field,The Nature of Generosity, among others, and, with Annick Smith, he edited The Last Best Place: A Montana Anthology. He grew up in Oregon and now lives in Missoula, Montana, where for many years he taught at the University of Montana.
View titles by William Kittredge
