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10th out of 85 books
—
40 voters
Letters from Yellowstone
by
Diane Smith
In the spring of 1898, A. E. (Alexandria) Bartram--a spirited young woman with a love for botany--is invited to join a field study in Yellowstone National Park. The study's leader, a mild-mannered professor from Montana, assumes she is a man, and is less than pleased to discover the truth. Once the scientists overcome the shock of having a woman on their team, they forge a...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
June 1st 2000
by Penguin Books
(first published June 1st 1999)
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In 1898 A.(Alexandria) E. Bertram, a medical student from Cornell, has the opportunity to follow her real passion, botany, and join, as a last minute substitute, a research expedition to the newly opened Yellowstone Park. When she joins the team in Montana and the mild-mannered professor who is leading them finds that she is not a man, he is horrified and so are the others. But she is determined to stay. The story is fascinating, including the history of our first national park and the struggle...more
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Jul 05, 2008
Janelle
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
campers, hikers, botanists, scientists, nature lovers
I read this book in anticipation of my first trip to Yellowstone next month. It left me feeling even more excited for the trip.
I love the premise of the book, a female botanist joining a research team in the early days of Yellowstone (the nations first National Park.) I enjoyed the characters, and that the letters from Yellowstone aren't just from Alex, but even some of the minor supporting characters. The letters don't just give insight into the natural environment of the park, but into scient...more
I love the premise of the book, a female botanist joining a research team in the early days of Yellowstone (the nations first National Park.) I enjoyed the characters, and that the letters from Yellowstone aren't just from Alex, but even some of the minor supporting characters. The letters don't just give insight into the natural environment of the park, but into scient...more
Last year we took our two small children to Powell, Wyoming where my husband and I once went to college. They had never been and we were excited to show them how beautiful the state is. On our way home to California we stopped at a little shop in Yellowstone near Old Faithful. This is where I saw this book. I HAD to have it and I'm so happy that I bought it. The moment that I opened the cover I could not put it down!!
This is the story of a young botanist who joins a research team in Yellowstone...more
This is the story of a young botanist who joins a research team in Yellowstone...more
Aug 30, 2010
Artgrrl78
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommended to Artgrrl78 by:
Robin Taylor
Shelves:
fiction,
book-club-books
I know, I know...it seems like a book only a botanist could love. But really, we read this in my book group, in which I am the only botanist, and the other members enjoyed it, as well.
A wonderfully refreshing story about a woman who joins a botanical expedition into Yellowstone in 1898---and the party is comprised of men who don't have a whole lot of faith in the capabilities of women in the sciences. Told in the form of letters back and forth between various people, the perspective is always s...more
A wonderfully refreshing story about a woman who joins a botanical expedition into Yellowstone in 1898---and the party is comprised of men who don't have a whole lot of faith in the capabilities of women in the sciences. Told in the form of letters back and forth between various people, the perspective is always s...more
I was quite excited about this book when I first started reading it, but it didn’t live up to my expectations. It is a novel in letter form about an early (1898) scientific expedition to the National Park (i.e. Yellowstone). The book does address some of the issues of turn of the last century America, such as the changing role of women in science, recreation versus conservation, views of Native Americans, and what exactly IS science. But, the topics are treated quite superficially. I was looking...more
I found this to be a great short read. I think even with the topic of botany and science it still appeals to a larger audience. It also definitely re-sparked my interest in visiting Yellowstone.
With the exception of naming flora and fauna in scientific nomenclature I found this book to be full of great insight into human interaction. Since this books written form is entirely in correspondence form, I felt this added a dimension to the story.
It brought to light how often people's interpretations...more
With the exception of naming flora and fauna in scientific nomenclature I found this book to be full of great insight into human interaction. Since this books written form is entirely in correspondence form, I felt this added a dimension to the story.
It brought to light how often people's interpretations...more
Taking place in 1898, when Yellowstone National Park was in its infancy, this little gem brings to life a summer of discovery for an unlikely party of scientists. All are men but for one young woman botanist, Alexandria, who discovered upon her arrival that they were all expecting a man. A Montanan professor heads up the expedition team which includes two inexperienced students, an agricultural expert prone to drink, an eccentric entomologist who disappears for days at a time, a standoffish Chin...more
Alex Bartram, a medical student with a love for botany, is invited to take part in a field study during the summer of 1898 in Yellowstone National Park. Upon her arrival, it is realized a mistake has been made. Professor Merriam, the mild-mannered teacher from Bozeman, MT, had made the assumption that A.E.Batram is a male student. With great reservations he allows Alex to continue with the field study.
Completely told through letter the various characters have written during the course of the su...more
Completely told through letter the various characters have written during the course of the su...more
for that geeky botanist side in everyone of us. this is written through letters (duh) sent back and forth between members of a party of professors at the opening of Yellowstone national park. a woman from the east coast covertly invites herself along by neglecting to mention she is a woman and thank god, there's not really any love story involved. it's really well written and fascinating to learn about the history of the park when it first opened....
I met this author in Wyoming at my residency. The book is a charming, well-paced story about a young woman botanist exploring Yellowstone Park with a group of fellow scientists in the Victorian time of the late 1800's. The whole book is told in the form of letters home by all of the characters. This is a Jane Austen-esque look at what being a woman with professional aspirations was like back in the day.
This book is a little gem. I only read it because I am in the process of organizing and transcribing my letters home from Africa. Once I began reading the Yellowstone letters, I could not put the book down. Yellowstone NP is one of our country's treasures. I visited it in 2002 and fell in love with it. I loved the wildness of the place when we entered the park through bear tooth pass. Mammoth Springs was more facinating to me than Old Faithful. I also stayed at the Yellowstone Hotel and awoke ea...more
I picked this up in Missoula a few years ago and really had fun with it. It's an "epistolary"--collection of letters--to and from various characters during the first years of Yellowstone National Park. The feminist viewpoint is interesting and I laughed out loud at some of the wacky things going on behind the scenes.
I really, really tried to immerse myself in this book, but I found I couldn't even finish it. The overt problem was that I was bored. This may be because I am not a scientist. But the underlying problem was that I didn't believe in the characters, and I didn't really like any of them. To me, the style of the letters was a weird cross between 19th and 21st century language -- it sounded like the author was just trying too hard, so the characters didn't seem authentic. One example was in the very...more
I read this in preparation for our long-awaited trip to Yellowstone this summer.
The novel is written as letters among several naturalists and their friends/family in the late 1800s. Dr. Merriam has organized a field study in Yellowstone that is plagued with troubles, including his own feelings of inadequacy as a leader. He accepts an offer by an A.E. Bartram from Cornell University to be included as a botanist. Bartram ends up being a Miss, much to the chagrin of Dr. Merriam and several of his...more
The novel is written as letters among several naturalists and their friends/family in the late 1800s. Dr. Merriam has organized a field study in Yellowstone that is plagued with troubles, including his own feelings of inadequacy as a leader. He accepts an offer by an A.E. Bartram from Cornell University to be included as a botanist. Bartram ends up being a Miss, much to the chagrin of Dr. Merriam and several of his...more
An epistolary novel of a scientific expedition in Yellowstone near the end of the nineteenth century. A female botanist joins the group much to the dismay of the men. Attitudes change toward her but she is still trapped in the roles women are allowed at the time.
This is a great story (paraticularly for those who love biology) about a young women who gets a job on the first Yellowstone exhibition as a botanist when the leader thinks she is a man. Everyone is appalled to find she's a women, but she successfully makes her way.
I love envisioning what it would have been like to be an early settler. As a woman in that situation, and a biologist, it is fun to identify with the situations described in the book.
A short and highly entertaining read! If you are familiar with Yellowstone National Park, it is even more fun. Told entirely through letters. I am hoping for a sequel.
The author explores multiple narratives by creating a story based purely on letters that characters send to family, and colleagues.
The story is set in the mid to late 1800's with a scientific expedition being assembled to Yellowstone park. The team learns that one of the
chosen members is actually a woman who signed all correspondence using her initials. When they finally meet they all have to deal with this twist to the all boys club.
The story has a little flavor of pioneering with some human dr...more
The story is set in the mid to late 1800's with a scientific expedition being assembled to Yellowstone park. The team learns that one of the
chosen members is actually a woman who signed all correspondence using her initials. When they finally meet they all have to deal with this twist to the all boys club.
The story has a little flavor of pioneering with some human dr...more
Love an epistolary novel! Told in letters from the various characters, the book traces a plucky female naturalist on a botany expedition to Yellowstone. So much to be had 'between the lines' of the various letters. What they leave out is as revealing as what is left in. There's something inherently 'naughty' about reading other people's letters, and it's such a delight to see how the same character uses different tones and phrases depending on whom they are writing to. And then, to see how diffe...more
I read this book a few years ago and liked it. I wanted to add it to my list of books I recommend when people want historical fiction titles and also when people want books about the national parks. This one is set in Yellowstone in 1898. The main character is A.E.(Alexandria) Bartram, who is allowed to join a Smithsonian sponsored expedition to Yellowstone because the leaders believe the Cornell medical student and avid botanist is a man. The story is told entirely though letters and includes d...more
This is written in the epistolary style, and I have been finding I like this style very much, an intimate way to experience the character development. Set in 1898, in the newly designated 1st National Park a botany expedition is formed, including a ... woman. The issues facing the national park are the same vein as today, the issues facing a woman in a non-traditional activity are also the same. The details for plants, nature, are well written. The details of the activities and characters move t...more
Letters from Yellowstone tells the short story of a specimen-gathering expedition to Yellowstone National Park in 1898. The party includes Professor Howard Merriam, Professor Rutherford, A.E. Bartram, a mountain man driver, a Chinese cook and two students. The story unfolds through letters that Bartram, Merriam and occasionally Rutherford write to family, friends or colleagues. Much can be learned about the gathering methods of the time period as well as what fauna existed. Very interesting, and...more
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A sweetly told book, all in the form of letters and an occasional telegram from various members of a botanical exploration in the summer of 1898. Read for a VISITING A NOVEL segment I write for MILITARY OFFICER magazine.
We snowmobiled around Yellowstone for four days some years ago. Noisy, smelly machines, but when they are turned off, there is this amazing enormous silence with everything snowcovered. The bison prefer the plowed roads in winter and the snowmobiles aren't allowed off the roads....more
We snowmobiled around Yellowstone for four days some years ago. Noisy, smelly machines, but when they are turned off, there is this amazing enormous silence with everything snowcovered. The bison prefer the plowed roads in winter and the snowmobiles aren't allowed off the roads....more
The is a book told in letters to friends, relatives and colleagues, mainly written by A. E. Bartram (Alexandria) but others as well. Alexandria has a passion for botany but is at present a medical student. Under the impression she is a man, she has been invited to be part of a field study in Yellowstone National Park. This is what I would call a "quiet" book. Although, Howard Merriman, the head of this study was surprised to find out Alexandria was a woman, he adjusted quickly and life went on....more
I'd almost give this one four stars- the epistolary style allows for a unique view into each character's thoughts and motivations. And wonderfully rich characters they are! Amateur botanist Alexandria Bartram joins a scientific expedition in Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1898, just at the time that the nation is learning to love the concept of national parks...perhaps loving them to death. The issues of science, nature vs. commerce, religious beliefs are all here. But more interesti...more
A really great book set in the early days of Yellowstone National Park. The characters, the discriptions and even the story line were all highly entertaining but the Author did that thing where she hinted that two of the characters were romantically interested in each other but never bothered to tell us what, if anyting, ever happened between them. Why? Why go to the trouble of hinting at it if you're not going to finish it? Now all I can think of is unrequited love instead of all the other good...more
I read this book years ago and it made me yearn to see Yellowstone even more than just a dream. I also love novels that are told creatively and this one uses letters to detail their adventure, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
If you love botany or adventurous women in history, then I think you will enjoy this book. It made my real-life visit to Yellowstone more fun, and I look forward to re-reading this book in the future.
If you love botany or adventurous women in history, then I think you will enjoy this book. It made my real-life visit to Yellowstone more fun, and I look forward to re-reading this book in the future.
Depending on if you're a male or female, I think you may be able to get a different perspective on this book. Since I'm female, I sided with A.E. and looked at it from her point of view.
I found the points of view and the descriptions fascinating. The text seemed historically accurate to me, who is in no way an expert.
I loved the letters back home and how that was how we got their story. A very neat and unusual method.
I found the points of view and the descriptions fascinating. The text seemed historically accurate to me, who is in no way an expert.
I loved the letters back home and how that was how we got their story. A very neat and unusual method.
n 1898, Alexandria Bartram, a medical student at Cornell, joins a scientific team studying the plants and wildlife in Yellowstone National Park. This feisty young woman with a strong passion for botany and the natural world learns a great deal about herself and human relations as she struggles to win the respect of the male scientists in the group. A charming epistolary novel of bygone age.
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Diane Smith has lived most of her adult life and a few years of her childhood in Montana, with only brief interruptions to live in San Francisco and London. She studied western and environmental history at the University of Montana, and now specializes in science writing, wi...more
More about Diane Smith...
Diane Smith has lived most of her adult life and a few years of her childhood in Montana, with only brief interruptions to live in San Francisco and London. She studied western and environmental history at the University of Montana, and now specializes in science writing, wi...more
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