Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains
Author: Isabella Lucy Bird, Daniel J. Boorstin
ISBN-13: 9780806113289
ISBN-10: 0806113286
Publication Date: 12/1999
Pages: 276
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 34

4 stars, based on 34 ratings
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

8 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

Bibliocrates avatar reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 252 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 6
What an unusual book! I lived in Colorado for about fifteen years, prior to moving to Alabama, so it was interesting to read of the familiar places mentioned in this book. Her wild west accounts made me yearn for the outdoors and better appreciate civilization. I felt like I was traveling along with her. What an adventurous and courageous woman was Lady Bird, amazing!
reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 26 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
Very good copy of an inspiring tale of a woman before her time. A true story of a woman with courage and gumption traveling alone by horseback through the rocky mountain area of Colorado.
reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 162 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Pretty good book, but slow in places.
TropicAtHeart avatar reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 32 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
I normally don't read non-fiction, because I don't find it as intersting, but Isabella Bird's letters are stranger and every bit as exciting as fiction. Her descriptions are remarkable, not to mention accurate, and the people she meets are as diverse as characters out of a novel. I'm so glad I took a chance on this book!
reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 3352 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
A historic treasure. View US western life in the 1870s through the eyes of an intrepid lady traveler. While her prejudices may seem antiquated - and why not, this was written 140 years ago - her observations are really interesting. She is a very colorful writer and you get a superb picture.
reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 42 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This book captured my imagination and continues to haunt me with fantasies of traveling Colorado on horseback during the times of the wild west. A very remarkable woman with a talented pen.
PatchesMom avatar reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 91 more book reviews
history buffs will enjoy this book, a compilation of articles the writer offered to newspapers and magazines while she was traveling the Rocky Mtn West
cyndij avatar reviewed A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains on + 1032 more book reviews
This is certainly not a book about an ordinary person. Isabella Bird must have been really, really interesting... it would be amazing to sit and talk with her now.
I'm not familiar with any of the Colorado places she mentions, except Denver, but her descriptions of the scenery are just incredible. She routinely did trips of 20 or more grueling miles in a day on horseback, through practically untracked terrain, just to see a mountain or watch the sunset from a vantage point. The idea of just heading off into the wilderness, with nothing but a vague description of the country ahead and maybe there would be a place to spend the night, is just astonishing to modern ideas. And the description of spending weeks in the cabin in Estes Park, waking up with her bed - inside! - covered with snow, and everything frozen solid...she was one tough cookie but seemed to take it all as normal, and just what you had to put up with. I spent a lot of time reading bits aloud to my husband - "listen to this!". Reading history is one thing, but reading these letters written as she experienced life really made it come alive.