Montana: Then and Now

When Montana Territory was established in 1864, it was a land of tepees and ramshackle cabins, of lawless vigilantes and miners scraping out meager livings. One hundred and fifty years later, the dramatic changes to the Treasure State are overshadowed only by the startling similarities. On the occasion of Montana’s 150th territorial anniversary, and with a perspective born from a lifetime’s devotion to the history of his home state, author Aaron Parrett compares where we started with where we are today, and along the way shows us a Montana we never could have previously imagined.

In the tradition of Joseph Kinsey Howard and K. Ross Toole, Aaron Parrett interrogates Montana as both place and idea, revealing that what has long distinguished the state-robust island communities surrounded by a sea of redemptive space-has largely survived.

Edwin Dobb
U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism

Aaron Parrett has told Montana’s story entertainingly without shying from the darker bits. The result is a romp through our state’s history that is at once lighthearted and intelligent.

Molly Holz
Editor, Montana The Magazine of Western History

Aaron Parret’s Montana: Then and Now stitches together the tapestry that is Montana’s 150-year-long history with the perspective born of years of sincere appreciation and study. This account gives us pause and at the same time gives us hope, that Montana’s next generation realizes its role in preserving the unique qualities inherent in the ‘last best place.’

Stephanie Ambrose Tubbs
Why Sacagawea Deserves the Day Off and Other Lessons of the Lewis and Clark Trail