Burning the Breeze, Lisa Hendrickson
Burning the Breeze, Lisa Hendrickson
List: $19.95 | Sale: $13.97
Club: $9.97

Burning the Breeze
Three Generations of Women in the American West

Author: Lisa Hendrickson

Narrator: Carrington MacDuffie

Unabridged: 9 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/01/2022


Synopsis

In the middle of the Great Depression, Montana native Julia Bennett arrived in New York City with no money and an audacious business plan: to identify and visit easterners who could afford to spend their summers at her brand new dude ranch near Ennis, Montana. Julia, a big-game hunter whom friends described as “a clever shot with both rifle and shotgun,” flouted gender conventions to build guest ranches in Montana and Arizona that attracted world-renowned entertainers and artists.Bennett’s entrepreneurship, however, was not a new family development. During the Civil War, her widowed grandmother and her seven-year-old daughter—Bennett’s mother—set out from Missouri on a ten-month journey with little more than a yoke of oxen, a covered wagon, and the clothes on their backs. They faced countless heartbreaks and obstacles as they struggled to build a new life in the Montana Territory.Burning the Breeze is the story of three generations of women and their intrepid efforts to succeed in the American West.

About Lisa Hendrickson

Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Lisa Hendrickson Communications and a former corporate and nonprofit public relations director. She has written or edited five books, including Indiana at 200: A Celebration of the Hoosier State and Kiritsis and Me: Enduring 63 Hours at Gunpoint.

About Carrington MacDuffie

Carrington MacDuffie is a voice actor and recording artist who has narrated over two hundred audiobooks, received numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has been a frequent finalist for the Audie Award, including for her original audiobook, Many Things Invisible. Alongside her narration work, she has released a new album of original songs, Only an Angel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Lynn on December 22, 2021

Three Generations of Women in Bozeman The story is interesting and I love Bozeman Montana but the writing is problematic. It doesn’t flesh the topic absorbing and easy to read. Instead it’s laborious.......more

Goodreads review by Cassidy on August 29, 2024

Interesting, but the three generation story wasn’t smoothly transitioned. It felt jumpy.......more

Goodreads review by Alicia on July 29, 2021

Burning the Breeze is that rare, satisfying book that is both a well-researched historical account and satisfying family saga with strong women at the center. Julia Bennett is an unforgettable character, but readers will also appreciate learning about her mother and grandmother as well, as they buil......more

Goodreads review by Erika on November 17, 2021

Fascinating account of three generations of heroic Montana women, who managed to not only survive the numerous, intense hardships of their times, but also to establish one of the first female owned and operated dude ranches in the west. Hendrickson's exhaustive research provides vivid details and ac......more

Goodreads review by Erica on May 27, 2022

I really enjoy when non-fiction books read like a great story. This was well written in such that I was engaged and eager to read whatever would happen next, chapter to chapter. This book was hard for me to put down. Julia was a woman of inspiration and persistence. She epitomized that attitude and......more


Quotes

“[A] remarkable blend of history and biography. There’s a Ken Burns or Willa Cather–like feel of both intimacy and sweep to the storytelling, and a touch of the heroic. When I finished reading, I felt not only as though I knew these women (and was inspired by them) but that I had a deeper understanding of American history.” Susan Neville, author of Fabrication: Essays on Making Things

“Only enormously gifted women could have won the contest between financial disaster and hard-earned success. This book is a wonderful read. You won’t be saddle sore, but you will be thrilled by the ride.” Pierce C. Mullen, professor emeritus of history at Montana State University

“Julia Bennett sure did ‘burn the breeze’ as she rode at full speed through a long life…[Hendrickson] vividly portrays the ups and downs of a remarkable woman, sprinkled with a dash of scandal.” James H. Madison, professor emeritus of history at Indiana University