MONTANA MEMOIR
The Hardscrabble Years, 1925-1942
by William L. McGee with Sandra V. McGee
BMC Publications, December 2016
138 pp, 60 B/W photographs & illustrations
Paperback 6″ x 9″, $19.95; eBook $9.99
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About the Book
In his Newly-released Memoir, Montana-born Author Recalls
the Hardscrabble Years Growing Up on the Hi-Line in the Great Depression
Author Bill McGee recaptures life growing up in the small cattle town of Malta, Montana, during the Great Depression.
He sets the stage with a Prologue that takes the reader “Westward Ho!” as his pioneering forefathers, curious to see what was on the other side of the mountains, migrated west generation by generation … until a pretty school teacher from Iowa (his mother) meets a wild and wooly cowboy (his father) on her brother’s cattle ranch in Park County, Montana, in 1919.
In McGee’s signature spare and straightforward style, he then recounts his own coming-of-age story … his father’s desertion in the depths of the Depression leaving behind a wife with four young children all under the age of ten … how his mother and siblings managed to get by with everyone working to contribute to the family “kitty” … the all-important role played by the congregation of the Malta Community Church … being “farmed out” at age seven to a neighboring rancher in the Bennett Lake community to work for room and board (“so there was one less mouth to feed at home”) … exploring the West in his teens by thumb and rail (“always sending part of my paycheck home”) … horseback riding with General George S. Patton … and working in the new Kaiser shipyards while waiting to turn seventeen, so he could join the Marines and “get into the fight.”
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What Readers are Saying …
—J. H., beta reader and “city boy”
“MONTANA MEMOIR will make everyone want to be a cowboy.”
– Murray Olderman, nationally syndicated columnist and sportswriter
“This poignant memoir — written by my father, a genuine Montana cowboy — is a treasure. As I read the book, I could hear his deep voice reading aloud to me.”
– K. McGee
– J. Nichols
– S. M.
Photo Ingo Markmann
William L. McGee’s writing career has spanned six decades. He has written 22 books – nine of them with his co-author/wife Sandra V. McGee. Bill and Sandra are members of Western Writers of America.
To the Media
To schedule an interview or request a review copy, contact Bill or Sandra by by email at mcgeebmc@aol.com, or submit the Contact Form in the Media Room.
