The novel that launched a 25-book series, which is still growing, starts off with a Missouri farm boy traveling west with vengeance in his heart and a Navy Colt in his hand. By his side is the old mountain man, Preacher, who'll teach young Smoke Jensen everything thing he needs to know about fighting like the devil.

'When an accident occurs, something may emerge of lasting value, for the human spirit may rise to its greatest heights. This happened on Haramosh.' The Last Blue Mountain is the heart-rending true story of the 1957 expedition to Mount Haramosh in the Karakoram range in Pakistan. With the summit beyond reach, four young climbers are about to return to camp. Their brief pause to enjoy the view and take photographs is interrupted by an avalanche which sweeps Bernard Jillott and John Emery hundreds of feet down the mountain into a snow basin. Miraculously, they both survive the fall. Rae Culbert and Tony Streather risk their own lives to rescue their friends, only to become stranded alongside them. The group's efforts to return to safety are increasingly desperate, hampered by injury, exhaustion and the loss of vital climbing gear. Against the odds, Jillott and Emery manage to climb out of the snow basin and head for camp, hoping to reach food, water and assistance in time to save themselves and their companions from an icy grave. But another cruel twist of fate awaits them. An acclaimed mountaineering classic in the same genre as Joe Simpson's Touching the Void , Ralph Barker's The Last Blue Mountain is an epic tale of friendship and fortitude in the face of tragedy.

A colorful memoir recalls the author's journey of discovery back to his West Virginia roots, detailing his midlife odyssey to the region of his birth to recount the family stories, local legends and lore, colorful celebrations, oddball characters, and rich history of the region.

Mountaineering.

Contains two complete novels by American western author William W. Johnstone, including "Pursuit of a Mountain Man" in which a German count pursues mountain man Smoke Jensen and "The First Mountain Man, Blood on the Divide" in which mountain man Preacher takes on the murderous Pardee brothers.

New York Times bestselling series: Smoke Jensen makes his way to San Francisco to sort out a case of gold, gangs, and a madam's mysterious death . . . In the depth of a cruel High Lonesome winter comes a cryptic message for Smoke Jensen. The letter tells of skullduggery by gold barons, railroad magnates, and Chinese tongs in San Francisco. Smoke knows only one person in the city by the bay: the well-rounded, open-natured Francie, mistress of one of the town's most notorious pleasure palaces. Smoke once rescued her from raiding Cheyenne, but now Madame Francie is mysteriously dead . . . and Smoke's arrival in San Francisco is less than welcoming. Then, on the waterfront, he learns of a plot by the wealthy, the mighty, and the deadly to expand their stronghold over the region's gold-rich lands. Beating a trail into the High Sierras, Smoke recruits a band of angry prospectors, ranchers, and farmers for a final showdown that could be the end of Smoke Jensen . . .

A case study of the link between money and political power charges the Bush administration with compromising mainstream America through its proposed changes to environmental laws.