Twelve-year-old Rivka is tired of everything about being Jewish, but during a summer at Quartz Creek Ranch, she is inspired to explore and embrace her heritage.

"If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness." Edward Abbey In a collection of gripping stories of adventure, Doug Peacock, loner, iconoclast, environmentalist, and contemporary of Edward Abbey, reflects on a life lived in the wild, asking the question many ask in their twilight years: "Was It Worth It?" Recounting sojourns with Abbey, but also Peter Matthiessen, Doug Tompkins, Jim Harrison, Yvon Chouinard and others, Peacock observes that what he calls "solitary walks" were the greatest currency he and his buddies ever shared. He asserts that "solitude is the deepest well I have encountered in this life," and the introspection it affords has made him who he is: a lifelong protector of the wilderness and its many awe-inspiring inhabitants. With adventures both close to home (grizzlies in Yellowstone and jaguars in the high Sonoran Desert) and farther afield (tigers in Siberia, jaguars again in Belize, spirit bears in the wilds of British Columbia, all the amazing birds of the Galapagos), Peacock acknowledges that Covid 19 has put "everyone's mortality in the lens now and it's not necessarily a telephoto shot." Peacock recounts these adventures to try to understand and explain his perspective on Nature: That wilderness is the only thing left worth saving. In the tradition of Peacock's many best-selling books, Was It Worth It? is both entertaining and thought provoking. It challenges any reader to make certain that the answer to the question for their own life is "Yes!"

Rivka can't wait to get away from her family for the summer. Since that terrible day last year, she wants no part in their Jewish community. At least at Quartz Creek Ranch, she feels worlds away from home among the Colorado scenery, goofy ranch owners, and baby animals. Other parts of Quartz Creek, however, are too familiar, including the unsettling wave of anti-immigrant threats to ranch workers. On a trip to the country, Rivka is also surprised to learn the history of Jewish pioneers in the area. When she and her defiant cabinmate, Cat, face disaster in the wild, Rivka will need to find strength deep within her to help them both get home safely.

Gold Winner, 2022 Human Relations Indie Book Award, TravelSilver Winner, 2022 Human Relations Indie Book Award, Motivational MemoirSilver Winner, 2022 Human Relations Indie Book Award, Personal DeterminationCelia Ryker's Walking Home: Trail Stories is about more than mud, sweat, and blisters while distance hiking the Long Trail. Reminiscent of Cheryl Strayed's Wild, Ryker's mind wanders as her legs carry her forward, beyond a woodland path, to places and people she thought she had forgotten. Her grandmother's spirit appears on Mount Baker. A lost cousin waits for her at the bottom of every ladder. Her late father's words reverberate among the calls of barred owls. There were days when she didn't see another hiker, but she was never alone. Celia began writing about a difficult hike and ended up writing about the people who inspired her throughout her life. These are her "trail stories."

The second son of Brazos Fortune, Samuel, is somewhat the lost sheep of the Fortune family. After he is run out of Texas, he ends up hiding out with his father and brother. Although he struggles to escape the consequences of his previous lifestyle, he refuses to talk about the past. Brazos has to deal with sending Samuel back to Texas to make amends or allowing him to have a new start in Dakota. To make things even more complicated, Samuel decides to marry a divorced woman with several children and a questionable reputation. Through it all, Samuel never gives up his Christian heritage.

“We do not take a trip; a trip takes us,” John Steinbeck noted in his 1962 classic, Travels with Charley. In 2008, Bill Barich decided to explore the mood of the United States as Steinbeck had done almost a half century before. He set off on a 5,943 mile cross-country drive from New York to his old hometown of San Francisco on Route 50, a road twisting through the American heartland. Long Way Home is the stunning result of his pilgrimage. From the Eastern Shore of Maryland to the spectacular landscape of Moab, Utah, to Steinbeck’s own Salinas Valley, the book is filled with memorable encounters and rich in history and local color; a truthful, inspired account of a once-in-a-lifetime trip. It offers an incisive portrait of a nation divided and the grassroots dissatisfaction that ultimately catapulted Donald Trump into the White House. From the Eastern Shore of Maryland to the spectacular landscape of Moab, Utah, to Steinbeck's own Salinas Valley, filled with memorable encounters and redolent with history and local color, Long Way Home is a truthful, inspiring account of the country at a social and political crossroad.