Burning the Breeze

Three Generations of Women in the American West

De: Lisa Hendrickson

Narrado por: Carrington MacDuffie

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.

©2021 Lisa Hendrickson (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

One family’s history in the American West

Overall I enjoyed this book-it’s a little long winded in the beginning, but becomes very interesting as the history moves on to modern day. The early history is interesting though, and describes how difficult life in the West was, and how tough it’s settlers were. And still are to a great degree! Worth a listen for any fan of the American West.