The Bitter Roots

Book excerpt: When fourteen-year-old Pauly Craig takes a swim in the Clark Fork River one summer day, he doesn’t expect to see a boy drown. Surrounded by everyday violence in his Montana town, Pauly is determined to prove himself, navigating the awkward fumbles of boyhood against a backdrop of strikes, gang fights, trainhopping, bootlegging, and the casualties of war. The setting of The Bitter Roots, Missoula, Montana will be familiar with anyone who knows Norman Maclean's classic, A River Runs Through It. First published in 1941 and never before reissued, The Bitter Roots is a largely autobiographical novel full of evocative details of a time and place, the work of a writer coming to terms with his past. Its characters include numerous fictional counterparts of people Macleod knew, including Norman Maclean's brother Paul. It’s a frank, unvarnished portrait of America from its entry into World War One to the start of Prohibition. Norman Macleod shows us a country struggling with racism, class prejudice, conflicts between labor and capital, and sexual stereotypes. A vivid coming-of-age story, The Bitter Roots reminds us that finding and holding on to your identity is one of the greatest battles there is.