Ghost Towns of the American West
Worth buying if: You enjoy Robert Silverberg’s narrative nonfiction voice applied to Western history.
Skip it if: You expect a dense academic monograph with exhaustive archival footnotes rather than readable travel-history.
Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780821410820. The Amazon link uses this ISBN, so the product page should open to the edition shown here.
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Summary
Silverberg examines the rise and fall of mining camps, deserted Main Streets, and frontier remains across the American West, pairing historical snapshot vignettes with on-the-ground description across 309 pages.
Why this book now
With renewed interest in preservation and Western heritage, Silverberg’s 1994 survey offers context for today’s debates about tourism, memory, and abandoned mining landscapes.
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Best for readers who...
Good fit if you want...
- You enjoy Robert Silverberg’s narrative nonfiction voice applied to Western history.
- You’re drawn to photographic and descriptive accounts of mining camp ruins and ghost-town Main Streets.
- You expect a dense academic monograph with exhaustive archival footnotes rather than readable travel-history.
- You want a guidebook with current visitor logistics, maps, or lodging recommendations.
- You are specifically hunting for the newest framing rather than a backlist perspective.
Decided it fits?
Exact edition: Edition shown · ISBN-13 9780821410820
Worth buying if: You enjoy Robert Silverberg’s narrative nonfiction voice applied to Western history.
Skip it if: You expect a dense academic monograph with exhaustive archival footnotes rather than readable travel-history.
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.
Reader guide
Cues to help you decide faster.
Reading commitment
Balanced Moderate time
At 309 pages, this is a medium-length narrative you can read in focused sittings or dip into chapter by chapter while planning Western road trips or local history research.
What stands out here
This Ohio University Press edition foregrounds Silverberg’s accessible prose and descriptive field reporting; expect period photographs and chapter-length town portraits rather than a technical study.
Best way to approach it
Approach it as a roadbook of essays—read single-town chapters for a quick dose of history or read straight through to trace regional patterns of boom, bust, and abandonment.
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Exact edition: ISBN-13 9780821410820
Check Amazon for the current price and availability of this exact edition.