Arts-Entertainment
Missoula author Fred Haefele gave one of the very first readings at the newly established Elk River Books back in 2011. Fourteen years later, he makes his return on Thursday, September 11th, at 7 pm to read from his latest work, The Essential Book of Pickup Trucks. Elk River Books is located at 122 S. 2nd St. The event is free and will be followed by a reception and book signing.
The Essential Book of Pickup Trucks is a memoir about the complex role pickups have played in Haefele’s life and in American culture at large. Growing up near the GM truck plant in Flint, Michigan, young Haefele was delighted by these centaur-like vehicles. In his adult life, pickups bore him through hard times and disaster, high adventure, triumph, and love. Through his tenure with 12 trucks, Haefele recounts his experiences with tree climbing and academia, masculinity and motor culture.
For Haefele, pickup trucks hold a unique place in the American psyche—equal parts fantasy steed and dray horse, they’re avatars of the American spirit. The Essential Book of Pickup Trucks is, like his trucks, uniquely free-spirited: love story, blue-collar writer’s tale, and motor-head memoir.
“What better way than a memoir about pickup trucks to forge from steel, rubber, and enamel paint a rumbling portrait of an individual American life,” notes Peter Stark, author of Astoria and Gallop toward the Sun. He continued, “This is a brilliant, compelling, and wryly humorous road trip through the motorized heart of the American soul.”
Fred Haefele is a writer, teacher, and retired arborist. He is the author of the award-winning motorcycle memoir Rebuilding the Indian and the nonfiction collection Extremophilia. Haefele’s work has appeared in Outside, Wired, the New York Times Magazine, Salon.com, and Montana Magazine, and he has written documentaries for the PBS American Experience series. He lives in Missoula, with his wife, the novelist Caroline Patterson.
For those who can’t attend in person, the event will live-stream at YouTube.com/ElkRiverBooks. For more information, send an email to info@elkriverbooks.com or call (406) 333-2330.