Montana History, 1930 to 1960
I’m happy to announce that my latest volume of Montana history will be on sale next month.
As you can see, the book is called Feds and Farmers: A History of Montana, Volume Five. I decided to go with that title because it felt right. These books typically profile two main groups, and this time we’re looking at the massive federal programs of the 1930s and onward, as well as the farmers around the nation that were affected by this.
Oh, there’s a lot more to it than that, but I think those two groups are key. And since I’m writing the book, that’s how it goes.
And what does this book look like? Here’s the working table of contents:
As you can see, the book is called Feds and Farmers: A History of Montana, Volume Five. I decided to go with that title because it felt right. These books typically profile two main groups, and this time we’re looking at the massive federal programs of the 1930s and onward, as well as the farmers around the nation that were affected by this.
Oh, there’s a lot more to it than that, but I think those two groups are key. And since I’m writing the book, that’s how it goes.
And what does this book look like? Here’s the working table of contents:
Forming a Table of Contents to work with
As you can see, it’s the exact same format as the previous volumes. Right now the book is coming in at just under 42,000 words, and most of that is rough copy, notes, and jumbled ideas. It’s a mess in other words, and I’m working to get it straightened out. Still, if you look at where I’ve been, it’s quite a bit of progress:
This image is showing my Montana Book 5 folder on my computer. I have a few folders of election and Census results as well as lots of Word documents. My main writing documents are those “Drafts” there, and as you can see, I began with 5,132 words and then decreased steadily to 2,354 until jumping up to 11,665.
What happened? That’s just how I put these books together. I start with leftovers from the previous book and then begin cutting out things to other documents. That’s why you see all those documents involving our congressional and senate seats – I wanted to get all that done before moving it into my main drafts. This is what it looks like now:
I got all that cleaned up and finished up yesterday, which means I cut and paste everything into one Word document. Now it’s in the template I need to just go through chapter by chapter and finish it. This is what that looks like:
Writing Montana Political History in the 1940s
What I need to do here is find the information that the blue text mentions. After that I can put in any relevant images that I feel are important. Then it’s finished – I just need to read through and edit it a bit. After that I’ll make the print version, have a copy sent to me, and go over it again to find typos. After that it’s on sale.
This book will be long. Already it’s up to 165 pages and with images that will nearly double. I’m guessing this book will be about 70,000 words and 400 pages.
So far this history has more than 200,000 words and 1,100 pages. It really is the best way to understand modern Montana.
I’m going to set a tentative release date of March 24 for Feds and Farmers, so if you’re into marking things down on your calendar, this would be a good one.
Thanks for reading!
This book will be long. Already it’s up to 165 pages and with images that will nearly double. I’m guessing this book will be about 70,000 words and 400 pages.
- Book 1 was 33,000 words and about 200 pages.
- Book 2 was 40,000 words and about 210 pages.
- Book 3 was 57,000 words and about 300 pages.
- Book 4 was 86,000 words and about 420 pages.
So far this history has more than 200,000 words and 1,100 pages. It really is the best way to understand modern Montana.
I’m going to set a tentative release date of March 24 for Feds and Farmers, so if you’re into marking things down on your calendar, this would be a good one.
Thanks for reading!
