Montana: Real Place, Real People

For the better part of a decade, writer Alan Kesselheim and photographer Thomas Lee collaborated on a series of Montana-based stories for Montana Quarterly magazine. Over the years they met ordinary people with extraordinary life histories. What they found in the spacious landscape under the Big Sky was the human embodiment of inspiration, endurance, triumph, hard work, talent, humor, great schemes and daily heroism. The stories come from unlikely spots on the Montana state map places like Sidney and Park City, Frenchtown and Malta -- places worth loving. They feature people like Elsie Fox and Jerry Cornelia and Richard Stewart, whose lives brim with authenticity and fierce spirit.

The words and images that bloomed out of those encounters wait for you in the pages of Montana: Real Place, Real People.

During this week's program, Chérie Newman talks with Alan Kesselheim and Thomas Lee about how they created this book, and Alan reads part of his essay about Robin Puckett, a self-sufficient woman who has driven the Ryegate highway contract mail route for 28 years.

Find out more about Alan Kesselheim and Thomas Lee, and listen to the program, on the radio or online.

• Thursday, February 28 at 7:30 p.m. on Montana Public Radio
• Thursday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m. on Yellowstone Public Radio
• On demand audio
• MTPR podcast