"Journalist and musician Anselmi (Doomed to Fail) presents an evocative portrait of Rock Springs, Wyo., the 'wind-worn mining town' where he grew up. . . . By turns affectionate, mournful, embittered, and proud, this is an exceptional account of life in a boomtown."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Out Here on Our Own contributes to interdisciplinary scholarship including gender, ethnic, and Indigenous studies, and studies of colonization, the environment, labor, mental health, mining, political economy, and the North American West. It will appeal to a broad audience of leisure readers, especially in the West, and to undergraduate and graduate students in and scholars of history, psychology, and sociology."—Stefani Evans, Western Historical Quarterly
"By focusing primarily on Rock Springs as it has existed from the twentieth century into the twenty-first, Out Here on Our Own earns its place as an indispensable volume in the historiography of the modern American West."—Taylor G. Hensel, South Dakota History
"Anselmi does an excellent job portraying the joy and pain attached to living and working in a town like Rock Springs. It serves as a strong case study of the impact the boom-bust cycle has on a community, especially in a place so geographically distant from other economic opportunities. Out Here on Our Own is an essential read for historians interested in extractive economies in the American West and the human consequences of resource-intensive capitalism."—Warren Dennis, H-Environment
“J.J. Anselmi gives the microphone to the people most affected by the extraction of oil and coal: those who live and work in boomtowns. Out Here on Our Own shimmers with the poetry, wit, and grit of the plain spoken. Like Studs Terkel before him, Anselmi compels his interview subjects—in this case the residents of Rock Springs, Wyoming—to tell it to us straight.”—Michael Patrick, author of The Good Hand: A Memoir of Work, Brotherhood, and Transformation in an American Boomtown
“About fallout as much as the possibility of redemption, sadness as much as badassery, hurt as much as resilience, Out Here on Our Own chimes with urgency.”—Matthew Gavin Frank, author of Flight of the Diamond Smugglers
“There’s a howling wind blowing through these pages and, too, the beating heart of a community that has suffered and celebrated, loved and lost together.”—Chelsea Biondolillo, author of The Skinned Bird
“In this exquisitely culled collection of oral histories—illustrated with Jordan Utley’s starkly powerful black-and-white photography—native son J.J. Anselmi captures the troubled yet compelling spirit of this hardscrabble place buffeted by cycles of economic boom and bust.”—Rone Tempest, journalist and author of The Last Western: The Unjustified Killing of Michael Rosa by Ed Cantrell
“A tender book about a tough place, Out Here on Our Own chronicles the brutality of Rock Springs, Wyoming’s industry of boom and bust. . . . Anselmi curates a chorus of voices otherwise forgotten, laying bare the bones of a place and people who have endured crushing hardship, relentless extremes, and physical and psychological suffering. This is a vital American history of debauchery and dwindling industry, loneliness and legacy, and how a culture of rugged individualism must turn to community in order to survive.”—Sarah Fawn Montgomery, author of Halfway from Home and Quite Mad
“There are few reading experiences as visceral as oral history—the primal sound of people talking. The story of how Rock Springs went wrong is the story of how America went wrong, and whether anyone can turn around the personal and environmental destruction wrought by unfettered capitalism. J.J. Anselmi’s oral history of his hometown doesn’t need to argue any case. It lets locals’ stories do that far more convincingly. Sometimes the best thing a writer can do is to set the stage and get out of peoples’ way.”—Aaron Gilbreath, essayist, music writer, author of The Heart of California: Exploring the San Joaquin Valley
