Stories of a Western Wildhood is a collection of essays that document the unruly childhood and adolescence of the author, Dick Linford, in Wyoming and New Mexico, and later his adult years in California, where he was co-founder of one of the early whitewater rafting companies in the West. Born to an alcoholic writer-father and a loving but overwhelmed mother, Linford experiences the glories of the Intermountain West, the gritty living conditions of a family on the edge, and the struggles to define himself as a man, without much guidance and in the male-dominated milieu of the rural West. The tales are sometimes charming, sometimes troubling, always fascinating. The book chronicles the complex arc of the author: a loner, a loving family man, and by overcoming his dubious circumstances, a success. The result is a compelling journey into an unusual situation and an unusual life.