Colorado's Legendary Lovers: Historical Scandals, Heartthrobs, and Haunting Romances

Colorado's Legendary Lovers is a delightfully written collection of "mini-biographies" of famous (and infamous) Colorado couples. The 51entries average five pages each and are divided into chapter groupings like "Natives and Pioneers" "Scandals and Triangles," "Lovers for Life" and "Haunting Romances." Within these categories Fetter details romances of some of the state's best known personalities of the Victorian era (circa 1840-1912). There are the expected entries, like Horace Tabor and Baby Doe, Kit Carson and Maria Josefa Jaramillo, Chipeta and Chief Ouray, Spencer and Julie Penrose, as well as an affair of the heart for Isabella Bird. There are less traditional entries such as the "Trinidad Madams' Association" (an early labor movement in the red light district),"the Saga Mountain Charley" (a woman who cross-dresses to exact revenge on her husband's killer), and "Lovesick Ladies of Pitkin County" (illustrating the struggle of same-sex lovers in a more restrictive era). Additional vignettes on the courting customs and tokens such as "Hair Jewelry" and social mores of the time are scattered throughout the volume. A Denver native and fourth generation Coloradoan, Fetter's lifelong interest in local history and women's history is apparent in her research. Letters, journals and contemporary newspaper accounts are frequently cited in the entries. There is an extensive bibliography of secondary resources. However, the collection is not designed for researchers (although middle school and some high school students could find it useful). It will be popular with history buffs. As historian Thomas J. Noel suggests in his glowing foreword, "Her honesty, clarity, graceful writing and wit make this a sweetheart of a book." Fetter has written on Colorado history topics for over a decade including Climb Every Mountain, the Story of Garland Country Day School.

History comes alive in this authentic yet fascinating peek into many of Colorado's movers and shakers. This is NOT history as you remember it from school. No endless list of dates, no dull recitation of soldiers in battle. Instead, the famous and the infamous, along with representatives of the solid stock upon which the state's future rested, are captured in readable vignettes. While Fetter is an historian, she never surrenders to the mundane and ordinary. Every life has a story, and the collection of historic characters--heroines, scoundrels, the tragic, the triumphant--make you wonder if you could have met the challenges of frontier life. . .how your own existence will be viewed eventually. Perfect for history buffs, lovers, students, and visitors to and residents of the state.

I grew up in Colorado and thought I was familiar with the stories behind the famous names of many of the towns, buildings, streets and monuments throughout the state. However, "Colorado's Legendary Lovers" provided fascinating new insight into these pioneers and introduced me to many previously unknown but equally fascinating characters. With humor and compassion, Ms. Fetter takes the reader into the intimate lives of the politicians, madams, magnates, miners, chiefs, gamblers, scoundrels, heroes, heroines, saints and sinners who contributed much of the color and drama to the rich history of the early West. Some of the stories detail triumphant lives of great success. Others describe tragic figures who never were successful or whom success ruined. A few made me laugh out loud. All are told in detail so vivid that the reader is transported back in time, hearing the sounds coming from the mines and saloons, smelling the perfume and dust, and feeling the heat and cold. If you're headed toward Colorado, this is the book to read on the plane, curl up with in front of the fireplace at the ski lodge or keep on the nightstand at your Bed and Breakfast.