An exquisitely written melange of nature writing, history and personal testimony, Thunder in the Mountains made me weep for the lives lost to the gun, caused anger at the slaughter of America's Native Americans and feel awe at his breathtaking descriptions of the dangerous and magestic beauty of the landscape of the West and South West.

The Bristlecone tree bears testimony to centuries of weather, day by day, carried within its rings but the gun is testimony, symbol and facilitator of American history and the attempt to gain dominion over the land. .

From the trappers and hunters seeking to feed their families and make a living to the amateur and nihilistic bank robbers who go on to end their lives, their last sight one of the glorious mountains, the gun has shaped and (some might say) distorted a nation.

Collins talks so movingly of the suicide of the son of a close friend, is embarrassed by his own mishap with a gun when as a young boy, he shot his foot, nearly dying of shock halfway up a mountain, screaming and hallucinating in agony as his brother tries to keep him calm., This account alone should be proscribed reading for every young American.

Interspersed with tales of the wilderness, of free climbing that comes to a sticky end, the story of the silver and gold rush and of the terrible massacre of Native Americans, this book is a masterpiece that wears its moral message very lightly. Collins is rightly apprehensive of the American gun lobby and of upsetting his friends and family, many of whom continue to hunt and exercise their right to bear arms- nor does he wish to use the tragic death of his friends son to make a point. The description in itself stands as enough for many of us and for those whom it does not deter from casual gun possession and usage- well probably nothing will.