Comment on “Double Exposure” sheds light on the life of Civil War-era Western photographer

Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer?

Luke Gilford’s dazzling 2020 photography book, “National Anthem: America’s Queer Rodeo,” introduced people in the art and photography worlds to gay rodeos. It’s a subject Gilford knows firsthand, having jumped into that world in 2016 and held on through the pandemic to adapt his book into a movie. “National Anthem,” which sees its Colorado premiere Friday, July 12, at Denver’s Sie FilmCenter (denverfilm.org), seems likely to reach many more, as that screening will be followed by additional runs starting July 19 at seven theaters in Denver, Aurora, Highlands Ranch and Westminster. Gilford, an Evergreen native now working between New York and Los Angeles, wants to use his directorial debut to not only lead viewers into the world of LGBTQ bull riders, ranch hands and trainers, but also look at the safe spaces they’ve created to enjoy professional rodeo culture outside of macho stereotypes, he said. “It’s such an ode to the Western, so it’s been nice to finally get to share it with people,” Gilford said via phone this week of the feature, which has been gathering buzz at South by Southwest, the Toronto International Film Festival and others.

“Fahrenheit 451,” by Ray Bradbury (Simon & Schuster, reissue 2012) “Fahrenheit 451,” by Ray Bradbury (Simon & Schuster, reissue 2012) Poignant that this story about book-burning has itself often been the object of censorship. Published in 1953, it made the American Library Association’s list of Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009. Re-reading it decades after the first time, the violence with which Firemen, including protagonist Montag, comply with their duties fails to shock the reader.

An anthology of Colorado writers and a study of the stuff created by man, by a former Denver Museum of Nature and Science archaeologist, are among the winners of the 2024 Colorado Book Awards. “So Much Stuff” is by Chip Colwell, whose bio on X declares him to be “owner of too much stuff,”  is now editor-in-chief of SAPIENS, a digital magazine about anthropological thinking and discoveries. “Reading Colorado,” by Peter Andersen, “underscores the diversity and richness of the state and its writers,” wrote our local book reviewer, Sandra Dallas soon after the book was published in 2023. Related Articles Books | A new National Park mystery and more books of regional interest Books | The Book Club: “Salt Houses,” “James” and more reader reviews Books | The Book Club: “Demon of Unrest” and more short reviews from readers Books | Step inside your next good book with a Colorado literary trip   Books | The Book Club: “Up Home” and more short reviews from readers The awards were presented by the Colorado Humanities & Center for the Book on June 21.

“Up Home: One Girl’s Journey,” by Ruth J. Simmons (Random House, 2023) Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you.