Missoula has long been something of a literary center, thanks in part to the late Norman MacLean, whose novella A River Runs Through It rhapsodizes over the surrounding Rocky Mountain country and the larger-than-life lives lived there. The book, which was faithfully adapted into a film by Robert Redford, makes a great traveling companion, full of vivid description and insightful humor—MacLean writes that while growing up he soon discovered that the world is “full of bastards, the number increasing rapidly the farther one gets from Missoula, Montana.” He lovingly uses the art of fly-fishing as an essential metaphor for a life well lived.