Saints and sinners (mostly sinners) lead the parade of prospectors, claimjumpers, shyster lawyers, shady ladies, miscreants and hard-working miners who scaled the high mountain passes to create the history this book records. A lively gold rush history of Summit County, Colorado, Summit ranks as a best seller in Colorado bookstores. Narrow-gauge alpine railways, Ute Indians, lusty mine camps, the 1860s birth of now-famous local ski towns and self guided mine tours all highlight this classic history. A parade of larger-than-life characters march across its pages people like dredge king Ben Stanley Revett and Colorado's famed Snow Shoe Itinerant, John Lewis Dyer, the skiing preacher. The 25th Anniversary Edition doubles the size of the original Summit history, adding 15 new chapters. The history of skiing at Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper Mountain and Keystone, as well as local ranch histories, are highlights. Popular Colorado author Sandra Dallas reviewed the book for the Denver Post : "SUMMIT is a wonderful mix of history and folklore. It will stir the imaginations of those unfamiliar with Summit County history. " Historian Louisa Arps remarked in the Rocky Mountain News : "The book is as full of riches as Summit County was full of gold." Scholarly reviewer James E. Hansen II of Colorado State University, in Essays and Monographs in Colorado History , stated that SUMMIT qualifies as a definitive history. He remarked of author Mary Ellen Gilliland, "...her book might well serve as a standard for writing popular local history...a superb book." -- Publisher Comments Mary Ellen Gilliland is the author of 16 books and more than 200 magazine and newspaper articles. A seasoned researcher, punchy writer and popular speaker, she maintains the position of Summit County, Colorado's chief historian, with eight books on the 1800s mining mecca. Gilliland is a former New York City magazine editor who has long lived in the Colorado mountains.