The Mystery of Everett Ruess: Repackaged "Vagabond for Beauty" only worth having as a collectable.

I am still working to finish my review of "Selling Everett Ruess" by the end of the week.

If I were a professional freelance journalist it would have been done by now. Fortunately, I am taking care of my two young boys until school starts and then it is off to being a full time middle school science and journalism teacher.

I will say that I am planning to test out some ideas I have for multi-disiplinary school lessons using Ruess as the modus operandi to learning in my honor's science class.

In other news ... 

"Everett Ruess: His short life ..." by Philip Fradkin has just arrived from Amazon.com and I can't wait to review it as soon as possible.

I did a quick perusal of this book's index, but alas my name was not mentioned. I do think some of my research influenced its content so that's not a good first impression (I've always believed you can judge a good book by it's index).

I will say that "Everett Ruess: His short life ... " is being marketed fairly well because the promotions (i.e. press releases?) appear to rely on big name reviewers, Fradkin's past work, and the fact it comes from the University of California Press.

Similar things can be said of "Selling Everett Ruess" by David Roberts.

The marketing of both these books remains my primary interest in Everett so it is interesting to see how these publications are received by the press and public.

Speaking of new books about Everett ...

I finally read W.L. Rusho's afterword to the updating of "Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty." The book is now titled "The Mystery of Everett Ruess." It has new pictures. A new look coupled with a new beginning and ending.

Rusho's updating to "Vagabond" (found now as POD -- print on demand -- from Gibbs Smith, Publisher) is pretty good, but I don't know that it is worth the money. I like the vagabond title for Rusho's original editing work much better than the updated version -- despite its having a Google friendly title. It is definitely something avid Everett Ruess fans will want on their shelf.

After reading the afterword in "The Mystery of Everett Ruess" I was reminded of my interview with Bud Rusho for my master's thesis research. He had some interesting things to say about David Robert's dealing with Everett Ruess. Much of those sentiments were only alluded to in his afterword to "The Mystery."He told me the same story about digging up the "grave" of Everett that he included in his last book. He showed me pictures of the trip, too.

Rusho mentions my thesis in his afterword to "The Mystery," but does not include its title, author or any other detail. This leaves me to wonder what -- or if -- he thought about my research. I gave Rusho a copy my thesis at an event at the University of Utah when a symposium was held to discuss the initial "solving" of the E.R. mystery in 2009.

The Everett Ruess "cold case" was reinstated a few months after it was solved and Rusho has since passed away.  And I really wish he were still around to offer his critique of the new E.R. books that emerged this summer. I have always appreciated Rusho's matter-of-fact approach to the Everett Ruess story. However, that impression has changed a bit from reading "Finding Everett Ruess" and I will elaborate on that in my forthcoming book review of Robert's book.

One irony I love about Rusho's last book is that the www.gibbs-smith.com site says Rusho "confronts the truth" -- of Robert's reporting about Everett Ruess in National Geographic Adventurer -- "in a new epiloque."

There are truths about the people who are selling the Everett Ruess story for money and political purposes. That story needs to be told to Ruess fans around the world and it isn't being told by Roberts or Rusho. My thesis is too academic for a mass audience. I do get the feeling Fradkin is going to touch on this subject a little bit with his new book but since my name isn't mention I doubt it will included details I think important to the Everett Ruess myth.

And until the references to my thesis stop being too cryptic for a journalist from the Wall Street Journal or L.A. Times to investigate, it seems the truth's I uncovered in my thesis will remain untold to the masses.

So what am I to do? I don't feel like writing letters to the editor. And I want to make my own money "Selling Everett Ruess," too.

I don't need to make a lot of money. I just want to make enough to make it possible for me to be a vagabond like Ruess -- without the poverty of friends, family and money -- as evidence that the same people who read the existing and new Ruess books also get "the rest of the story" (thanks Paul Harvey).

This is hard for me to say. I've never set out to make money off of Everett's story but I've tired of Gibbs Smith flaking on his offers to publish my research. He says he wants to publish it. We have meetings and exchange emails about my book's content. He says that he has read my thesis but I doubt it. My thesis includes some not-so-flattering things about Gibbs Smith and other people with ties to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and those promoting Everett Ruess as a wilderness icon.