Crested Butte Museum
Book of the Month Club
Join us for a monthly book club where we will explore and discuss both non-fiction and fiction works that explore the history of our valley and the lifestyles of those who lived lives similar to those who established the town of Crested Butte.
At the beginning of each month we will announce our book of the month in our e-mail newsletter.
To join the fun just purchase the book of the month in the Museum Gift Shop and BYO (bring your own) snacks and drinks for the discussion on the Fourth Friday of every month. If you already have the book we’re reading that month, no purchase necessary! Just bring yourself and whatever you would like to enjoy (or something to share)!
September Book of the Month
Thursday, Sept. 25th, 2025 6pm
“The Town That Said Hell No: Crested Butte Fights a Mine to Save its Soul“
by Paul Anderson
with HCCA and Elise Park
“The Town That Said, Hell No!” is the story of a rural Colorado community under siege by AMAX, a huge international mining corporation. This powerful company was accustomed to getting its way, but it met its match in the late 1970s and early 1980s when it tried to overrun a unique and undaunted adversary.
October Book of the Month
“Crested Butte…Love at First Sight“
by Sandra Cortner
with author Sandra Cortner and Heather Seekatz
Crested Butte . . . Love at First Sight is a sequel to Sandra’s first book Crested Butte Stories . . . Through My Lens. She blends her experiences of more than 40 years as a photojournalist with true tales of Crested Butte, its foibles, goofiness, tragedies, and resilience. Her rich vignettes chronicle a few of the natives, second and third generation Europeans and Slavs, who remained in their homes after the coal mines closed in 1952, and many who arrived later, drawn by the beauty of the mountains, but captured by the love of the people and tightly knit community.
November Book of the Month
“The Spaghetti Gang”
by Richard and Cara Guerrieri
With author Cara Guerrieri and Alyssa Moore
The Spaghetti Gang is the delightful memoir by Richard Guerrieri, a coal miner’s son who grew up in the rough mountain town of Crested Butte, Colorado. Guerrieri’s account of his boyhood is wildly entertaining. His stories feature ranching, coal mining, Catholicism, World War II, hunting, skiing, and hilarious activities involving a young boy including vignettes about “strap-on ski’s,” “no bathing suits,” “a horse named SOB,” and “the dreaded Catechism.”
Crested Butte was a microcosm of coal towns in America during the dark days of the Great Depression. Guerrieri’s account of his early life and his family’s transition from coal mining in Crested Butte to ranching in Gunnison, Colorado, shows that amidst the economic woes of the time there was fun and adventure to be had. The Spaghetti Gang tells a unique and heart-warming story of an ethnic coal town in American history.
Crested Butte was a microcosm of coal towns in America during the dark days of the Great Depression. Guerrieri’s account of his early life and his family’s transition from coal mining in Crested Butte to ranching in Gunnison, Colorado, shows that amidst the economic woes of the time there was fun and adventure to be had. The Spaghetti Gang tells a unique and heart-warming story of an ethnic coal town in American history.
