The Last Centennial

First published in 1971, this is the well-reviewed first novel by Patricia Nell Warren, who went on to write bestsellers like "The Front Runner." Set in the author's native state of Montana, it spotlights a historic Montana town preparing to celebrate its first centennial. Three of its citizens face battles with their own personal histories. Pinter Brodie is an old cowman who lives in the past. Now his falling-down ranch is threatened by a terrifying space-age environmental threat. Beth Stuart is a local teen, wrestling with identity issues that the town's old-school sex code compels her to keep secret. Johnny Chance is an American Indian torn out of his tribe as a child by federal adoption policy. Raised as a white, he hungers to find his real roots.