Ben Thompson, one of the most noted gunmen of the Old West, was a man famed in his own time for his prowess with a pistol. Yet only two biographies...
Big Ben
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Articles
Erroneous Ellsworth Showdown
Among the many questionable incidents people often repeat about Wyatt Earp’s life story, few reveal the duplicity of his biographer as much as the...
A Storm is Coming
Charlie Storms is best known as an Old West gambler and gunfighter who came up on the short end of a shootout with Luke Short in Tombstone in 1881....
Navajo and Apache Massacre Cave at Canyon Diablo
When a group of Apaches raided a Navajo encampment near the Little Colorado River in 1878 and killed all but three people, the Navajo leaders sought...
Battle of the Plaza
April 16, 1881 Bat Masterson has just covered 1,100 miles, mostly by rail, to come to the aid of his estranged brother Jim. As the Dodge City-bound...
Nellie Cashman, The Story of a Real Life Dime Novel Heroine: Part 1
Many men and women came west in the 19th century to pan out that dream of getting rich; a few did but most didn’t, but none could match success of a...
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
The new Netflix Western anthology film from Joel and Ethan Coen, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, is the best Western comedy since 1969’s Blazing...
Hollywood’s Six-gun Fakery
If you’re an Old West gun buff, and enjoy Western flicks from the Golden Age of Hollywood films, roughly 1930 through the late 1960s, you may have...
The Deadliest Younger
John Younger was the youngest of the “fighting Youngers”—but he was the deadliest. He killed his first man at age 15. In January 1871—still 19—he...
Rough Drafts
As we begin a new calendar year of publishing, I am hopeful for a big year in Western history, culture and biography publishing. Here are three...
Were any Arizona Rangers Involved in Gunfights in Mexico?
Were any Arizona Rangers involved in gunfights in Mexico? Jonathan Smith Rodenberg, Germany Ranger Jeff Kidder was when he took on some Mexican...
Remembering Jeb Rosebrook
On August 31, 2018, my father Jeb Rosebrook—author, screenwriter and long-time contributor and friend to True West—died at home in Scottsdale with...