A year ago, I asked the question: “Will the Western survive?” I was concerned, and rightfully so, with the anti-Western sentiment of many if not...
The Tenacity of the West—and the Western
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Articles
Voice of the West
A remembrance of Larry McMurtry, a new history of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, a wild Western tale, Apache boarding schools and a new collection...
Hays in an Uproar
Wild Bill Hickok vs. The 7th Cavalry Hickok Almost Gets an Earful July 17, 1870 Deputy U.S. Marshal James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok...
Journey to Lone Pine
The iconic Western film location is celebrated every year at the internationally famous Lone Pine Film Festival. Among the hundreds of long-running...
Tombstone, Arizona
The legendary town celebrates its classic Western movie. It’s high noon on a Friday in Tombstone. Tourists in shorts and sandals are...
On the Western Trail
Pack it up, round ’em up and drive north for an Old West adventure. Sherman, Texas, native S.H. Woods was 16 years old when he was “second boss—the...
Django Unchained
A decade since the highest-grossing Western was released, the film remains controversial. There are many disconcerting issues that a...
Jolly Times In Iowa
A Hawkeye State minister and a basement entrepreneur changed how the world snacks. Popcorn as we know it may seem like a fairly new concept, but...
Cowboy & Actor Ben Johnson
He truly knew his horses. Ben Johnson arrived in California in the late 1930s after Howard Hughes bought some horses from an Oklahoma ranch where...
Paladin, Gamblers and the Oregon Trail
Did anybody have a good time on the Oregon Trail? Neal Hathaway Durango, Colorado Interesting question. Many did. Those pioneers were amazingly...
What History Has Taught Me with Leo W. Banks
LEO W. BANKS, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR After an award-winning career in journalism, Leo W. Banks turned to fiction. His first novel, Double Wide, won...
U.S. Marshals, Oklahoma and Wild Bill
For 70 years, Western law and order history has been popularized by True West’s editors. From Joe Small’s first issue in the summer of 1953 to the...