When Western traveler George Rutledge Gibson wrote how he and his companions prepared for a possible Indian attack in May 1848, he recalled that...
Tragedy on the Southern Plains
Mochi’s War: The Tragedy of Sand Creek by Chris Enss and Howard Kanzanjian (TwoDot, $16.95) is a fresh look at one of the most sordid episodes in...
The Human Custer
Allen Barra: You wrote in your preface, “Custer battled American Indians ruthlessly, yet wrote that he would resist too were he one of them.” His...
The First Boom Stick
Despite Nobel’s best efforts, his dynamite was used as a weapon nearly as often (if not more so) as it was for construction. There was little doubt...
When Life Imitates Art
Hollywood matinee idol William Boyd had a wicked reputation as a boozer, womanizer and hell-raiser. In time his career foundered; nobody wanted to...
Ken Western
Old West journalism was highly entertaining, often partisan, big on boosterism, rife with misspelled words and potentially dangerous as rival...
The First Mountain Man
John Colter was a good hunter, a skilled woodsman, got along well with Indians and had a knack for surviving hazards and hardships that put other...
Seven Still Magnificent
Scottish author and columnist for Cinema Retro magazine Brian Hannan has recently published an outstanding, well-illustrated book The Making of the...
How was Morgan Earp killed?
How was Morgan Earp killed? Ron Lervold Chandler, Arizona In Tombstone, Arizona, on March 18, 1882, an assassin fired a rifle through the back door...
A Compelling Argument
Bethenia Owens-Adair was a woman who knew her mind. She was the first female doctor in the West, and was also a determined lobbyist for the Women's...
The Outlaw Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett, the King of the Wild Frontier, was born on a mountaintop in Tennessee, served in Congress, fought Indians and died a legend at the...
Mysterious Dave and the Preacher
Although Dodge City, the bibulous "Babylon of the Plains" was well-known for its wicked ways it also attracted a number of preachers who welcomed...