I'm in Madison County, Iowa, not to view all those covered bridges, though they are charming, but to pay tribute to a great American. Unheralded....
On the Trail of John Wayne
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Articles
Not a Leg to Stand On
Before the Wild West Show, heck before showman William F. Cody was even born, the Victorian taste for the grotesque was satisfied by circus sideshow...
Preservation: Splish Splash Bath
From an old bathtub used for comical souvenir photos to naturally-heated springs, folks in Hot Springs, Arkansas, sure knew how to bathe. After the...
Weapons as Art
On the raw American frontier, vestiges of the settled, more civilized societies could be seen in the hands of good and bad men alike through their...
Honoring Mothers and Fathers
Determined women are responsible for two of America’s most revered holidays. From the East came the push for a national Mother’s Day, while from the...
The Many Faces of Billy the Kid
Some 126 years ago, a traveling photographer snapped a picture in the remote frontier community of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, that would become one of...
Collecting the West Roundup
Hidden among Picassos, Duchamps and Matisses collected by Earl Horter is a fire-hardened buffalo hide shield with an antelope hide strap sling. At...
A Case for Murder
It's been called the Haywood Trial, after one of the defendants. Others have named it the Steunenberg Case in reference to the victim. Media...
Rendezvous Deja Vu
Legend has it that the note, written in charcoal, invitin’ those hearty souls livin’ that life wild and perilous to the 1838 rendezvous read: “Come...
The Great Mormon Cricket Fly-Fishing Festival
These stories range from “The Vision of Hehaka’To,” with a Lakota Sioux hunting food for his starving family, to “Bonefish in Wyoming,” where a worn...
Spanakopita Western
“I’m going to give you a chance—to die!” Thus teases a trailer on YouTube for a Greek Western made by and starring the Drosos brothers, Vasilis and...
Cisco Kid
What’s interesting about Gilbert Roland’s Cisco of the mid-late 40s is that Roland was far better than the material, which is a decided plus. hese...