Articles

Blood and Thunder

Lurking behind a dumb, misleading title is a good book. (This is not some harum scarum melodrama by a dime novel Dickens.) True, persnickety readers...

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THE YOUNG DUKE

THE YOUNG DUKE

At the University of Southern California in 1926, Marion Morrison, a.k.a. John Wayne, studied law and truly hoped to become an All-American football...

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JAY COOKE’S GAMBLE

JAY COOKE’S GAMBLE

The title here suggests you’ll get a dry history of financier Jay Cooke and his money problems building the Northern Pacific, but this big book is a...

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Saddling Up Anyway

Saddling Up Anyway

“When I got to him, he sat up and his lower lip was down under his chin. It was the danged-est lookin’ thing.... I had to put my knee against his...

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Fort Worth Firefight

Fort Worth Firefight

February 8, 1887 Long-Haired Jim Courtright strides into the White Elephant Saloon in Fort Worth, Texas, and has words with co-owner Jake Johnson....

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Books to Film

Books to Film

The Great Train Robbery (1903) started it all. Not only was it the first narrative film ever made, but it was a Western and one based on an 1896...

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In the Black

In the Black

Never get into a card game with a guy named Canada Bill. That was a word of caution for folks who traveled the Mississippi in the steamboat era, or...

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