The historians in this anthology are vigorously reexamining the role women played in settling the American West. Rarely sacrificing marriage and...
Buckamoo Girls (Fiction)
Award-winning illustrator Tom Curry applies his colorful folk art style to Kelley’s new spin on the old song “Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out...
Hey Diddle Diddle (Fiction)
Rock ‘n’ Rolling wild animals rev up this adaptation of the familiar nursery rhyme using a blue fiddle, a mic and an electric guitar. The richly...
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...
Making Home Work
In the second half of the 19th century, the white, middle-class concept of home was assumed to be a perfect model for civilization in the American...
God’s Country, Uncle Sam’s Land: Faith and Conflict in the American West (Nonfiction)
The West is the home of individualism, liberty and religious freedom. Well, not always. Three tragic exceptions to this mythology are examined at...
The Oatman Massacre (Nonfiction)
On a trek to find the “Land of Bashan” as prophesied in the Book of Mormon, Roys Oatman led his family of nine into the brutal Sonora Desert. On the...
Imagining the African American West
Fewer Blacks settled in the West than other groups, but they had a distinct and early presence. For example, the first Black man to visit the West...
Gunsmoke: an American Institution
Every post-war baby boomer with a TV was weaned on Gunsmoke. The show ran for an amazing 20 years, from 1955-1975. Marshal Matt Dillon, Miss Kitty,...
SEEING YELLOWSTONE IN 1871
The 1871 Official Survey of the Western Territories led by geologist Ferdinand Hayden reaped much more than data about minerals and thermal springs....
WILD OPEN SPACES: WHY WE LOVE WESTERNS
Western stories, films and TV shows stand for some very specific ideals: individualism, honor, courage and loyalty. Add the high principles to...
HEARTS WEST: TRUE STORIES OF MAIL-ORDER BRIDES ON THE FRONTIER
Personal ads are not only a craze of modern dating. All throughout the 1800s, females were in scarce supply on the frontier, and men begged decent...