The American West, imagined and celebrated worldwide in art and literature, film and television, is equally a land of grace and grief. Since...
16 Historical Destinations That Will Make You Weep
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Stuart Rosebrook
Gamblers, Gunfighters & Saloon Girls
For over half a century, author Larry McMurtry has brought the West alive to readers through his lean, lyrical prose. His personal experiences...
Rough Drafts 5/14
The sound and the fury: Quentin Tarantino threw a fit and filed suit when his script The Hateful Eight was leaked on the Internet. Too bad. He is...
Rough Drafts 4/14
In True West’s annual “Best of the West” January 2014 issue, I highlighted the best authors and books of 2013. A new category I’d like to introduce...
On the Trail of History
In the last decade, with the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery exploration of the West in 2004-2006, and the current...
On the California Trail: Salt Lake City to Sacramento
The California Trail conjures up images of emigrants and gold seekers, mountain men and Mormons, as well as the hopefulness of new lands that...
Rediscovering the Mandan’s Heart of the World
For decades, the Mandan people of the northern plains, whose vast and well-organized communities greeted French trappers and Lewis and Clark, were...
The Best Historical Roadside Markers You Have to See
Driving America’s byways and highways is a personal experience I’ve enjoyed since I first drove to Arizona with a buddy on a road trip in 1980. I...
An American Tale: Wild Mustangs and the Spirit of a Nation
Deep in the subconscious spirit of the people of the Americas is a love affair with the horse. While the modern horse did not come to the Western...
Ann Kirschner’s Favorite Reads
Ann Kirschner, university dean of Macaulay Honors College of the City University of New York, is a strong and determined historian who finds...
Rough Drafts 3/14
My best Western combo for this winter: Glendon Swarthout’s The Homesman, a novel re-released on Valentine’s Day by Simon & Schuster and an...
Rough Drafts 2/14
From the previews of Western fiction and nonfiction I am receiving, 2014 promises to be a big year for all of us. Fans of Western books should...