A gunfight at the OK Hotel spurs a controversy. Rose of Cimarron was first introduced to readers in 1915 in a little red paper-covered book titled...
Who is Rose of Cimarron?
read more
Classic True West
Truth Be Known
Old Vaquero Saying “Love is blind but not the neighbors.” Quotes “Pretty near all these stories are true.” —Wild Bill Hickok, hedging on the...
Armed and Courageous
Private Bill Foster wears his Arizona Ranger badge and holds the standard Ranger 1895 Winchester .30-40 lever-action rifle as he stands to the left...
Queen of the Soiled Doves
MATTIE SILKS LENT STYLE TO THE WORLD’S OLDEST PROFESSION. Just the sound of her name draws a mental picture: MATTIE SILKS. No plain, dowdy woman in...
Truth be Known
Old Vaquero Saying "One enemy is too many and a hundred friends too few." Quotes "Since you have chosen to elect a man with a timber toe to succeed...
Lights, Camera, Action
In 1939, Columbia Pictures executives agreed with director Wesley Ruggles that an undeveloped desert site west of Tucson was the perfect location in...
Was Wyatt Earp Really a Deputy U.S. Marshal?
Wyatt Earp, who has become controversial since his fictionalization by television, did serve in both Dodge City and Tombstone as a legally appointed...
Truth Be Known
Old Vaquero Saying "Be respectful, even to hateful people, because your mama raised you better." Quotes “We are here, and it is now. Further than...
Opening Shot – A Mammoth Moment
The U.S. Army tested bicycles for the first time in the West in 1896 with the 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps, one of the four Buffalo Soldier...
The Best of the West: Art and Collectibles
Last year, when I recapped 2019 and trends in Western collecting, I focused on the sales of many splendid, comprehensive holdings gathered by...
The Best of the West: Western Movies
The year 2020 was unsatisfying all around, and certainly for Westerns. From a purist point of view, if we strictly define Westerns as taking...
The Best of the West: Western Books
If 2020 taught us anything as readers of Western history and fiction, it was that we depend on our storytellers to help us endure hard times....