A popular writer of the early 1900s, Foote would gain fame much later, in 1979, when Mary Ellen Williams-Walsh exposed Wallace Stegner’s liberal...
Social Class in the Writings
read more
Western Books
Circle The Wagons!
An interesting book, Circle the Wagons! is a deliberately controversial one, combining early Western movies with actual events in an effort to...
Agnes Lake Hickok
In this first biography of Agnes Lake, the woman finally steps out of the shadows of her famous husband Wild Bill Hickok. Working through Agnes’s...
The Dark Border (Fiction)
Legendary penman Frank Bonham sold more than 50 novels during his 54-year-career. This Western Quartet demonstrates his superb writing. ‘“Brand of...
North Star (Fiction)
An aura of depression suggests this might be the last chapter in the “Barnaby Skye” mountain man series as Skye submits to old age. The fur trade is...
Cowboy Park (Nonfiction)
At the turn of the 20th century, cattlemen’s associations voiced opposition to steer roping because of injuries to expensive cattle. Texas, New...
Family Ranch: Land, Children, and Tradition in the American West (Nonfiction)
As activists used to say: the personal is political, and so it is with modern family ranching in the West. These stories of six ranching families...
Mormonism’s Last Colonizer (Nonfiction)
The author, a descendant of Mormon leader William H. Smart, by his own admission, gives an honest and detailed account of the ardent leader. Through...
The Last Indian War (Nonfiction)
Despite the somewhat misleading title (for example, the Apache Wars ended in the 1880s), this is an excellent study of the relations between whites...
Dark Spaces: Montana’s Historic Penitentiary at Deer Lodge (Nonfiction)
Established in 1870, the penitentiary at Deer Lodge, Montana Territory’s first federal facility, was indeed dark, controversial and legendary. The...
Full-Court Quest (Nonfiction)
An absolutely stunning photo appears on page 357. It is a 1908 photo of graduate Emma Sansavor, a player for the 1904 world champion basketball team...
Wallace Stegner and the American West (Nonfiction)
Fradkin is the perfect fit to study Stegner’s career in the West, as he himself is also a polished writer, historian and environmentalist. Stegner...