The well-known story of the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad and the Irish and Chinese men who built it has been recounted many times,...
Riding the Rails into History
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Western Books & Movies
Blood on the Trail
The latest biography of Daniel Boone, plus new bios of Doc Holliday and Buffalo Bill, and histories of the Chiricahuas and California good-time...
The Wild Wilder West
"My parents loved Westerns. My mother’s family were pioneers; they were the first four wagons into Seattle, Washington. When I was five, in a little...
Great News
News of the World, Tom Hanks’ first Western, is one of the best films of the year. While Texas novelist Paulette Jiles liked the idea of News of the...
Home on the Range
Jim Hoy’s highly personal biography of the Kansas Flint Hills, two new biographies of Butch Cassidy, Bill Neal’s autobiography and Deborah Swenson’s...
Westerns Down Under
In 1906, just three years after the 12-minute The Great Train Robbery, the first ever hour-long film, The Story of the Kelly Gang, another...
Border Bandits, Outlaws and Cattle Thieves
Samuel K. Dolan returns to the border with Hell Paso, plus new biographies of Wild Bill Hickok and Montanan Sarah Bickford, a history of Texas in...
Fighting for Honor
A Texas Rangers historian reflects on one-sided history and the danger it presents to our understanding of the past—and the present. The Texas...
Rough Drafts
Western Books Crossing My Path My mailboxes (real and virtual) have been filling up with news, notes and announcements of the end of 2020 books and...
Western Books: An Officer of Honor and Grit
A remarkable biography of U.S. cavalryman Lt. Powhatan Clark, plus a new history of the Civil War in the Southwest, big new biographies of Billy the...
From Kicking Bird to Malachi
Graham Greene’s storied 45-year career in film and television has left a trail of excellence. One of the most recent of Graham Greene’s 150-plus...
The View Ahead
In the last quarter of the year, publishers are busily touting end-of-the year books and next year’s early releases. From advance copies I have received, I believe fans of Western history and fiction will be busy for the next few months buying and reading a bounty of offerings from publishers, small and large.