A Tennessean by birth, James A. Crutchfield (Jim to his friends) says he became a Westerner by choice, and when he has the choice, his preferred...
It Happened in the West
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Western Books & Movies
“The Devil Always Gets the Best Lines”
There’s something comforting about being on Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch, up in Newhall, California. Passing through the gate and onto the lot, there’s...
Lost to History
A few years before the Civil War, one of the most violent episodes in Western American trail history played out on a mountain meadow in Southern...
Dark Voyage of the Mittie Stephens
Four wayfarers on the Mittie Stephens flee their past. Bobby Randow, plagued by temporary amnesia, runs from a midnight gunfight. Spunky Madame...
.45-Caliber Revenge
Peter Brandvold has spun together an entertaining tale about a young lad, Cuno Massey, and his metamorphosis into adulthood in the Wild West. Cuno...
Across the Kansas Prairie
Funded by the National Park Service, this video follows a modern-day wagon train across the Kansas portion of the Oregon Trail. Although the...
Plain Language
Barbara Wright is a self-professed greenhorn, but you couldn’t tell from this Depression-era ranch story that encapsulates the hardships of the West...
Beauty for Ashes
Far from his native Pennsylvania, teenage Sam Morgan grows up in a hurry amongst the rough-and-ready mountain men of the 1820s. Striving to succeed...
Murder in Tombstone: The Forgotten Trial of Wyatt Earp
Actually, we haven’t forgotten about this trial, but okay, maybe some people don’t know the aftermath of the gunfight at that most famous of...
Cowboys Who Rode Proudly
Sure, Midland, Texas, has been practically synonymous with oil in recent years, but we must not forget that even the Permian Basin was cattle...
Bits & Spurs: Motifs, Techniques and Modern Makers
The Martins have long been the authority on bit and spur makers of the Old West, whom they’ve discussed in earlier books, and they continue the...
The Lewis & Clark Trail: Yesterday and Today
With the flood of Lewis and Clark tomes in the past year, it is quite refreshing to read William Hill’s latest book. As with his previous books,...