The first trip I took by train was an hour-long journey from my hometown in Norborne, Missouri, to Walt Disney’s hometown in Marceline, Missouri. I...
Iron Ladies of the American Railroad
read more
western books
A Western Tale of Intrigue
In Thomas D. Claggett’s latest novel, West of Penance (Five Star, $16.80), Parisian gambler Clement Grantaire is accused of cheating. After killing...
A Hell-Bent Ride on a Snortin’ Prince of a Mule
In July 1867, leaders of the Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes gathered on Rosebud Creek in Montana Territory to plan the next phase in their most...
Beeves, Barons, and Barbed Wire
In 2017, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas towns are celebrating the sesquicentennial of the first cattle drives on the Chisholm Trail—from South Texas,...
Building Your Western Library with Blaine Lamb
Blaine Lamb has long been fascinated by all forms of transportation, but has a soft spot in his heart for railroads. This may be because his great...
Western Adventure
Lee Martins’ The Last Wild Ride (CreateSpace, $7.35) tells the story of Sam Jefferies, a rugged cowboy carrying a death wish until he is asked to...
‘Never Take No Cutoffs’
Roman slave and poet-playwright Terence famously wrote in his 163 B.C. play Heauton Timorumenos, “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto,” or “I...
Building Your Western Library: Jim Turner
Jim Turner was the eighth generation living in the family’s Connecticut home until they moved to Tucson in 1951 because of his asthma. He has been...
Woman of Gold
Every tale of the Klondike gold rush of 1897-’98 begins with the discovery of gold by George Carmack and his Tagish brothers-in-law. In Wealth...
Vigilante Justice
Research is a treasure hunt, and author Nancy J. Taniguchi found a big, shiny nugget for her Dirty Deeds: Land, Violence and the San Francisco...
Seeking Freedom Out West
With its wonderful title, Shirley Ann Wilson Moore’s Sweet Freedom’s Plains: African Americans on the Overland Trails, 1841–1869 (University of...
Sabers & Spurs
In literature, film and television, the role of the U.S. cavalry in the history of the American West has been as romanticized as any major element...