He caught the westbound is an old American hobo expression for someone who has departed from this life. In the case of this book it is employed to be symbolic of a passing American way of life and the people who created that. We live in troubled times, and the author often uncomfortably reminds us so. Yet positive travel experiences relieve the pessimism wherein the author says, It could be worse. But not much . . .
Go west, young man! The magic of the American West captured young Earl Norris during high school and held him hostage all his life. As pastor of a tiny church in the small town of Saline in eastern Montana, he found himself a world away–in more ways than one-- from his earlier life in Chicago. How would he deal with the perplexing differences? Having grown up in an urban environment with over four million people, he now lived in a town with a population of less than five hundred, and in a state with only about seven hundred thousand. Earl had gone west alone because his high school sweetheart, Lynn Ellerton, who could not accept the idea of becoming the wife of a pastor, had broken their engagement. Will he remain a bachelor? Could he ever re-connect with Lynn? Or will there be someone eligible in Saline, Montana? Will his detractors-- the morning coffee crowd at the local gas station-- force him out with their whispered suspicions? Might he find work further west? With declining population, what of the survival of the Saline church? Meanwhile what happened to Lynn? Did she settle for a job in her father’s company in Chicago? Her story is even more surprising than Earl’s. Westbound leads the reader through many a twist and turn in the lives of these two high school sweethearts, Earl and Lynn. Their stories will take the reader north to Alaska, west to California, and south to New Zealand as well as across the Atlantic to London in a tale of triumph and tragedy, tenderness and love.
In 1890, the U.S. government declared the frontier settled, and the "Wild West" was history. In the territory of New Mexico, however, crime still knew no limit and the gun was the final answer to all problems. Aiming to help New Mexico achieve statehood, its leaders decided they needed a mounted police force like those that had tamed Texas and Arizona. This book describes the birth of the New Mexico Mounted Police in 1905 and tells the stories of the members of the original Mounties, starting with their first captain, John F. Fullerton. Information drawn from personal interviews with ranger family members (many of whom provided photographs), Fullerton's personal papers and official Mounted Police records brings a wealth of detail to this story from New Mexico's rich history. Fred Lambert, the last surviving member of the territorial rangers, provides a foreword.
A young farmer and his team of horses plunge into a freight train in 1915. A callow teenager shoots an intruder to death in the early 1950’s. A high school boy encounters Louis Armstrong. A college student meets his poetic idol. A journalist rides a nuclear submarine into the depths of his fears and ambitions. A middle-aged man finally confronts a deadly illness and forms lifelong bonds of sustainment. A poet exchanges text messages with a bird. An aged lover counsels a young star-gazer. A fisherman seeks truth from rivers. An octogenarian ponders tragedy and gratitude. A husband, father and brother pledges his gratitude to his wife, daughter and family. In the versatile and compelling rhythms of his short stories, memoirs and poems, Jim Hurley contemplates the stunning beauty and sorrow of living and illuminates how love and resilience make life and our betrothal to it more purposeful. “Like Orpheus, Jim Hurley leads us into hell but finds the wherewithal to lead us back into sunlight.” — Robert Bernard Hass
The legendary mountain men—the fur traders and trappers who penetrated the Rocky Mountains and explored the Far West in the first half on the nineteenth century—formed the vanguard of the American empire and became the heroes of American adventure. This volume brings to the general reader brief biographies of eighteen representative mountain men, selected from among the essay assembled by LeRoy R. Hafen in The Mountain Men and the Fur Trade of the Far West (ten volumes, 1965-72). The subjects and authors are: Manuel Lisa (Richard E. Oglesby); Pierre Chouteau Jr. (Janet Lecompte); Wilson Price Hunt (William Brandon); William H. Ashley (Harvey L. Carter); Jedediah Smith (Harvey L. Carter); John McLoughlin (Kenneth L. Holmes); Peter Skene Ogden (Ted J. Warner); Ceran St. Vrain (Harold H. Dunham); Kit Carson (Harvey L. Carter); Old Bill Williams (Frederic E. Voelker); William Sublette (John E. Sunder);Thomas Fitzpatrick (LeRoy R. and Ann W. Hafen); James Bridger (Cornelius M. Ismert); Benjamin L. E. Bonneville (Edgeley W. Todd); Joseph R. Walker (Ardis M. Walker); Nathaniel Wyeth (William R. Sampson); Andrew Drips (Harvey L. Carter); and Joseph L. Meek (Harvey E. Tobie).
St. Andrews, Scotland: When a man's preserved body is discovered in a whisky ageing cask in the local Gleneden Distillery, DCI Andy Gilchrist and his partner, DS Jessie Janes, are assigned to the investigation. But when the dead man is identified as Hector Dunmore, the once heir-apparent of Gleneden Distillery, their investigation takes a dramatic turn, for Dunmore was reported missing 25 years earlier when his Land Rover was found abandoned on the outskirts of Mallaig, almost two hundred miles away on the Scottish west coast. Why hide a body in a 25-year ageing cask? And who would want Dunmore dead? Suspicion falls on Duncan Milne, the distillery manager at the time, but when Gilchrist learns that Milne died under suspicious circumstances the year Dunmore disappeared, he suspects they are looking at a double murderer. Gilchrist's efforts to resolve the murders forces him to dig deep into the Dunmore family's past, only to come up against a frightening killer who will stop at nothing to keep the darkest of family secrets from ever coming to light. PRAISE FOR T.F. MUIR: 'Rebus did it for Edinburgh. Laidlaw did it for Glasgow. Gilchrist might just be the bloke to put St Andrews on the crime fiction map.' Daily Record 'A truly gripping read, with all the makings of a classic series.' Mick Herron 'Gripping and grisly, with plenty of twists and turns that race along with black humour.' Craig Robertson 'DCI Gilchrist gets under your skin. Though, determined, and a bit vulnerable, this character will stay with you long after the last page.' Anna Smith 'Gripping!' Peterborough Telegraph
This is a rare and comprehensive study that combines combat, political, and administrative history. It shows the reader not only how this regiment fought, but also how it was administered, for better or for worse, how commissions were gained and lost, and how under the hammer blows of repeated battles, this unit eventually became one of the Union's most steadfast, reliable fighting formations.
