Join the gang in the Old Wild West as tales unfold about the best gunslinger in the territory, lawmen, kidnappers, Indians, renegades, bounty hunters, and outlaws. Meet characters of all types as action and adventure ensue in each story. A creative mix of fiction and fact, Short Tales of the Old Wild West brings to life the good, the bad, the courageous, and the cowardly. "Up from the cold gray depths of the Canyon River they came, men wearing eerie fish-mask heads. Night st
Join the gang in the Old Wild West as tales unfold about the best gunslinger in the territory, lawmen, kidnappers, Indians, renegades, bounty hunters, and outlaws. Meet characters of all types as action and adventure ensue in each story. A creative mix of fiction and fact, Short Tales of the Old Wild West brings to life the good, the bad, the courageous, and the cowardly. "Up from the cold gray depths of the Canyon River they came, men wearing eerie fish-mask heads. Night stretched a blue canopy of stars above the Navajo tepees as strange figures glided like shadows among the dwellings of these nomad people. The tepee flaps lifted as the fish-headed men abducted three Navajo virgin girls. Like shadows, the fish-men came, and like shadows, they left, carrying away the females on their shoulders as they fled back beneath the cold, murky waters that was their home. For an instant, the Navajo warriors were dazed, and then they gave chase after the abductors." - Excerpt from "The River Water Ghosts"
"During the 1800s, many settlers moved westward across North America to seek their fortunes as farmers, ranchers, and miners. In the Wild West, there were few towns and few people paid much attention to laws. Readers will take a trip through this thrilling period of American history as they join Louise and Nat for a tale of cowboys in a frontier town. They will find out how people lived, worked, and traveled in the Wild West, and much more."--Publisher's description.
Compiled for the first time in book form, seven-time Spur Award-winning author Elmer Kelton's short story collection, Wild West. From rodeos to rustlers, from ranch life to the outlaw trail, Elmer Kelton’s take on the human condition shows us life in Texas as it was back then: simpler, but harder, with danger always present. Readers will meet several unforgettable characters, including a young veteran who overcomes his PTSD to fight a fire ravaging his town, a sheriff who continues to chase bandits despite having lost his job, and a frontier housewife who refuses to let her home be held hostage by dangerous criminals—even when all seems lost. Equally fascinating are the rancher and his wife who protect their adopted son when his abusive biological father returns unexpectedly, and the two women whose argument over a prospective lover leads to a no-holds-barred rodeo barrel race. As in all of Elmer Kelton’s work, readers will, once again, encounter the timeless strength of the human heart and the human spirit when everything else has gone awry. Filled with adventure and imbued with a love of the time, the people, and the place, these stories take us from the earliest days of the Wild West well into the twentieth century, each one embodying a passion for life that’s as wide as Texas sky.
Much has been written about the west—most of it clouded by exaggeration and fabrication. Since 1953, True West magazine has been devoted to celebrating the West’s true colors, giving the men and women who settled there accurate voices, exploring every triumph and tragedy of their time—and exposing every vice and virtue. True Tales and Amazing Legends of the Old West commemorates these unforgettable cowboys, Indians, and city slickers through a mix of classic histories and brand-new narratives, all illustrated with photographs—many reproduced here for the first time—of the people and places that gave rise to America’s Western mythology. With twenty-six stories that blend fact with folklore, this collection abounds with accounts of the famous and the infamous, including Sacagawea, Wild Bill Hickok, Pancho Villa, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Davy Crockett, and Wyatt Earp. Also here are lesser-known figures whose stories were pivotal to shaping the culture of the era, such as European conquistador Francisco Coronado, rancher “Black Billy” Hill, and fearless lawman Orlando “Rube” Robbins. Other tales recount the wide open plains, lawlessness, drama, mayhem, and promise embodied in the Old West. Whether you’re a history buff, an Old West devotee, or simply someone who is fascinated by the characters of America’s early years, these timeless tales and photographs epitomize the legendary spirit of what it meant to settle the West.
On 14 May 1804, one Captain Meriwether Lewis and his companion William Clark led a thirty-three-man expedition to the new lands of Louisiana. 8,000 miles and two years later, after rafting up the Missouri and crossing the Rocky Mountains, they reached the far side of the world, the Pacific Ocean. Fredrick Nolan explores the first US settlers of the American West, including the remarkable stories of unsung heroes and heroines, the bloody battles between settlers and the native American inhabitants, the crimes committed by corrupt Sheriffs, and the occasions when citizens had to take the law into their own hands. This is the story of the men and women who answered the call of the West.
These bizarre tales are a far cry from the Wild West you remember from the movies. Among the stepping stones to the conquest of North America: cannibalism, mummified murderers, sadism, lynch mobs, bad-luck curses, unexplained decapitations, mysterious airships, cults, communes, and more.
