First published in 1961, Neil R. Johnson’s The Chickasaw Rancher tells the story of Montford T. Johnson and the first white settlement of Oklahoma. Abandoned by his father after his mother’s death and then left on his own following his grandmother’s passing in 1868, Johnson became the owner of a piece of land in the northern part of the Chickasaw Nation in what is now Oklahoma. The Chickasaw Rancher follows Montford T. Johnson’s family and friends for the next thirty-two years. Neil R. Johnson describes the work, the ranch parties, cattle rustling, gun fights, tornadoes, the run of 1889, the hard deaths of many along the way, and the rise, fall, and revival of the Chickasaw Nation.—Print Ed.
Damsel in a wedding dress! Jilted at the altar, celebrity chef Meghan Finnegan flees the scene—and the baying press—only to run straight into the muscled torso of Cash Sullivan. The former rodeo champion knows what it's like to have your life crumble in the spotlight, so he offers Meghan a place to lie low at his ranch. Fresh air, no paparazzi and the brooding rancher's lazy smile are making Meghan not want to leave her sanctuary. But she and her unborn baby can't stay here forever…can they?
“My father’s life represented many layers of the human experience—freedman and Native American, farmer and rancher, rural educator and urban professional.”—John Hope Franklin Buck Colbert Franklin (1879–1960) led an extraordinary life; from his youth in what was then the Indian Territory to his practice of law in twentieth-century Tulsa, he was an observant witness to the changes in politics, law, daily existence, and race relations that transformed the wide-open Southwest. Fascinating in its depiction of an intelligent young man's coming of age in the days of the Land Rush and the closing of the frontier, My Life and an Era is equally important for its reporting of the triracial culture of early Oklahoma. Recalling his boyhood spent in the Chickasaw Nation, Franklin suggests that blacks fared better in Oklahoma in the days of the Indians than they did later with the white population. In addition to his insights about the social milieu, he offers youthful reminiscences of mustangs and mountain lions, of farming and ranch life, that might appear in a Western novel. After returning from college in Nashville and Atlanta, Franklin married a college classmate, studied law by mail, passed the bar, and struggled to build a practice in Springer and Ardmore in the first years of Oklahoma statehood. Eventually a successful attorney in Tulsa, he was an eyewitness to a number of important events in the Southwest, including the Tulsa race riot of 1921, which left more than 100 dead. His account clearly shows the growing racial tensions as more and more people moved into the state in the period leading up to World War II. Rounded out by an older man’s reflections on race, religion, culture, and law, My Life and an Era presents a true, firsthand account of a unique yet defining place and time in the nation's history, as told by an eloquent and impassioned writer.
The son of a village blacksmith in Ohio, Custer qualified last in his class at West Point. Yet he proved to be a brilliant Civil War commander from the moment he made his debut at Gettyshurg. At age twenty-five he was promoted to the rank of major general, a feat that earned him the sobriquet "the boy general." Following the war, as part of the frontier army, he was handed the task of protecting the railroads by reining in the Plains Indians. Resplendent in buckskin he steadily built a reputation as an Indian fighter, enhancing his legend with his own writings. Always forthright with his opinions, Custer may have held a future career, some have suggested, in politics. However, this will never be known, for on June 25, 1876 Custer reached his untimely end. Heavily outnumbered by a combined force of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors at the Battle of Little Bighorn, Custer's entire company was cut down. Never before or since have Indians inflicted such a defeat on federal troops. This new illustrated book combines over 200 photographs and paintings, many in color, with a revised edition of Robert M. Utley's classic biography, Cavalier in Buckskin. Drawing on twelve years of additional research on Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Utley has dramatically changed his original interpretations of Custer's Last Stand, addressing the eternal question: might Custer have won?
From their meeting with Lewis and Clark in 1805 to the death of Chief Joseph in 1904, the story of the Nez Perce Indians is epic drama. No setting could be more spectacular than the rugged, beautiful homeland of this tribe. The Nez Perce friendship with white newcomers ended in the tragically bitter Nez Perce War. The participants in the developing drama tell the story in their own words, through excerpts from diaries, letters and contemporary accounts.
FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE * Named a Best Mystery and Thriller Book of all Time by Time A haunting epic following a Native American government official who investigates the murder of Grace Blanket: an Osage woman who was once the richest person in her territory until the greed of white men led to her death and a future of uncertainty for her family. When rivers of oil are discovered beneath the land belonging to the Osage tribe during the Oklahoma oil boom, Grace Blanket becomes the wealthiest person in the territory. Tragically, she is murdered at the hands of greedy men, leaving her daughter Nola orphaned. After the Graycloud family takes Nola in, they too begin dying mysteriously. Though they send letters to Washington DC begging for help, the family continues to slowly disappear until Native American government official Stace Red Hawk ventures west to investigate the terrors plaguing the Osage tribe. Stace is not only able to uncover the rampant fraud, intimidation, and murder that led to the deaths of Grace Blanket and the Greycloud family, but also finds something truly extraordinary—a realization of his deepest self and an abundance of love and appreciation for his native people and their brave past.
By telling the story of one race in detail, Firth follows the teams as they travel on the fractured ice of the Yukon River, through rugged, northern wilderness, over windswept mountains, in blizzards and bone-chilling cold. Yukon Quest shows in vivid detail the enormous commitment involved in caring for up to 14 dogs in a team. The book also includes anecdotes from all the races and a list of all the mushers who have ever participated, along with race results.
Drama / 10m, 4f, extras This evocative play charting the rocky romance between headstrong farmgirl Laurey and cocky cowhand Curley in a tale of early America during the settlement of the midwest was the basis of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Oklahoma! Using the colorful vernacular of the period, Green Grow the Lilacs paints a picture of pioneer farmlife with colorful characters and language, presenting a dramatic challenge to professionals and amateurs alike.
