Local history

A modern-day explorers guide to the Old WestFrom the famed Oregon Trail to the boardwalks of Dodge City to the great trading posts on the Missouri River to the battlefields of the nineteenth-century Indian Wars, there are places all over the American West where visitors can relive the great Western migration that helped shape our history and culture.

Many stories have been written about the exploits of Billy the Kid, the charismatic outlaw of the Old West.

Construction of a school building reflected the importance of universal education and a communitys desire to establish permanence in the ever-expanding Western frontier.

When it comes to historical mysteries, Texas offers numerous long-perplexing conundrums for readers.

William Lewis Manly was a forty-niner, explorer, and humanitarian whose story most people have never heard.

In the nineteenth century people could gain fame and fortune by ';discovering' and documenting things that were already known to exist like the source of the Nile and the North Pole.

Among the greatest of tragedies of the American frontierthe Donner Party, the Alamo, Wounded Kneea little known but no less tragic event was the Texas Mier Expedition.

The ocean is one of the few untamed places on earthunpredictable and unsympathetic to the lives lost there.

During the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century a growing number of ordinary citizens had the feeling that all was not as it should be.

First published in 2000, J.

The YoungersBob, Cole, Jim, and Johntested the boundaries of the violent and turbulent post-Civil War society in which they lived.

Those interested in the history of the infamous Younger Brothers of Missouri know eldest brother Cole's story.

In January of 1920, the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution went into effect and the sale and manufacture of intoxicating spirits was outlawed.

Unearth the Mysteries of Those Who Lie Beneath the Oldest Graveyards in the Lone Star StateTexas, the second largest state, both in land mass and population, has more than 50,000 cemeteries, graveyards, and burial grounds.

Buffalo Bill and the Birth of American Celebrity commemorates the rise of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show and tells the tale of a visionary whose real-life experiences (and embellishments) created an entertainment phenomenon that became a worldwide sensation.

The Pinkertons knew her as Ethel,' Ethal,' Eva, and Rita before finally settling on Etta Place for their wanted posters.

The life of Josie Bassett was nothing short of a female pioneer adventure.

One of the most colorful parts of American History is the time of train robberies and the daring outlaws who undertook them in the period covering from just after the Civil War to 1924.

Investigating Historys MysteriesThe assassination of Sheriff Pat Garrett, one of the most notorious lawmen of the American West, remained one of the most puzzling and perplexing unsolved mysteries for more than a century.

From the late 1870s to mid-1880s, Tombstone, Arizona, enjoyed impressive growth and prosperity as a result of the discovery of major silver deposits nearby.

This anthology of first person-accounts by women who toured Yellowstone Park more than a century ago includes tales of high adventure, raucous humor, and glorious sights of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Texas Jack: America's First Cowboy Star is a biography of John B.

In Standoff at High Noon, the sequel to Old West Showdown, coauthors Kellen Cutsforth and Bill Markley again investigate ten well-known, controversial stories from the Old West.

Mark Twain's wit and wisdom is timeless.

Winner of the 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards (History, Arizona | 2021 Military Writers Society of America Silver Medal for History | 2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award Bronze Winner for Western Non-FictionWhen the U.

In the 19th century, Daniel Waggoner and his son, W.

As settlements and civilization moved West to follow the lure of mineral wealth and the trade of the Santa Fe Trail, prostitution grew and flourished within the mining camps, small towns, and cities the nineteenth-century Nevada and Utah.

While settlers were drawn out West by the often empty promises of the Gold Rush, prostitution grew and flourished within the mining camps, small towns, and cities of nineteenth-century California.

Our images of the big names and places of the Old West often come from the tales of gunfights and violence that were sensationalized by dime novels and yellow journalism in the 19th century and the myths that came from those stories live on today.

From Kim Heacox, the acclaimed author of The Only Kayak and John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire, comes Rhythm of the Wild, an Alaska memoir focused on Denali National Park.

His mother was against it, but he grew up to be a cowboy anyway.

Unearth the Mysteries of Those Who Lie Beneath the Oldest Graveyards in the Golden StateIn each of California's 58 counties there are hundreds (and hundreds) of cemeteries, burial sites, and abandoned graveyards, some tucked away behind storefronts or under paved streets.

In 1903, Theodore Roosevelt planned a tour of the mid-West and Western states.

**2022 Will Rogers Medallion Award Silver Winner for Western Biographies and Memoirs**Two Native American leaders who left a lasting legacy, Geronimo and Sitting Bull.

Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill Cody were considered heroes and the greatest plainsmen of their time.

A collage of characters shaped the west of the nineteenth century.

Finalist for the 2020 WILLA Literary Award, Creative NonfictionInspired by her first breathtaking trip in the Grand Canyon, Harriet Hunt Burgess dedicated her life to saving land for future generations.

His name conjures images of the Wild West, of gunfights and gambling halls and a legendary friendship with the lawman Wyatt Earp, and he is probably most famous for his time in Tombstone.

The Lives They Saved is the story in artifacts and oral histories of the 300,000 New Yorkers who were evacuated from Manhattan on 9/11by boat.

**Winner of the 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards (History, Other)**Lawman or Outlaw?

The Pacific Coast is home to a beautiful wonderland of recreation.

Boston writer Michael Connelly captures the magic of America's return to normalcy after World War II in this intimate portrait of a city and the baseball team it loves.

On August 23, 1877, a scout named Jack Bean watched 600 Nez Perce Indians head into the new Yellowstone National Park.

In a little-known mountain range in southern New Mexico is an unremarkable mountain called Victorio Peak.

The Surprising Story of the Plucky Drivers, Shrewd Owners, and Ruthless Robbers Who Snubbed the RulesAs pervasive as stagecoaches (popularly known as shake-guts) were in the early years of America, it shouldn't be surprising that women who possessed a significant dose of grit and an ounce of entrepreneurial spirit engaged in one way or another in stagecoach enterprises.

These entertaining stories from Old West history include cowboys, Indians, lawmen, lawbreakers, entertainers, prostitutes, priests, and politicians.

Create your own memorable western-style Christmas through A Cowboy Christmas, a holiday collection of decor, traditions, delicious food, and the unique lifestyle of cowboys.

Dangerous Shallows tells the story of a quest to solve maritime cold-cases.

When Geronimo and his warriors surrendered to the US Army, General Miles made a number of promises for the surrender terms that were in fact false.

*Winner of the 2020 Will Rogers Medallion Award for Western Nonfiction*In the 1840s and 50s, the Jicarilla Apache were the terror of the Santa Fe Trail and the Rio Arriba.