WESTERN NON-FICTION—BILLY THE KID AND JESSE JAMES: OUTLAWS OF THE LEGENDARY WEST

WESTERN NON-FICTION

BILLY THE KID AND JESSE JAMES

OUTLAWS OF THE LEGENDARY WEST

BILL MARKLEY

Who was the biggest, baddest outlaw in the Old West... Billy the Kid or Jesse James... Which outlaw did the most to wreak havoc across the frontier... And which outlaw left behind the biggest legacy? There’s hardly any overlap in the lives of the Frontier West’s two most famous lawbreakers, who may have crossed paths only once, but by presenting the essential details of their colorful if short careers side by side, Bill Markley gives us a chance to contemplate and compare the pair and decide for ourselves which one we believe was the greatest outlaw. The author offers his own informed opinion in the afterword, but no matter how anyone stacks them up against each other or against the other badmen of the Wild West, Jesse and the Kid are the two that never ride off into the sunset of our imaginations. They stick with us forever, and they never grow old.” —Gregory Lalire, editor of Wild West magazine

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WESTERN NON-FICTION—GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY: STAN JONES, THE SINGING RANGER

WESTERN NON-FICTION

GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY

THE LIFE OF STAN JONES—THE SINGING RANGER

In Death Valley National Monument, 1947, a handsome young park ranger idly plucks his guitar, writes a cowboy song, and strikes gold. This is the true story of Stan Jones, now told in full for the first time. His great song Ghost Riders in the Sky, continues to have a life of its own, performed all around the world in ever-changing musical modes, still casting an eerie spell over listeners today...Winner of the 2015 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for Arizona Biography...

 

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WESTERN NON-FICTION—JANE STREET: THE GIRL WHO DARED TO DEFY

WESTERN NON- FICTION

JANE STREET

THE GIRL WHO DARED TO DEFY

In the wake of the violent labor disputes in Colorado’s two-year Coalfield War, a young woman and single mother resolved in 1916 to change the status quo for “girls,” as well-to-do women in Denver referred to their hired help. Her name was Jane Street, and this compelling biography is the first to chronicle her defiant efforts—and devastating misfortunes—as a leader of the so-called housemaid rebellion.

A native of Indiana, Jane Street (1887–1966) began her activist endeavors as an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). In riveting detail, author Jane Little Botkin recounts Street’s attempts to orchestrate a domestic mutiny against Denver’s elitist Capitol Hill women, including wives of the state’s national guard officers and Colorado Fuel and Iron operators. It did not take long for the housemaid rebellion to make local and national news.

Despite the IWW’s initial support of the housemaids’ fight for fairness and better pay, Street soon found herself engaged in a gender war, the target of sexism within the very organization she worked so hard to support. The abuses she suffered ranged from sabotage and betrayal to arrests and abandonment. After the United States entered World War I and the first Red Scare arose, Street’s battle to balance motherhood and labor organizing began to take its toll. Legal troubles, broken relationships, and poverty threatened her very existence.

In previous western labor and women’s studies accounts, Jane Street has figured only marginally, credited in passing as the founder of a housemaids’ union. To unearth the rich detail of her story, Botkin has combed through case histories, family archives, and—perhaps most significant—Street’s own writings, which express her greatest joys, her deepest sorrows, and her unfortunate dealings with systematic injustice. Setting Jane’s story within the wider context of early-twentieth-century class struggles and the women’s suffrage movement, The Girl Who Dared to Defy paints a fascinating—and ultimately heartbreaking—portrait of one woman’s courageous fight for equality.

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WESTERN TRAILBLAZERS—NON-FICTION

WESTERN TRAILBLAZERS

NON-FICTION

A selection of non-fiction titles about Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson and other wilderness trailblazers as mention in episode #32 of the Six-Gun Justice Podcast...

WESTERN NON-FICTION—REMEMBER THE ALAMO

WESTERN NON-FICTION

REMEMBER THE ALAMO

The reference works shown below were invaluable in the preparation for the Six-Gun Justice Podcast episode—Remember the Alamo.

 

The Making of John Wayne’s The Alamo—Not Thinkin’...Just Remembering by John Farkis is a massive—almost 1000 pages—incredibly detailed last word on the making of the movie. Hard to old in one hand, practically impossible to read from beginning to end, but amazing to dip into again and again to learn something new. A masterwork... There is also a companion work, Alamo Village: How a Texas Cattleman Brought Hollywood to the Old West, in which Farkis details the building of the Alamo set...

 

 

 

Compiled by Rosemary Sforza Calcagno, Hollywood Goes To The Alamo—A fully Illustrated history of Hollywood films related to the Alamo is a good quick reference guide to sixteen Alamo related films accompanied by posters and lobby cards from those films.

 

 

 

As always, Brian Garfield’s Western Films—A Complete Guide was again a great resource of curmudgeonly wit and insight from a master of the Western.