Entertainment
Remembering a Western Literary Icon
- Published January 06, 2010
- Written by Johnny D. Boggs
Elmer Kelton leaves behind some big boots to fill.
Elmer Kelton (1926-2009)
- Published August 24, 2009
- Written by TW Editors
Our dear friend and world-renowned Western writer, Elmer Kelton, passed away on Saturday morning, August 22.
A Ranger War & Billy the Kid
- Published June 30, 2007
- Written by Candy Moulton
-"That avaricious Americanized way of thinking measured individual achievement in terms of acquisition. Rapaciously conquering and dominating the land, making it pay whopping dividends, was much preferred to eking out subsistence living by tending a cow and tilling a family garden plot,” Bob Alexander writes in Desert Desperadoes.
Good Luck Dogged My Trail
- Published September 30, 2007
- Written by Candy Moulton
Clay Mann branded his cows with a large “80” that stretched across their side. It was this 80 brand that changed Daniel Webster Wallace’s name for most of those who knew him to “80 John.” He continued to work for Mann and established his reputation as a number one cowboy and as a confidant who could be trusted with any discreet assignment.
—From African American National Biography
From Errol Flynn to Owen Wister
- Published May 31, 2007
- Written by Johnny D Boggs
"I love Newport because it is history preserved,” John Jakes writes in the afterword of his latest novel, The Gods of Newport. “I contrast this with my first adult visit to Boston, a week spent there to research The Rebels, the second volume of the Kent Family Chronicles. Eagerly I went to the site of the Boston Tea Party. I found real estate built on landfill, a dull green office building, a bronze plaque.
Vote Longmire for Sheriff
- Published August 01, 2007
- Written by Candy Moulton
The Old Cheyenne were with me, and I could feel their strength as I continued along the trail, my heavy boots forming the snow as I went. The drums were there too, matching my progress in perfect fashion, providing an easy rhythm and keeping my legs moving. I felt strong, like I hadn’t in many years, perhaps like I never had. I watched as my breath began blowing out ahead of me, and it was as if the wind did not affect it. The searing air felt good in my lungs, and I almost felt as if I could run; but the steady beat of the drums held, and so did I.
—The Cold Dish
An Endless Attraction to Billy
- Published April 01, 2007
- Written by Allen Barra
Michael Wallis’s first outlaw biography was on Oklahoma’s social bandit Pretty Boy Floyd, published in 1992. Now he’s written Billy the Kid:
The Endless Ride (W.W. Norton), which brings into focus the legend of the frontier’s more enigmatic figure.
Writing the Wicked West
- Published July 31, 2007
- Written by Candy Moulton
A gambling spirit is what inspired many people to head West in the first place. After working hard on a cattle drive or digging in a mine, men needed a way to relax and have fun. In keeping with that risk-taking spirit, many chose to wager their hard-earned money in the saloon,” Sherry Monahan writes in The Wicked West: Boozers, Cruisers, Gamblers, and more.
From Hondo to Big Ike
- Published April 01, 2007
- Written by Candy Moulton
Glenshannon’s spread was one of the biggest in Texas—or anywhere.... One of Glenshannon’s cowboys, an amateur geographer, once observed that it would take a man on a good horse a lot of breakfasts to circle it. Nobody ever tried.
