Best Reads (And They Aren't All Westerns)
Western writers share the books that most influenced their lives and craft.
By: TW Editors 07/01/2007
Allen Barra is the author of Inventing Wyatt Earp, which has been in print for nine years, and The Last Coach: A Life of Paul “Bear” Bryant, a national bestseller. He is a feature writer for The Wall Street JournalAmerican Heritage (now only available as an online publication). He is currently working on a biography of Yogi Berra.
Alexander the Great
Robin Lane Fox
This may be the best historical biography ever written, and it is certainly the best example of how to present different points of view of historical events.
The Return of Little Big Man
Thomas Berger
In this scandalously underappreciated follow-up to the greatest Western novel of all, Jack Crabb witnesses the street fight at the O.K. Corral (from underneath a wagon) and the massacre at Wounded Knee.
Jimmie Rodgers: The Life and Time of America’s Blue Yodeler
Nolan Porterfield
The great 1979 biography has just been reissued; it’s the best book ever written on the origins of Country music.
Long Time Leaving: Dispatches From Up South
Roy Blount, Jr.
In this collection of Roy Blount’s best and funniest pieces on the South, my favorite is “Slick Willie and the Marble Model,” in which Bill Clinton is squared off against Robert E. Lee.
Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride
Michael Wallis
Of the many books written on Billy, this one does the best job of telling us exactly why he was the only one to come out of the Lincoln County War as a legend.
The Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War
James McPherson
McPherson, our greatest living Civil War historian, torches several popular neo-confederate myths, such as the cause of the Civil War being states’ rights and not slavery.
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