Lives West

The Old West was wilder than the movies. Picture cowboys, saloons, railroads, and outlaws. You might think you know the Wild West, but Hollywood’s Westerns didn’t tell you the whole story. Reality was even wilder than fiction. Walk through the swinging doors of Old West saloons, ride along on daring escapes, and dive into the showdowns between sheriffs and outlaws. This book will make you look at the Wild West in a new light. Discover what really made the West wild in Wild Life.

Vodun: West African Spiritual Life explores and explains this often-misunderstood religion. It invites listeners to open their eyes and their minds to what Vodun is, where and why began, and how it’s practiced. You may think you know everything you need to know, because you’ve seen Hollywood’s interpretation of these spiritual practices, but this book proves those theories, misconceptions, artistic licenses, and theories wrong.

Williston, North Dakota, was a sleepy farm town for generations - until the frackers arrived. The oil companies moved into Williston, overtaking the town and setting off a boom that America hadn't seen since the Gold Rush. Workers from all over the country descended, chasing jobs that promised them six-figure salaries and demanded no prior experience. But for every person chasing the American dream, there is a darker side - reports of violence and sexual assault skyrocketed, schools overflowed, and housing prices soared.

When young Neddie Wentworthstein is accidentally left behind by his family at a train stop in the Wild West, he suddenly finds himself at the center of a whirlwind adventure involving sinister villains and extraordinary new allies - all seeming to revolve around a little jade turtle given to him by a mysterious shaman.

Rob Finn is joined by William Cody and Lonnie Walters as they begin their journey into the gold country of the west in 1862. Rob meets desperate and unscrupulous men such as Henry Plummer, as well as gentle and generous natives who heal and help the strangers in their land. We learn that the treasures of the earth are sought by greedy men on both sides of the Civil War, while lasting friendships are the goal of and reward for precious few hearty souls.

The most famous woman of the Wild West was also possibly the most colorful and mysterious. "Considered a remarkable good shot and a fearless rider for a girl of my age", Calamity Jane claimed to be a veteran of the Indian Wars, a scout, and the wife of Wild Bill Hickok, all on the way to becoming a dime novel heroine.

During the Civil War, the eyes of the nation usually stayed fixed to the Eastern theater, but one of the bright spots in the West for the Confederacy was Irish immigrant Patrick Cleburne, whose successes earned him the nickname "Stonewall of the West". Where so many Confederates were failing, Cleburne's strategic tactics and bold defensive fighting earned him fame and recognition throughout the South, even leading Lee to call him "a meteor shining from a clouded sky."

Of all the legends and folk heroes who lived in the 19th century, men such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, few actually accomplished as much as Kit Carson. A frontier boy who hopped onto the Santa Fe Trail as a teen, Carson became the quintessential mountain man during the 1830s and was literally a trailblazer for John C. Fremont's historic expeditions through the West in the 1840s.

The Wild West has made legends out of many men and women through the embellishment of their stories, but it was Buffalo Bill Cody who truly brought the Wild West to life. Though he had a long career, Buffalo Bill eventually became synonymous with his world-famous Wild West Show. By depicting stereotypical Western scenes, Buffalo Bill became one of the men most responsible for establishing how the public came to remember the Wild West.

Though he is no longer as well remembered as he once was, one of the most famous and notorious lawmen of the Wild West was Bat Masterson, who drifted around Dodge City and other parts of the West and was associated with legends like Wyatt Earp. Carrying a six-shooter that he called "the gun that tamed the West", Masterson was involved in several duels and shootouts, much of which was embellished during the early 20th century when he became a newspaper columnist.

Of all the colorful characters that inhabited the West during the 19th century, the man who has earned an enduring legacy as the region's quirkiest is John Henry "Doc" Holliday (1851-1887), a dentist turned professional gambler who was widely recognized as one of the fastest draws in the West. In fact, the only thing that might have been faster than the deadly gunman's draw was his violent temper, which was easily set off when Holliday was drunk. By the early 1880s, Holliday had been arrested nearly 20 times.

The Wild West has made legends out of many men after their deaths, but like Wild Bill Hickok, Jesse James was a celebrity during his life. However, while Hickok was (mostly) a lawman, Jesse James was and remains the most famous outlaw of the Wild West, with both his life of crime and his death remaining pop culture fixtures.

America has always preferred heroes who weren't clean cut, an informal ode to the rugged individualism and pioneering spirit that defined the nation in previous centuries. After the early 19th century saw the glorification of frontier folk heroes like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, a new breed of folk icons inhabited the Wild West, and one of the most notorious and controversial of them all is John Wesley Hardin, still regarded today as Texas' most deadly gunfighter and most famous outlaw.

Space may be the final frontier, but no frontier has ever captured the American imagination like the Wild West, which still evokes images of dusty cowboys, outlaws, gunfights, gamblers, and barroom brawls over 100 years after the West was settled. A constant fixture in American pop culture, the 19th-century American West continues to be vividly and colorful portrayed not just as a place but as a state of mind.

By his longtime friend and a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, the definitive biography of Larry McMurtry, the legendary author and screenwriter of Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, and Brokeback Mountain, who transformed our vision of the West. Before Larry McMurtry became one of the...

When Ethan's hard-won sanctuary faces its greatest test, the Chronos Flux threatens to unravel reality itself. His supernatural family—werewolf, elf, water nymph, and fierce newcomer—must venture into the scorching desert trials where ancient harmonies await and government hunters close in with deadly intent.

Our increasing reliance on technology and the Internet has opened a window for mathematicians and data researchers to gaze through into our lives. Using the data they are constantly collecting about where we travel, where we shop, what we buy, what interests us, they can begin to predict our daily habits, and increasingly we are relinquishing our decision making to algorithms - are we giving up this up too easily?

Columbine, newly returned from school in Denver to her beloved Colorado range land, must face four men in her life who signify for her either happiness and love or sorrow and pain. Among them is a mysterious rider - a man of middle age, gentle and kind, but so terrible a gun fighter that they called him "Hell Bent" Wade. Wade will come to play a fateful part in all their lives.

From Handbags to Hand Grenades is the riveting true story of Kathryn West, a courageous front-line officer in London’s Metropolitan Police force. From 1990 to 2020, she dedicated her life to serving and protecting the people of Britain during some of the most historical and life-altering events of our time.

This book invites you on a fascinating journey through timeless Chinese idioms that hold immense practicality in our everyday lives. Spanning a diverse range of themes such as strategic thinking, effective communication, meaningful relationships, the art of learning, emotional wellbeing, and the pursuit of achievement and success, these idioms resonate deeply in our modern existence, transcending cultural boundaries to offer universal wisdom.