Old West History

Saddle up for a wild ride with The Old West: A History of the American Frontier by Oscar Johnson. Oscar Johnson brings the past to life in a way that feels more like a fireside tale told by someone who smells faintly of a horse. This audiobook gives you everything you need to understand The Old West, without needing to be chased by bandits to appreciate it. This isn't the sort of history book that puts you to sleep after page three. There are no droning lectures or endless dates to memorise.

Dodge City, Kansas, is a place of legend. The town that started as a small military site exploded with the coming of the railroad, cattle drives, eager miners, settlers, and various entrepreneurs passing through to populate the expanding West. Before long, Dodge City’s streets were lined with...

Eight captivating manuscripts in one audiobook: The Wild West, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill, Seth Bullock, Davy Crockett, Annie Oakley, Jesse James, and Geronimo. Some of the topics covered in part one of this audiobook include: What the Native Americans of the West were really like before colonization, how the Spanish were some of the first Europeans to explore the West, the seven years during which Texas was its own country, and much, much more!

This is the story of the people, places, and events associated with the dramatic growth and equally rapid decline of the Wild West. It’s also the story of how myth and legend have shaped our understanding of this time to create an idealized perception of the American frontier. This is the real story of the Wild West.

The Four Horsemen have fought empires, raised nations, and shattered planes. But nothing has tested them like this. Thrown into a conflict where allies wear familiar faces and enemies know their secrets, Desari, Valter, Petor, and Mya must face what they left behind, their families, unfinished wars, and wounds that never healed. Old lives are crashing into new loyalties. The lines between who they were and who they’ve become are blurring. And the only way through is together—or not at all. To survive this, they’ll have to do more than fight.

The mythical legends and historical allure of the old west come galloping onward with The Old West Collection: Amazing Legends and Incredible Tales of the American West. This thundering audio compendium celebrates the epic events of America's frontier, whether rediscovering the California gold rush at Sutter's Mill in '49 or recreating the outsize personalities of John Jacob Astor to Belle Starr and Billy the Kid. From racing on horseback for Oklahoma land in '89 to Dodge and Last Chance Gulch.

The Rise of the West is famous for its ambitious scope and intellectual rigor. In it, McNeill challenges the Spengler-Toynbee view that a number of separate civilizations pursued essentially independent careers, and argues instead that human cultures interacted at every stage of their history. The author suggests that, from the Neolithic beginnings of grain agriculture to the present, major social changes in all parts of the world were triggered by new or newly important foreign stimuli, and he presents a persuasive narrative of world history to support this claim.

Discover the remarkable life of Butch Cassidy... Few children dream of growing up to rob banks and hold up trains, and Butch Cassidy was no exception. His transformation from an idealistic ranch hand to one of the most legendary outlaws of the American West was a slow, steady slide into a life of crime, shaped by choices that seemed small at the time but would alter the course of his entire existence.

Wyatt Earp was one of the most famous lawmen that the Wild West ever produced. He was also one of the longest-lived. Considering the fact that he lived all the way up until his 80s while many of his contemporaries never made it out of their 30s, this in itself was quite a feat. Wyatt Earp’s good friend and sidekick Doc Holliday, for example, perished at 36. But even though Earp lived a long life, he was no stranger to danger. He was shot at more times than he could count, and there were plenty of people out there who wanted him dead.

In 1848, Dooley Monahan, son of struggling Iowa pioneers, went off to to pick up a new milk cow. Young Dooley never came home. Now, nearly three decades later, Dooley Monahan has become an accidental legend, managing to plant a bullet in the chest of a dangerous outlaw. All Dooley really wants is to claim his reward at a bank in Phoenix and make his way north to a gold strike he read about in a newspaper.

The word cowboy conjures up vivid images of rugged men on saddled horses - men lassoing cattle, riding bulls, or brandishing guns in a shoot-out. White men, as Hollywood remembers them. What is woefully missing from these scenes is their counterparts: the Black cowboys who made up one-fourth of the wranglers and rodeo riders. This book tells their story. 

John Wesley Hardin had already become one of the most feared gunmen on the American frontier before his twenty-fifth birthday. A gambler, outlaw, and lightning-fast draw, Hardin left a trail of bodies across Texas that made even hardened lawmen hesitate to pursue him. When he was finally captured, authorities couldn't even agree on his true body count—estimates ranged from twenty to over forty victims. After his arrest, Hardin seemed destined to die behind bars.

After being held prisoner and tortured by the cruel Seelie Queen, West's past comes back to haunt him. His memories of a tragic event and the truth of what happened on the Light side goes deeper than anyone realizes. Things he wants no one to know about. Struggling with his own demons, he battles the very essence of what he is - a Dark Dweller - a terrifying beast from the Otherworld designed to hunt and kill. When the Unseelie King sends him to Ireland to uncover a dangerous artifact, West's entire world takes a dangerous turn.

From USA Today Bestselling Author Beverly Jenkins comes a new novel in a mesmerizing series set in the Old West, where an arranged marriage becomes a grand passion . . . What kind of mail-order bride greets her intended with a bullet instead of a kiss? One like Regan Carmichael—an independent...

Discover the remarkable life of Calamity Jane... Calamity Jane was an icon of the Wild West, and she lived her life just as free and wild as the Wild West stage shows she later performed in. Part of this wildness was not by choice but born of necessity. Her parents both passed when she was a young girl, forcing her to find a way to make it on her own. It was during this struggle for survival that she first embraced a free and unfettered lifestyle, learning to ride, shoot, and fend for herself in ways that would have been considered scandalous for women of her era.

Filled with unforgettable stories of emperors, generals, and religious patriarchs, as well as fascinating glimpses into the life of the ordinary citizen, Lost to the West reveals how much we owe to the Byzantine Empire that was the equal of any in its achievements, appetites, and enduring legacy...

Settlers in the frontier West were often easy prey for criminals. Policing efforts were scattered at best and often amounted to vigilante retaliation. To create a semblance of order, freelance enforcers of the law known as man-hunters undertook the search for fugitives. These pursuers have often been portrayed as ruthless bounty hunters, no better than the felons they pursued. Robert K. DeArment's detailed account of their careers redeems their reputations and reveals the truth behind their fascinating legends.

In just 20 years, from 1840 to 1860, an astounding 400,000 people faced the danger and uncertainty of an epic migration on the Oregon Trail. They did this to follow a dream of forging a new life in the West, facing hardship and risk at every mile. This is their amazing story.

One of the greatest basketball players of all time finally tells—with relentless honesty—the incredible story of his life. He is one of basketball's towering figures: "Mr. Clutch," who mesmerized his opponents and fans. The coach who began the Lakers' resurgence in the 1970s. The general...

Billy the Kid once said that he killed 22 men - one for each year that he lived. While it’s more likely that he only killed eight or nine, this young outlaw was clearly deadly. But his brief and brutal life reveals how his tragic existence led him into a life of crime. After growing up in poverty as an Irish immigrant in New York City and losing his father at a young age, Billy the Kid had to endure losing his mother when he was only 15.