Books of the old west Gary has read and found interesting, with his own thoughts on each.
The following are books of the old west that I have read and found interesting. I have added my own thoughts or impressions on each, which may or may not spark your interest. They are listed alphabetically by author’s name.
by Will C. Barnes, 1941
A very interesting account of life in the Arizona Territory. Barnes was right in the middle of some important and critical western history, from his time as a telegraph operator for the Army to being an early cattle rancher during an era of cattle rustling and free grazing. He was a bigger-than-life character, yet little has been written about him.
by John Boessenecker, 2012
Bob Paul was a lawman we all should have heard of, and probably a more impressive one than the Earp brothers. His mother put him on a whaling ship out of Boston when he was 12, and he ended up as sheriff of Pima County, Arizona, at a time when cattle rustling and murder on the range were rampant. For years he was also an agent for Wells Fargo and the railroads. I think if Bob Paul had been given a “Hollywood” name, he’d have been the hero of many a dime store novel.
by Don Dedera, 1958
The book chronicles the feud between two ranching families in the Tonto Basin of Arizona, probably one of the deadliest conflicts in the west not related to Native Americans or war. It gives a good, unbiased account of the feud and the people involved. The Tonto Basin range wars are a little-known piece of Arizona history.
by Billy Dixon, as transcribed by his wife, 1914
This autobiography is a great firsthand account of the settling of Kansas and of buffalo hunting. Billy Dixon was a buffalo hunter and scout who is famous for a three-quarter-mile shot at the Second Battle of Adobe Walls, Texas.
by Jeff Guinn, 2021
This account of Pancho Villa is a bit lengthy because of its detail on the political framework of Mexico from the late 1880s until World War I, but it captures the mood of America and its relationship with Mexico and Mexicans during that period. If you can wade through the pages of Mexican political history, it provides a great picture of Villa.
by Paul Andrew Hutton, 2016
A very comprehensive story of the Apache and the U.S. Army’s campaign to subdue and control the Apache in the Southwest. I’ve read several accounts of the Apache conflict with differing perspectives, and this book seems to have the best overview. It is filled with interesting details.
by John Sedgwick, 2021
A fascinating story of the battle for railroad supremacy as the Denver & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe competed to build rails west from Colorado’s Front Range to California. It is an interesting look at the political and economic consequences of moving rails westward, and it helps explain the power and influence the railroads had on the story of the west. I consider it a must-read for understanding the country’s move west.
by Daniel J. Sharfstein, 2017
The story of the Nez Perce and their demise at the hands of the United States government represents much of our country’s failure to settle the west without paying what was due to the Native tribes and peoples who were here first. The book is essentially two stories: the efforts of the Nez Perce and their chief, Joseph, to hold on to their homeland and way of life, and that of Army General Oliver Otis Howard, who was tasked with subduing the Nez Perce and confining them to a reservation that was not their homeland. It is the story of Native Americans and the U.S. Army, and of conflicts between those two forces repeated throughout the west.
by Hampton Sides, 2006
Kit Carson was a huge figure in the history of the west, and his presence in so many significant events of its exploration and settlement is immense. This story of his life, and the events he helped shape, is a must-read. Much like other great founding figures of America, his life is a story of contradiction and internal conflict. Kit Carson touched so many pieces of western history that it is amazing one man could cover so much ground and time during the settling of the west.
by Dale L. Walker, 1975
This story of the Rough Riders is a better read than The Rough Riders by Teddy Roosevelt, because it looks at the war in Cuba from a different perspective and with less of the hype Teddy wrote for his own promotion. Buckey O’Neill is a little-known Rough Rider today, but in Arizona at the time of the Spanish-American War he was a major political and influential leader. The Rough Riders who came back to Arizona after the war became the political foundation of Arizona as an emerging state.
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