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white heritage, straddled both cultures, heirs to one of the greatest family NONFICTION working tirelessly to protect the Dakota dynasties in history. In this Spur culture while accepting new ways such finalist for contemporary nonfiction, THOMAS G. ALEXANDER as farming, raising cattle and schools to the writing is simple, direct and urgent, and the Expansion of the survive the new realities. Extensive end- evincing a veteran reporter’s eye for the Mormon Faith notes and a detailed bibliography are telling detail. Heart-pounding scenes University of Oklahoma Press included. Every student of the Dakota of rodeo action convey the adrenaline- Hardcover, 392 pages, $29.95 peoples should read this book. stoked atmosphere with the immediacy OUPress.com – Bill Markley of a documentary film. – Kirk Ellis Thomas Alexander’s biography NATHAN E. BENDER is a new entry in the University of The Art of the English Trade Gun in JULIA BRICKLIN Oklahoma Press’s Oklahoma North America Polly Pry: The Woman Who Wrote the Biographies Series. A noted scholar in McFarland & Company West Mormon and Western history, Alexan- Paperback, 171 pages, $45 TwoDot Books der has written a biography intended McFarlandBooks.com Hardcover, 206 pages, $24.95 for the general reader, though special- This detailed and meticulously GlobePequot.com ists will find much of value in his book. researched book “directly addresses the Polly Pry, first female journalist Given that much of what is out there is question of why particular ornamental for the Post, was adventurous, either anti-Young or adulatory, Alexan- patterns of known symbolic signifi- outspoken and perhaps a creator of fake der carefully sifts fact from legend as he cance were chosen for Native American . “Polly” (Leonel Ross Campbell) examines the numerous controversies in trade items.” The narrative draws from might have invented some of the stories which Brigham Young was embroiled. the works of 17th and 18th Century her readers avidly followed. Did she re- These include the issue of plural English rifle-makers, whose guns were ally travel to and Moscow or inter- marriage, the real guilty parties in the used by early American fur men for view Pancho Villa in Mexico? Author Mountain Meadows massacre, and the bargaining with their Indian clients Julia Bricklin expertly offers all of the so-called Mormon War of 1857. Read- and neighbors. The book is heavily evidence and sums up Pry’s six-decade ers might be surprised at the number of illustrated with clear, black-and-white career: “Above all, Polly Pry showed excommunications of dissident Mor- photographs of some of the weapons as that a woman wielding a pen could mons in the early years after the revela- well as by the design elements engraved shape the West as well as any man tions of Joseph Smith. For anyone upon them. This book will be enjoyed holding a gun.” Pry ruffled feathers, unfamiliar with Young’s leadership and by anyone interested in American fur- and some wanted her dead, going so the growth of the Mormon church this trade history, Indian trade guns and the far as to shoot as she opened her front biography will prove both informative artistic abilities of the gunmakers who door. Bricklin put in thorough work on and fascinating. produced these beautiful firearms. this 2019 Spur finalist for biography, – Abraham Hoffman – James A. Crutchfield neatly presenting all of the research GARY CLAYTON ANDERSON while at the same time giving readers JOHN BRANCH Gabriel Renville: From the Dakota War an entertaining glimpse into what made The Last Cowboys: A Pioneer Family in to the Creation of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Leonel Ross Campbell tick. the New West Reservation, 1825-1892 – Denise F. McAllister W. W. N o r t o n & C o. South Dakota Historical Society Press Hardcover, 288 pages, $26.95 KEVIN BRITZ and ROGER L. Hardcover, 220 pages, $29.95 WWNorton.com SDHSPress.com NICHOLS This intimate and unflinching ac- Tombstone, Deadwood and Dodge City: Gabriel Renville (1825-1892) played count of the Wright family of Utah’s at- Re-Creating the Frontier West a key role in establishing the Lake tempt to sustain their ranching heritage University of Oklahoma Press Traverse Reservation for the Sisse- in changing times benefits tremendously Hardcover, 266 pages, $32.95 ton and Wahpeton in from New York Times reporter-at-large OUPress.com northeastern South Dakota stretching John Branch’s ability to capture the In this absorbing book, Kevin Britz, into southeastern North Dakota. This lyricism of the American West and the professor emeritus of history at the Uni- biography of Renville recounts not hard realities of modern “” liv- versity of Arizona, and Roger L. Nich- only events of Renville’s life but also ing. The compelling narrative juxtapos- ols, a museum professional and writer the struggles of the Dakota peoples to es the challenges faced by patriarch Bill who died in 2011, chronicle how three maintain their way of life as the influx Wright to preserve the family’s holdings iconic Old West towns – Tombstone, of settlers and demands of the federal against encroachment with the competi- Arizona; Deadwood, South Dakota; government forced changes upon them. tion between his sons and grandsons, and Dodge City, Kansas – used that Renville, who was of mixed Dakota and JUNE 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 37 37 heritage to boost struggling economies. ment experiences and the hardships of federal financing to construct a Western But it took time before citizens in those a Mexican friend who journeys home transportation empire that had, as Jim three former boomtowns accepted that to visit his dying mother, only to be DeFelice puts it, “a veritable monopoly historical images of violence weren’t forced into an illegal return crossing, over delivery in an area they expected necessarily bad for business. “To present goes beyond politics to portray the heart to boom in population.” Their effort their cities as modern, promoters tried and spirit of the individual people who was not soon forgotten, in no small part to deny that picture or to present it as inhabit our Southwestern borderlands. due to Buffalo Billy Cody’s featuring the just an early step in local development,” The region’s forbidding yet magnificent in his Wild West extrava- the authors write. “Those efforts failed.” landscapes come alive on every page ganza. Although records have been lost As anyone who has visited Tombstone, of the book, a deserved double Spur and tall tales told (Cody most likely was Deadwood or Dodge City recently winner for contemporary nonfiction and no young ), DeFelice smoothly know. first nonfiction book. delivers all the truths, myths and uncer- – Johnny D. Boggs – Kirk Ellis tainties in this Spur finalist for historical nonfiction. FRANCISCO CANTÚ JIM DeFELICE – Gregory Lalire The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches West Like Lightning: The Brief, from the Border Legendary Ride of the Pony Express BENJAMIN DREYER Riverhead Books William Morrow Dreyer’s English: An Utterly Correct Hardcover, 256 pages, $26 Hardcover, 357 pages, $27.99 Guide to Clarity and Style PenguinRandomHouse.com HarperCollins.com Son of a park ranger in Texas’s That William Russell, Alexander Hardcover, 291 pages, $25 Guadalupe Mountains and a four-year Majors and William Waddell’s Pony RandomHouseBooks.com Border Patrol veteran, Francisco Cantú Express flashed in the historic spotlight A new punctuation/grammar book brings unique insight to this beautifully for only 18 months, April 1860-October wouldn’t normally get attention, let written account of immigration and 1861, was no surprise to the enterpris- alone an enthusiastic review in The New backlash. In evocative, impassioned, ing trio. They knew from the start their York Times, except that in this case the often achingly personal language, the rapid horseback mail service would be book is by Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief author succeeds in putting a universal a short-lived project because transcon- at Random House. This informative, human face onto both sides of the most tinental telegraph and railroad services sometimes hilarious discussion about contentious issue of our times. Cantú’s loomed on the horizon. Their goal, copy-editing is a page-turner as the parallel focus on his own law enforce- ultimately unrealized, was to get enough mysteries of serial commas, problematic The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful Discover How Their Trails Crossed Tom Hor n: Blood on the Moon New by Chip Carlson Nighthawk Rising ! A Biography of Accused Cattle Rustler Horn was a death sentence to rustlers and the devil incarnate to homesteaders. When he was Queen of arrested for the murder of 14-year-old Willie by Diana Allen Kouris Nickell, it ignited a firestorm of controversy Ann Bassett was known as which has raged for over 100 years. Chip Carl- the “Queen of the Cattle Rus- son’s research into this true crime story leads tlers.” Queen Ann lived a life the reader to ask if justice was served. adventure and controversy on trade paper • 384 pp • $19.95 the Outlaw Trail in , Wyo ming, and Utah. She

Butch Cassidy: My uncle broke bread with Butch Cas- “Bill Betenson is the great-grandson of Butch sidy, had her life turned up- Cassidy’s younger sister, Lula Parker Betenson. side down by notorious range His own quest for answers has been a lifelong detective , and pursuit. His writing reveals a comprehensive, stood tall against powerful objective, and balanced approach, an open dis- cattle barons. course of reason. He equally covers the var- Anyone with an interest ious, and at times conflicting, accounts and in Western History will want fairly reconsiders the evidence of record.” this comprehensive book! —Larry Pointer—

author of In Search of trade paper • 416 pp • $19.95 or trade paper • 192 pp • $19.95 Only 300 limited edition signed hardcovers • 416pp • $35 To order or request a free catalog: High Plains Press PO Box 123, Glendo, WY 82213 1-800-552-7819 www.highplainspress.com

38 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 apostrophes and subject-predicate agreement are solved. For classes and individual attention. A lively, fascinating book. writers of everything from e-mails to books, this is a must- – Melody Groves have, to be placed next to Strunk and White’s The Elements of CYNTHIA LEANNE LANDRUM Style. The Dakota Experience at Flandreau and Pipestone Indian – David Morrell Schools JOHN FARKIS University of Nebraska Press The Making of Tombstone: Behind the Scenes of the Classic Hardcover, 312 pages, $55 Modern Western NebraskaPress.unl.edu McFarland & Company In this in-depth, well-researched, and scholarly book, the Paperback, 250 pages, $39.95 author begins by describing American Indian and white McFarlandBooks.com prophesies, relationships and family ties from the 1500s to John Farkis takes readers behind the scenes of the making the present and how those led to the development of Indian of a movie that is not a “Classic Modern Western” by any Schools across the United States. The author also gives a means but certainly a cult favorite. (If you’re not familiar short description of the organization and location of the with every miracle it took to get this 1993 movie made, read Lakota, Dakota and Nakota tribes before detailing the history Michael F. Blake’s article in the December 2017 Roundup.) of – and making comparisons of, and contrasts between – Farkis is the type of historian who leaves out no fact (case in Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota and Pipestone In- point, Not Thinkin’ … Just Rememberin’ …: The Making of John dian School in Minnesota. Facts and figures are given, along Wayne’s The Alamo, his 990-page look on that 1960 box-office with positive and negative personal stories and feedback from dud). Quotes go on forever in his latest film history, filled students and staff. An excellent book for anyone who has had with a lot of good information but far too much minutia and family at Flandreau or Pipestone Indian Schools, anyone re- way too many viewpoints. Yet considering how rabidly pas- searching Indian school history, or anyone interested in what sionate fans are about this movie, those readers likely won’t Indian school life was like during different time periods. get enough. – Jean A. Lukesh – Johnny D. Boggs HOMER McCARTY (writer) and CORALIE M. BEYERS FORREST FENN and CARLEEN MILBURN (editor) Leon Gaspard: The Call of Distant Places Chasing Good Sense: A Boy’s Life on the Frontier The TIA Collection/Fenn Archive Hardcover, 411 pages, $125 OldSantaFeTradingCo.com Born in Russia, Leon Gaspard (1882-1964) studied art in Odessa, Moscow and Paris, where he met American bal- let student Evelyn Adell, whom he married and took on a two-year pack trip through Siberia for a honeymoon. Yes, they weren’t your typical couple. Forrest Fenn and Carleen Milburn tell the story of the Gaspards, who settled in the thriving art community of Taos, , in 1924 in this beautifully conceived book filled with color reproductions of the artist’s works, all revealing Gaspard’s incredible life, art and legacy. As Gaspard said, “Absolute happiness can be achieved by good fellowship, and good conversation, and a drink of vodka.” – Johnny D. Boggs Paperback • $ GAIL L. JENNER One Room: Schools and Schoolteachers in the Pioneer West TwoDot Books Trade paperback, 160 pages, $22 GlobePequot.com At one time, almost every child not taught at home was educated in a small, often isolated, one-room school. Its furnishings, school materials, curriculum and teaching qual- ity varied from one locale to another. Filled with amazing photos and descriptions, One Room illustrates how much our Paperback • $ educational system has changed in 100-plus years. A fascinat- ing study of schools in the West, this book takes the reader into a world of yesteryear, making the reader both glad and Available at bookstores, sad those days have faded. Stories range from Nebraska bliz- at wsupress.wsu.edu, or by zards in which children perished to glorious days of small phone at 800-354-7360

JUNE 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 39 University of Utah Press In 1879, and a handful eign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees Paperback, 374 pages, $19.95 of gang members robbed a Chicago & in the North American Borderlands. The UofUPress.com Alton Railroad train at Glendale, Mis- 10 years were well spent. Rensink has Coralie Beyers ran into her grandfa- souri. In collaboration with the Jackson produced a clearly written, imagina- ther on the bus in 1948 when she was a County Historical Society, the author tively researched and thought-provoking senior at the University of Utah and he details the robbery and its aftermath, account of indigenous people encoun- was going to a writer’s conference at the which led to arrests, confessions, convic- tering borders, and living in borderland, University of Utah. Under his arm, the tions and the downfall of the James sometimes even bisected by the inter- 80-year-old man carried a bulky manu- Gang. A solid collection of facts, but national boundary. The result, the 2019 script of the story of his life as a 5- to with poor writing, bad photo reproduc- Spur winner for historical nonfiction, 8-year-old in Southern Utah of 1873- tions and amateurish production values. will be of use not just to academicians 1876. The manuscript passed through – Johnny D. Boggs but to the subjects of his research who, famous hands before Beyers brought it in Rensink’s words, continued to assert BRENDEN W. RENSINK to the University of Utah Press. Written their own identity until they were “na- Native but Foreign: Indigenous in a Huck Finn patois, the difficult-to- tive, but foreign no longer.” Immigrants and Refugees in the North read book unfolds in a gentle pace that American Borderlands – James McGrath Morris reflects the pace of life as it was lived. MARK J. NELSON Forty-two stories in four parts make the Texas A&M University Press Hardcover, 304 pages, $40 White Hat: The Military Career of book not so much a page-turner as a bit TAMUPress.com Captain William Philo Clark of a reference book. But it took courage to write and it took courage to publish. There is probably no greater artificial University of Oklahoma Press Hardcover, 280 pages, $29.95 – Edward Massey geographical concept than a national border, especially for people whose lives OUPress.com RALPH A. MONACO II and culture predate the imposition of Since Lieutenant William Philo Clark The Bandit Rides Again: Jesse James, borders. Brigham Young University wore a white hat, the Indian scouts he Whiskeyhead Ryan, and the Glendale historian Brenden W. Rensink has spent commanded in the mid-1870’s gave him a decade examining how indigenous the name “White Hat.” This 2019 Spur Monaco Publishing people were affected by the establish- winner for biography details Clark’s Trade paperback, 240 pages, $20 ment of North American boundaries, military service from West Point to his MonacoPublishing.net first for his doctoral dissertation and adventures on the Great Plains and his now the resulting book Native But For- duties at Army headquarters. Clark STORIES WRITTEN AND NARRATED BY DAVID G. RASMUSSEN HISTORICAL FICTIONS WITH TRUTHS AS TO WHERE AND WHEN THE MAN WHO MOILED CASTIZO THE WYAKIN TRILOGY FOR GOLD

CASTIZO THE WYAKIN TRILOGY Modern and ancient New Mexico cultures clash A terrifying time-shift with apparitions is when an elderly direct decedent of the original experienced by a fctitious writer in the wild THE MAN WHO MOILED FOR GOLD Spanish settlers (CASTIZOS) chooses to escape an Missouri River Breaks of central . This was Hardrock miner, Charley Marten, names himself: Albuquerque rest home and return to his land described in the Prologue of “Legend of The Wyakin.” after the famous line from the poem: “The Cremation grant ranch in the wilderness. He is pursued by his The Writer is driven by the experience to create of Sam McGee” by Robert W. Service in 1912; after successful son across the desert area west of “Legend of The Dreamer and Legend of The recounting his gold mining life to his family. They are Albuquerque as hunter and prey. Shaman” where an epilogue completes the story arc amazed when he told of being a vigilante and back at the Missouri River Breaks. hanging the notorious Montana road agents. www.dgrasmussen.com | www.wyakinspirit.com | [email protected] Available as Audio Books, Paper Back and E-Books from Amazon, Kindle and Audio. Com

40 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 played a major role in ’s so much trouble, considering that it’s and cultural studies graduate seminars surrender and the events resulting in now legal in various states. But it’s easy and those who enjoy such pursuits. Crazy Horse’s death. He led an adven- to believe that the crew that waged – Glenn Frankel turous 39 years of life, participating in this caper came from the physical and Indian fights, exploration surveys and metaphorical borderlands – possibly the JOSHUA WHEELER Acid West: Essays other actions on the northern plains. DNA of America’s future. Clark became interested in the Indians’ – Deanne Stillman FSG Originals use of sign language, resulting in the Trade paperback, 416 pages, $17 FSGOriginals.com posthumous publication of his book, DAVID TREUER The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native The Indian Sign Language. Anyone inter- Alamogordo, New Mexico-based America from 1890 to the Present ested in the army’s interactions with the Joshua Wheeler’s debut book is a gor- northern plains’ tribes and Clark’s role Riverhead Books geously crafted meditation on some of will want to read White Hat. Hardcover, 512 pages, $28 the more bizarre corners of his home PenguinRandomHouse.com – Bill Markley turf, by turns hilarious and disturbing, Whereas Dee Brown’s book Bury and always thought provoking. Subjects RENYA K. RAMIREZ My Heart at Wounded Knee ended at range from cattle bleached white by Standing Up to Colonial Power: The Lives 1890, David Treuer picks up the story the world’s first nuclear blast at Trin- of Henry Roe and Elizabeth Bender Cloud and continues through to the present ity, a treasure hunt for buried Star Wars University of Nebraska Press day. He gathered material to formulate video games and (of course) the annual Hardcover, 304 pages, $29.95 his thoughts by studying the written UFO festival in Roswell, in addition to NebraskaPress.unl.edu. record, traveling to significant sites and more autobiographical accounts of the In this personal account of the au- looking inward to his Indian self. Born author’s eccentric family. Unlike many thor’s Ho-Chunk and ancestors’ and raised “on the rez,” of an Ojibwe essay collections, which suffer from a creative combination of traditional and mother and a Jewish Holocaust survivor sense of randomness, Wheeler’s stories white environments we discover the father, he brings a unique background are linked by a unifying theme: how our genius of the Clouds. Their leadership to his thoughts and writing. He seems vision of the West has metastasized from in the battle for native rights has had to restate the theory of a self-fulfilling the frontier to the outer limits of space, immense impact on the government’s prophecy when he writes, “And I worry and how infrequently reality verifies the relationship to American Indians. Their that if we tell the story of the past as a myth. skill at blending native warrior and tragedy we consign ourselves to a tragic – Kirk Ellis modern identities in the course of their future ….” This is an important book careers serve as an example for those that belongs on the shelves of students engaged in civil rights activism. of the American Indian story. PLAYS – Vernon Schmid – Lynn Bueling KERMIT SCHWEIDEL ALIREZA VAHDANI RED SHUTTLEWORTH Folly Cove: A Smuggler’s Tale of the Pot The Hero and the Grave: The Theme of 1970: Wagon Mound, New Mexico; 1971: Rebellion Death in the Films of John Ford, Akira Liberal, Kansas; 1972: Hobart, Oklahoma; Cinco Puntos Press Kurosawa and Sergio Leone 1973: Gerlach, Nevada; 1974: Plainview, Trade paperback, 266 pages, $16.95 McFarland & Company Texas; 1975: Glenwood Springs, Colorado; CincoPuntos.com Paperback, 175 pages, $39.95 1976: Rattlesnake Station, Idaho; 1977: McFarlandBooks.com Devils Den, California; 1978: Gascoyne, Kermit Schweidel ran a successful ad North Dakota; 1979: Missoula, Montana agency in Dallas and then, midcareer, Violent death is as essential a part of returned to his hometown of El Paso, the Western genre as heroes, horses and Bunchgrass Press Chapbooks, no prices listed Texas, and became embroiled in one six-shooters. Not only is it usually a key PoetRedshuttleWorth.blogspot.com of the biggest pot heists of the 1970s. plot element supplying conflict, tension In this witty, engaging Spur finalist for and resolution, but as Alireza Vahdani For the decade of the 1970s, these contemporary nonfiction book, Schwei- points out, it also helps imbue Westerns short plays and monologues from Red del recounts the amazing episode, weav- with social and political meaning and Shuttleworth’s “Americana West” series ing in the voices of the border rats who clarifies their moral outlook. Some stretch from Wagon Mound, New signed on – a kind of “Oceans 11” of characters fear death, while others take Mexico, to Missoula, Montana. Featur- marijuana smuggling set against the tur- its threat in stride, but it is the great ing his dry wit and ear for dialogue, bulent context of the era’s foreign and cleanser of illusions and lies, forcing the Shuttleworth gives us President Richard domestic wars. This tale has everything, community to confront the forces that Nixon discussing America with a waiter from wayward officials to smuggling threaten its safety and define its charac- at a Gerlach, Nevada, café; a burglary via air and sea to murder, the mafia ter. Vahdani, a film analyst and fiction gone wrong at an ice-cream shop; and and the Drug Enforcement Agency. writer, knows intimately the works of a middle-aged divorcee walking around But more importantly, we get to know a his three masters and the links between Liberal, Kansas, in an astronaut suit. band of brothers who just wanted to get them, and he deftly invokes philosophy, A brilliant mix of theater of the absurd high. It’s hard to believe that marijuana religion, anthropology, sociology, and and touching portraits of small-town – what Schweidel calls “the human history as he rides the range. But it’s a America. equivalent of catnip” – once caused dry, dense journey, best suited for film – Johnny D. Boggs JUNE 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 41 Center Point Large Print State House Press JUVENILE Hardcover, 316 pages, $34.95 Paperback, 382 pages, $39.95 CenterPointLargePrint.com TAMUPress.com JEAN ABERNETHY (author and Evan Kendrick didn’t set out to ride This 2019 Spur finalist in juvenile illustrator) 1,800 miles across the United States nonfiction tells the story of Texas from Fergus and The Night Before Christmas on his father’s ornery, home-brew- Mexico’s independence from in Trafalgar Press colored mustang. But when dad bets 1821 until Texas’s annexation by the Hardcover, 40 pages, $15.95 his New Mexico home on winning a United States in 1846. Hardin, a profes- HorseAndRiderBooks.com cross-country race from Galveston to sor at McMurry University in Abilene, To the sing-song rhythm of the New England – and can’t ride, Evan has opens with the immediate aftermath of original Night Before Christmas comes this no choice but to join his new friends, the fall of the Alamo, but his history laugh-out-loud tale about the cartoon Dindie Remo and Arena Lancaster, on starts well before and goes way beyond horse, Fergus. In this instance, Santa’s the starting line. With quirky characters that battle, the massacre of Texas pris- sleigh is haphazardly drawn by the most and a course rooted deep in American oners at Goliad and the Texas victory hodge-podge team of 11 horses (not history, Boggs proves he’s a master of at San Jacinto. In short, easy-to-digest reindeer) that one will ever see. The dialog and setting, and his choice of chapters aimed at general readers and team is led, of course, by Fergus. As in, present-tense narrative offers an imme- students grades seven through 12, he “With a snowy-faced leader so spooky diacy to the story’s mounting suspense. lays out the political intrigues leading and quick, I started to worry about old Through saddle sores, ruffians, rain- up to the fight for Texas independence, St. Nick! This horse had ONE SHOE, storms and rivers to cross, the young – the continuing hostilities between Texan and a little hay belly, and googley eyes and young at heart – will thrill to Evan’s and Mexican forces after San Jacinto, that were utterly silly.” This engaging, trek in the 2019 Spur winner for juvenile the birth of the Texas Rangers, bloody comically illustrated book, a 2019 Sto- fiction. conflicts with and much ryteller Spur finalist, engages the reader, – Richard Prosch more. In his effort to achieve accessibil- ity, Hardin includes no footnotes. But ages toddler to old folks. All will be (author) JONI FRANKS RAQUEL the book boasts an extensive bibliogra- especially thrilled with the warmhearted (illustrator) RODRIGUEZ phy and is generously illustrated with surprise at the end. Corky Tails: Tales of a Tailless Dog drawings and maps. – Irene Bennett Brown Named Sagebrush: Sagebrush and the Butterfy Creek Flood – Ollie Reed Jr. FRANCIE M. BERG Buffalo Heartbeats Across the Plains: The ALLEN MORRIS JONES (author and Last Great Hunts and Saving the Buffalo Paperback, 54 pages, $24.99 illustrator) Xlibris.com Montana for Kids, The Story of Our State Dakota Buttes Visitors Council Hardcover, 256 pages, $34.95 In this story for third and fourth grad- Bangtail Press HettingerND.com ers, tiny fairy people called Shuns – a Hardcover, paperback, 48 pages, $19.95, married couple named Acorn and Rain- $12.59 The winner of this year’s Spur for best BangtailPress.com juvenile nonfiction is a superb achieve- bow and their baby, Termite – are in This is history kids will go for. Writ- ment. It covers everything about buffalo danger from a terrible storm and flooded ten in a fun way that’s easy for kids you can imagine and some things you Butterfly Creek. Luckily, Sagebrush, to understand, each story is just long hadn’t even imagined – from the devel- the lovable talking Corgi puppy, and enough to entertain, hold interest and opment stages of a buffalo bull’s horns, his brave and capable human, Young inform. Montana’s great history comes to the uses Plains Indians made of dif- Miss, engage in search and rescue. A to life, not just for readers who live in ferent parts of a buffalo’s body, to how human, Mr. Hiker Man, having fallen in Montana, but also for those who visit a buffalo bull would fare in showdowns the flooded creek and thinking only of Montana, want to learn about Montana with Mexican fighting bulls. A pleasure himself, demands that Young Miss and or simply love Montana. Here are the to read and beautifully illustrated with Sagebrush rescue him first and forget first peoples, when horses came, bison, paintings by the likes of Charlie Rus- the Shuns. But will they? Attractive il- Lewis & Clark, mountain men, Indian sell and George Catlin, contemporary lustrations and thoughtful action fulfill wars, steamboats, miners, the railroad, photographs, drawings and charts, this the message that “all lives matter – even homesteaders, vigilantes, ranchers. His- is a difficult-to-resist invitation to young those of fairies.” Side note: The Big Cot- torical photos and cutwork illustrations readers to learn about the great Ameri- tonwood Flood followed by the Hayden by the author enrich the whole. The can bison from early on to near extinc- Pass Creek Fire in Colorado moved Joni author has long experience in writing tion to thundering herd once more. And Franks to write this story. books for adults, in writing magazine adult readers will find it a valuable ad- – Irene Bennett Brown articles and work as a book editor. (For dition to their shelf of Western history example, he co-edited with William reference books. STEPHEN L. HARDIN Kittredge The Best of Montana Short Fic- – Ollie Reed Jr. Lust for Glory: An Epic Story of Early tion.) Montana for Kids, his first book for JOHNNY D. BOGGS Texas and the Sacrifce That Defned a children, is this year’s Spur winner for Taos Lightning Nation illustrated children’s book. – Irene Bennett Brown

42 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 Sundown Press POETRY Trade paperback, 307 pages, $14.99 SundownPress.com JOHN D. NESBITT Arizona Ranger John Briggs is sent to Oro to Rangeland and Prairie: Western Poems find the killer of the women who lived at the Citadel. This RR Productions story will keep you guessing as Briggs interviews the men Paperback, 23 pages, price not listed of Apache Oro, searching for information and a lead to the killer’s identity. Sam Fadala has done an outstanding job in The poems in award-winning author John D. Nesbitt’s entertaining the reader. The surprise comes at the end when chapbook offer rediscoveries of forgotten familiars, layers of the killer is revealed. A must read. truths, humor and love, often with twists that amuse and sur- prise. Nesbitt’s Spur Award-winning poem, “Prairie Center,” – Lowell F. Volk is an honest, spot-on depiction of the cycles of life and death W. M I C H A E L G E A R and love and loss in a quintessential Western landscape, writ- Flight of the Hawk: The Plains ten by someone who knows it, and of it, intimately. Several Five Star Publishing of these poems are novels in miniature, revealing lives loved, Hardcover, 275 pages, $25.95 lived and unlived, and lost. Nesbitt’s understated, smooth de- Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar pictions linger in the mind and refuse to leave, reminders that This novel, part two in a series, is set around the time of life goes on long after closing time. This choice chapbook is the War of 1812 and among the fur trappers and Indians. now included in a recent second edition of Nesbitt’s Western John Tylor, having been accused of treason for taking part poetry collection, Thorns on the Rose. in the Aaron Burr conspiracy, has fled into the wilderness. – Matthew P. Mayo He is being pursued by Fenway McKeever, one of the evilest villains to grace the pages of a novel. McKeever will stop at nothing to capture, torture and kill his quarry. This taut, FICTION nerve-wracking story of pursuit has more twists and turns than a mountain road, more characters than the population C.K. CRIGGER of many small towns. A list of English translations of Indian The Woman Who Built a Bridge words would be helpful. However, Gear clearly has done his Wolfpack Publishing research, and his knowledge of the time and people he writes Paperback, 294 pages, $8.99 WolfpackPublishing.com The 2019 Spur winner for romance novel is a different sort of historical romance, and the heroine is a decidedly differ- ent sort of woman. No shrinking violet, enterprising January Schutt is a woman bent on making her own way. She wants to be left alone, not drawn into the political struggles facing others in the small valley where she has settled. When Shay Billings, who discovers a newly built bridge across the river on his way home, is ambushed and left for dead, January rescues him. Through this encounter, the pair soon becomes involved in a larger conflict surrounding them and their neighbors along with a powerful adversary who is determined to confiscate their water and property rights. – Gail L. Jenner PATRICK DEAREN Apache Lament Five Star Publishing Hardcover, 274 pages, $25.95 Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar Ranger Company A, made up of eight men – each with his own dark secret – pursues a small band of free-ranging Mescalero who have been raiding and killing white settlers. As they travel, conflicts develop among the Rangers. The book is full of twists that will keep you guessing what is going to happen next. The book will hold your interests to the end. An entertaining read. – Lowell F. Volk SAM FADALA Death Stalks Apache Oro

JUNE 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 43 about rings true. An excellent work on Ranger, and all that happens in a single the reader something new about the Na- a period not nearly enough covered in month, reminds readers of the stories of vajo Nation and life on the reservation, Western fiction. Royal Canadian Mounted Police who and the setting will sit you right down to – James J. Griffin “always get their man.” As a Western, experience it all for yourself. it’s refreshing to see it set in the modern – Carol Crigger JON GOSCH day. The investigative procedures of the Deep Fire Rise Rangers come across well. Griffin has JAMES HITT Bodie Latah Books obviously done his homework, but the Trade paperback, 219 pages, $16.50 story would have been helped by a good Black Horse LatahBooks.com editor eliminating redundant conver- Hardcover, 160 pages, $18.43 BHWesterns.com The day Mount St. Helens blew sations (no need to have the action (May 18, 1980) is a historical event that recounted several times) and changing Engaged to the attractive daughter of will remain in memory as long as those the protagonist’s name (Blawcyzk) to the wealthiest man in the town, Josh of us close enough to be covered in ash one readers can pronounce. Thorn is a lawyer with a bright future in live. Jon Gosch has written a vivid and – Melody Groves the town of Bodie, California. But when compelling story of the characters who an equally attractive prostitute is beaten, lived around the volcano: the foolhardy, SUSAN HENDERSON raped and dares to fight back against a the criminals, the unbelievers and those The Flicker of Old Dreams wealthy and powerful man, Josh is faced with a strong sense of duty, all of whom Harper Collins with a thorny decision. The author has have a place in history. The small-town Trade paperback, 299 pages, $15.99 written a short but excellent tale that atmosphere during tough times as HarperCollins.com chronicles the lawyer’s principled deci- depicted in this novel is spot on. As the Mary Crampton has always been sion and the bloody aftermath which tension ramps up to the mountain’s ac- someone who doesn’t quite fit into her follows it. This book is the kind of tual explosion, the reader gets to know small, Montana town, perhaps because Western that every traditional novelist Deputy Tom Wilson, who suddenly and her father owns the local funeral home seeks to pen. tragically has to deal with the murder of where, as an adult, Mary is the embalm- – R.G. Yoho his best friend and mentor. Riveting. er. Her clearest memory as a child was M.J. HOLT – Carol Crigger the day the town’s star athlete died in an Confessions to Mr. Roosevelt accident at the grain elevator. The town THERESE GREENWOOD blamed Robert, the victim’s younger Five Star Publishing Kill as You Go brother, and, as time wore on, the inci- Hardcover, 200 pages, $25.95 Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar Coffin Hop Press dent tore the town apart. Now Robert Trade paperback, 217 pages, $14.99 is back to care for his dying mother and During the not so Great Depression, CoffinHop.com Mary is attracted to him, although he’s the Roosevelt administration created Therese Greenwood’s editor accurate- still ostracized by the locals. Mary must the Federal Writers Project to provide ly describes her writing as “Just good, decide whether to stay where she is or writers an income. They recorded solid, sharp, tight, entertaining storytell- leave a decaying town and take up a the experiences of older Americans, ing.” Kill as You Go, a title deriving from wider life with Robert. primarily in rural areas. This histori- the card game Euchre, contains 14 sto- – Carol Crigger cal novel addresses the experience of ries of murder and mayhem in Ellen Hartley, a fresh-out-of-college assembled from her work in Ellery Queen ANNE HILLERMAN unemployed journalist. Her interviews Mystery Magazine and other anthologies. The Tale Teller: A Leaphorn, Chee & in a small Kansas town uncover five Novel Greenwood is a two-time finalist for the decades of tensions among some of the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Harper Collins pioneers. Discovery of a skeleton at a Award and winner of the Bony Pete Hardcover, 304 pages, $26.99 Civilian Conservation Corps construc- HarperCollins.com Award from the Bloody Words Festival. tion site explains the decades of angst She adds to her laurels with the final Joe Leaphorn is back on the job. in the community. Embedded in the story of this collection, “Buck’s Last Bored with not only retirement, but his community, her fortunes turn and leads Ride,” 2019’s Spur Award winner for recovery after being shot in the head, to unsuspected career opportunities. short fiction. This story alone is worth Leaphorn takes a consulting job for a – Vernon Schmid the price of admission. museum. A box of artifacts from an JEFF HULL – William Groneman III anonymous donor is missing some items and the museum wants to know Broken Field JAMES J. GRIFFIN what happened. Especially since the Arcade Publishing Tough Month for a Ranger person in charge of the box dies sud- Hardcover, 351 pages, $24.99 Fire Star Press denly and rather mysteriously. Joe, using SkyhorsePublishing.com Trade paperback, 274 pages, $14.99 his awesome intellect, while fighting In rural Montana, one might think FireStarPress.com a difficulty speaking English after his the issues are the weather, the commod- Packed full of action, this novel gives injury, finds that Chee and Manuelito ities market or the everyday problem of “trials and tribulations” a new defini- each have cases that tie in with this one. keeping the machinery running. And tion. This modern-day tale of a Texas Anne Hillerman’s stories always show they are. But there’s also the rivalry

44 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE JUNE 2019 between school athletes, the bullying and a well-written introduction to Ranch TRACIE PETERSON and the overt racism too many people refuse Romances and its first editor, Fanny KIMBERLEY WOODHOUSE to see. There comes a time when “boys Ellsworth. Kelton is quoted expressing Out of the Ashes will be boys” is no longer an excuse for his appreciation of her influence on his Bethany House bad behavior. Broken Field deals with all career. With that context, you’ll gain a Hardcover, 356 pages, $22.99 of that, mostly seen through the eyes of deeper appreciation for this collection. BakerPublishingGroup.com the football coach, who is dealing with – Tom Carpenter Out of the Ashes, a 2019 Spur finalist his own deep-seated problems, and a for romance, is a story of redemption. high school girl who wants more than EDWARD MASSEY Fugitive Sheriff Having survived the Syrian Revolt of her small community offers. It’s a story 1925, Jean-Michel Langelier has been that will tear at your heart and that you Five Star Publishing left devastated by the horrors of war and won’t forget. Hardcover, 373 pages, $25.95 Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar the loss of a woman who was forced – Carol Crigger to marry a powerful but abusive man. Fugitive Sheriff opens with the mur- When he and his sister Collette are BETH KANELL der of Luke Willford Simms, sheriff invited to visit Curry, Alaska, at the foot The Long Shadow: The Winds of of Summit County in . of Mount Denali, he reluctantly agrees. Freedom, Book One His son, Deputy John Willford Simms, Meanwhile, Katherine Demarchis is Five Star Publishing determined to bring the killer to justice, struggling to recover from her disastrous Hardcover, 300 pages, $25.95 pins on his father’s sheriff’s badge. One marriage. Now a widow, she joins her Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar year prior to the sheriff’s murder, the grandmother on a trip that eventually Beth Kanell has mastered the craft of Edmunds Act of 1882 became the law, takes them to Alaska and the Curry Ho- writing. She not only knows her charac- and things are changing in Utah. Under tel. The historic hotel and the Alaskan ters, she is familiar with the lay of the this act, polygamy has become a felony, frontier become the vehicles through land. As a native Vermonter, she is well and cohabitation, the living with or sup- which the main, and lesser characters, acquainted with the topography and the porting a second family, has become a rediscover themselves and each other. flora and fauna of the Green Mountain misdemeanor. John Willford Simms has State. What raises The Long Shadow, a a second family, and while he pursues – Gail L. Jenner Spur finalist for historical novel, above his father’s killer, he is pursued by mar- ERIC RED a merely entertaining tale is its strong shals of the federal government. Edward Hanging Fire Massey writes a gripping, historically story line, sense of place, historical Pinnacle references, literary virtuosity and the accurate tale of a stalwart man’s search Mass-market paperback, 308 pages, $7.99 strategic interposition of the unexpected. for justice in a turbulent time of politics KensingtonBooks.com Kanell feels the heartbeat and knows and greed. Can we say hyperbole? Hanging Fire the rhythms of the region in which she – Robert D. McKee needs no exclamation marks. This resides. Kannel reveals the presence of ELLEN NOTBOHM teeth-grinding, bare-knuckling, swash- slavery in New England and Vermont’s The River by Starlight buckling adventure keeps readers turning long history to end it. The Long Shadow pages long into the night. Yes, it’s over is worth reading and getting a taste of She Writes Press Trade paperback, 344 pages, $16.95 the top in violence and gore. Yes, there maple syrup. SheWritesPress.com are scenes that are not only improbable, – Cowboy Mike Searles Ellen Notbohm’s exquisite prose but impossible. Yes, it’s a terrific read. ELMER KELTON shines in this historical novel, a Spur Eric Red, a screenwriter and author of Hard Ride finalist this year for best traditional horror and suspense stories, brings that Forge Books novel and a Spur winner for best first background to this novel. Set in 1888 Hardcover, 411 pages, $27.99 novel. It’s about a vibrant heroic woman ’s Grand Tetons, it’s a story of Tor-Forge.com whose brains and ambition would have one man who knows right from wrong, a man of his word – a rather refreshing This collection of stories, written by led to prosperity and self-fulfillment in notion today. Allow plenty of time to the late Elmer Kelton between 1951 and another era. Instead, she is victimized read this. It’s hard to put down. 1955, at the beginning of his fiction- by an unenlightened medical profession. writing career, reveals early evidence of Her Phoenix-like ability to repeatedly – Melody Groves his eye for detail, ear for dialogue, and meet the challenges of the unforgiv- HAZEL RUMNEY (editor) gift for storytelling. With two excep- ing West is a magnificent testimony to Contention and Other Frontier Stories the resiliency of the human spirit. She tions, all the stories appeared in one pulp Five Star Publishing magazine, Ranch Romances. I have one is married to her soul-mate, but their Hardcover, 345 pages, $25.95 quibble. The collection lacks a foreword union is threatened by her reluctance to Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar or introduction. What you get is the edi- admit to her medical history. She con- Seventeen stories from a wide se- torial equivalent of: Here are 14 stories vinces herself the only way to preserve lection of writers with perceived and by an author you enjoyed. Stop. Fortu- their precious relationship is to dissolve fascinating outlooks on the Old West. nately, Mark Boardman’s 2006 article the marriage. Highly recommended for Baseball, cowardice, cannibalism, malice in True West, easily found online if you readers who can bear a dash of realistic and revenge are coupled with blister- search “Ranch Romances,” provides West. ing heat and high plains blizzards. One – Charlotte Hinger JUNE 2019 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 45 writer from the past has ventured to say, CHARLES G. WEST including Tom Horn. The story will keep “You can’t write about any place unless No Justice in Hell you reading to find out what happens not you’ve tasted the dirt.” These writers Pinnacle only on the trail but back at home. Ethan have tasted the dirt. Fans of Western Mass-Market paperback, 309 pages, $7.99 Wolfe’s knowledge of the West provides historical fiction will find some of these KensingtonBooks.com several historical references of people and stories a little frightening, others will places. The task for John Hawk was simple surely think a psychiatrist would have enough. Go find his friend Chief – Lowell F. Volk had a field day with some of the charac- Walking Owl, convince him to return ters. All in all a pleasant ride. JAMES C. WORK his Blackfoot tribe to the reservation Ranger McIntyre: Small Delightful Murders – Vernon Schmid and then report back to Fort Ellis. Five Star Publishing L.J. WASHBURN (editor) With mixed results and his conscience Hardcover, 229 pages, $25.95 The Untamed West weighing heavy on his mind, the veteran Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar Army scout starts back. Then he meets The Western Fictioneers Small Delightful Murders takes us to Bertie, Blossom and JoJo, three women Trade paperback, 565 pages, $22.99 post World War I. It’s Prohibition, when who would change his focus and his en- WesternFictioneers.com times were simpler and people more tire trip. They are running from the no- Western, mystery, romance and his- trusting. Or were they? James Work’s torious outlaw killer Zach Dubose, who torical author L.J. Washburn edits The latest story makes me think those folks wants them dead. There was no way Untamed West, the third anthology of were just more apt to cover their tracks in Hawk could leave them alone. Justice The Western Fictioneers. This substan- sneaky, inventive ways. This story shows must prevail. The result takes the reader tial collection features 29 stories that us how, stirring laughter along the way. on a wild and engaging ride through the will take a reader back to the golden Rocky Mountain National Park ranger Montana landscape. Charles G. West age of television and Republic Pictures Tim McIntyre is a sincere and hardwork- will have you hanging on for dear life Westerns. There is action, pathos, ing fellow, although you might get the in this Spur finalist for original mass- humor, shoot-outs, snake farms and impression he does nothing but think of market paperback. pig wars. “Byrd’s Luck” by Jeffrey J. food and a woman with long legs and red – Phil Mills Jr. Mariotte, a 2019 Spur finalist for short lips. When the Chicago mob tries taking fiction, opens the anthology. Other JULIE WESTON over a beautiful Rocky Mountain park standouts include “Earthly Riches” Moonscape: A Nellie Burns and resort and starting a high-roller speakeasy, by McKendree Long and “A Deadly Mystery it takes Tim, FBI agent Vi and a female Decision at Adobe Wells” by Big Jim Five Star Publishing MacGyver to give them and their das- Williams. Hardcover, 250 pages, $25.95 tardly deeds the boot. – William Groneman III Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar – Carol Crigger GINA WELBORN and BECCA In the third mystery about Nellie REAVIS Z. WORTHAM WHITHAM Burns and her dog, Moonshine, dead Hawke’s War bodies are turning up, there’s a strange The Kitchen Marriage Pinnacle religious cult, craggy lava fields and Zebra Mass-Market paperback, 422 pages, $9.99 Mass-market paperback, 352 pages, $7.99 ominous caves to navigate, and an KensingtonBooks.com ensemble of quirky characters. It’s the Kensingtonbooks.com This Spur Award winner could have early 1920s, and Burns, a field photog- In this Spur finalist for romance, Zoe been taken directly from today’s head- rapher, is adventurous, a natural sleuth de Fleur, a French immigrant, finds lines. This engaging and exciting story and not afraid of getting dirty, and herself fired from her job in New York, starts with a sniper attack on four hikers speaks her mind. Julie Weston writes and, unable to read or write in English, in the Big Bend National Park in West quick dialogue, keeps the drama moving responds to an advertisement that Nico, Texas. And the reader is immediately at breakneck speed and leaves readers a young lad who has befriended her, launched into a thrilling and emotional on the edge of their seats. lets her think is a request for a cook. roller coaster ride of spellbinding ad- – Denise F. McAllister She and Nico travel west, where she venture. This contemporary Western discovers she has answered the call for ETHAN J. WOLFE takes you along as Texas Ranger Sonny a mail-order bride. Recognizing she has The Reckoning Hawke goes to investigate and becomes few options, Zoe consents to a courtship Five Star Publishing a sniper target himself. Hawke must fight contract to Jakob Gunderson and travels Hardcover, 281 pages, $25.95 to survive in the rugged terrain of this to raucous Helena, Montana, in 1887. Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar massive park. Making matters worse, he’s She also meets Jakob’s brother Isaak, Marshals Jack and Emmet Young- being hunted by members of the Coyotes who believes Zoe is a gold-digging blood take you on a fast action adventure Rabiosos, a drug smuggling cartel work- fraud. At the same time, he finds him- when Judge Issac Parker sends them ing both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border. self attracted to his brother’s intended. after outlaws who took a cattle herd Descriptions of both the characters and Sparks fly in this light-hearted Western intended for the reservation. While landscape put you in the story … up close romance with interesting twists. tracking the outlaws who killed the and personal. A page turner of the high- – Gail L. Jenner drovers and took the cattle, Jack keeps est level. getting sidetracked, going to help others, – Phil Mills Jr.

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