BOOK REVIEWS

Five Star Publishing POETRY Hardcover, 233 pages, $25.95 2019 Spur Awards deadline Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar Entry deadline for the 2019 Spur JOHN G. NEIHARDT In the Flint Hills of Kansas in 1900, Awards, to be presented in various A Cycle of the West: Bison Classic Jocelyn Belle Royal needs a job. Her categories for original works first Annotated Edition mother died when she was young, her published in 2018, is Bison Books father recently passed away, and she just January 15. Trade paperback, 749 pages, $44.95 lost the farm she had once saved. Find- All material NebraskaPress.unl.edu ing herself destitute and determined must be received The first copyright of material in A to buy back the farm, she joins a mule by that date to be Cycle of the West was issued in 1915. drive. Jocelyn knows how to manage considered. More than 100 years later, John G. mules. When she talks, they listen. She For entry forms and rules, log on Neihardt’s weighty tome still beckons is brave, bold, resourceful and all the to WesternWriters.org/2019-WWA- readers. A new introduction and 148 good kinds of stubborn. When Wit Spur-Awards-contest.pdf. pages of annotations explain and inter- Hanley, her boss, disappears and leaves Winners and finalists will be pret the work. The rhymed couplets and her alone with the mules, she finds announced in March. Awards will liberal use of end-of-line enjambment herself in repeated danger. She finds be presented during the WWA lead readers on to a pleasurable read- strength she didn’t know she had but convention in Tucson, Arizona, June ing experience. It is probable that this knew she’d need. Irene Bennett Brown’s 19-22. remarkable piece of American literature writing is kind, generous, suspenseful will continue attracting admirers for a and adventurous. I really enjoyed her SCOTT HARRIS long while and may even appear in dif- novel. Battle on the Plateau ferent forms, such as with a recent mo- – Milana Marsenich Dusty Saddle Publishing tion picture The Revenant. This classic Paperback, 238 pages, $8.99 ANDREW J. FENADY ScottHarrisWest.com book fits well on the shelf of any lover The Christmas Trespassers of the literary West. Taking characters from his previous Pinnacle books, Scott Harris places them in Ari- – Lynn Bueling Mass-market paperback, 374 pages, $7.99 KensingtonBooks.com zona’s Grand Canyon. While the story chugs along nicely, readers new to these Originally released as The Runaways characters are confused. Brock Clem- FICTION by Berkley Books in 1999, Owen mons, with Sophie and Huck, leave Dry Wister Award recipient Andrew J. Fe- Springs, venture to the Grand Canyon, PETER BRANDVOLD nady’s novel has been reissued under a meet up with Paiutes who eventually Black Trails and Bloody Murder: Rogue new title with three bonus short stories befriend them. A battle at novel’s end Lawman: A Gideon Hawk Western Duo told by Fenady’s “Wise Old Man of sets the tone for a sequel, which accord- Five Star Publishing the West.” The larger-than-life creator ing to the author, is in progress. Confu- Hardcover, 309 pages, $25.95 of the TV series The Rebel and screen- Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar sion in tenses and first/third person writer/producer of the box-office hit makes the novel seem “amateurish,” The prolific writer of hard-edged, Chisum tells a larger-than-life story which it isn’t, and typographical errors action-packed, R-rated pulp fiction is about three runaways from an orphan- take away from the writing. at it again with two novellas involving age who take refuge on Shad Parker’s – Melody Groves fast-shooting Gideon Hawk. In Under- land in post-Civil War Texas – and taker’s Friend, Hawk gives Cedar Bend’s Parker is a crotchety old Scrooge who’s BONNIE HOBBS undertaker plenty of business and gives handy with a rifle. Instead of Jacob So Wild the Wind plenty of business to the marshal’s wife. Marley’s ghost, Parker has to deal with Five Star Publishing In Bloody Canaan, Hawk gives Idaho a bank-robbing gang. OK, so this isn’t Hardcover, 290 pages, $25.95 Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar outlaw Quentin Burnett a hard time Dickens or It’s a Wonderful Life, but when not carrying on with Saradee if you want to escape into a 1950s- Fleeing the aftermath of the Civil Jones, Hawk’s sometimes lover, some- style Western told by a one-of-a-kind War, Alida, a beautiful Southern belle, times rival. You get the general idea. storyteller, here’s the perfect stocking- convinces her sister and brother-in- law into going along with her and her IRENE BENNETT BROWN stuffer. Miss Royal’s Mules – Johnny D. Boggs young son to Mexico to begin a new life. They shipwreck off the coast of DECEMBER 2018 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 23 Texas and only Alida survives. She multilayers, Rosary Without Beads puts problems of immigration, white suprema- is rescued by an undercover Union the reader in the middle of the Lincoln cists and much more. She also manages to soldier, sent to ferret out a possible nest County War and rural life in southern educate on Jewish culture. With a touch of of Southern sympathizers bent on an New Mexico where a farmer/rancher is romance, this well-rounded story is a fine uprising. Together, they must rescue a indebted to a merciless landowner. Be addition to your reading list. little boy from a father whose mind has sure to allow plenty of reading time – – Carol Crigger become unhinged. Although set in a this novel is hard to put down. CRAIG JOHNSON Southwestern state during Reconstruc- – Melody Groves Depth of Winter tion, romance rules in this novel that JANE ISENBERG Viking contains a definite Gothic feel. Murder in the Melting Pot Hardcover, 287 pages, $28 – Vicky J. Rose PenguinRandomHouse.com Oconee Spirit Press penguinrandomhouse.com DIANA HOLGUÍN-BALOGH Trade Paperback, 207 pages, $14.95 Rosary Without Beads OconeeSpirit.com Cady, Walt Longmire’s daughter, has Five Star Publishing Accused of committing a crime of been taken by Walt’s arch enemy, Tomás Hardcover, 310 pages, $25.95 which she is innocent, Miranda Breitner Bidarte, leader of one of Mexico’s most Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar moves, 20 years later, to the Yakima dangerous cartels. With Cady hidden away A gem in the desert! Rosary Without Valley and starts a bed and breakfast. somewhere in Mexico and soon to go on Beads is an on-the-edge-of-your-seat sort All goes well until one of the crew the auction block, Walt follows. He’s deter- of novel. Teenager Ambrosia Salazar, certifying the grape harvest as kosher is mined to rescue her as he dodges the U.S. trapped in a traditional 1880s world murdered. With crooked cops and other border patrol, FBI, Mexican authorities where distinct lines are drawn between forces plaguing the valley, Miranda needs and everyone else who is dead set against women’s and men’s roles, is tormented to step in before her B&B goes broke. him. This is an extremely violent novel. by the desire to be her own person, the Here’s a good mystery set in the major Lacking Walt’s usual cast of backup shameful demise of her sister, the care grape-growing area of Washington. characters, new ones abound. Some are of a retarded sister, death of her mother Strong characters people the story, each as strong and loyal as Henry and Vic, but and assumed marriage to a neighboring with diverse backgrounds. The book Walt has never been up against so many boy. When William Bonney chances deals with much more than murder, truly evil forces all at once. A Longmire by, she falls for him – hard. Written in however. Jane Isenberg touches on the book is always good. Perfect pacing, per-

24 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2018 ESTERN MUSIC fect dialogue, perfect characterization. I do think Walt is get- W ting a bit old for this kind of derring-do, considering the many times he has taken wounds that would kill the average man. – Carol Crigger MARK EDWARD LANGLEY TOM RUSSELL Path of the Dead: An Arthur Nakai Mystery Folk Hotel Blackstone Publishers Frontera Records, $15.99 Hardcover, 207 pages, $24.99 FrontereaRecords.com BlackstonePublishing.com In 2011, Tom Russell and Paul Zar- Arthur Nakai, an ex-Marine whose job was to hunt smug- zyski won a Spur Award for their song glers of both drugs and humans on the Mexican border, “Heart of a Bucking Horse.” That was has retired to a quiet life. Or so he thinks. When his wife on Russell’s Cowboy’d All to Hell CD, Sharon, a TV reporter, is kidnapped by a serial killer, he’ll which also included “Navajo Rug,” in my opinion a contem- have to draw on all his former skills to save her. A chase from porary Western classic, penned by Russell and Ian Tyson; and New Mexico to Montana and the Canadian border is a race Russell’s spurs- and quirt-fueled “Tonight We Ride.” against time, the ticking clock upping already tense action. Russell’s cowboy music credentials are solid. But he’s a sto- Along the way, Arthur relies on friends and his wolf-dog ryteller who knows no boundaries, as testified to by this 14-cut and the end will leave you breathless. The book sustains a CD that takes us from New York City to high level of page-turning suspense. Here is a villain with no middle America, from Belfast to Copenha- redeeming qualities pitted against a determined hero. gen. He stirs up some trail dust here with – Carol Crigger songs such as “Leaving El Paso,” in which JOHN LARISON a thirsty mountain lion wanders into a Whiskey When We’re Dry cafe; “I’ll Never Leave These Old Horses,” Viking a salute to his compadre Tyson; and “The Hardcover, 387 pages, $26 Light Beyond the Coyote Fence.” PenguinRandomHouse.com OLLIE REED JR. But all the cuts, sung or talked in that A striking novel, Whiskey When We’re Dry is the familiar distinctive, hook-you-from-the-start Rus- story of a young girl who dons men’s clothing to head west sell voice, are multi-layered spellbinders. My favorites, the most and find her estranged brother, a feared and famous outlaw haunting, are “Scars on His Ankles,” about blues musician and leader of an outlaw gang called the “Wild Bunch.” It is the “Lightnin’” Hopkins and the white boy journalist Grover Lewis classic quest novel following the traditional cycle that can be who wrote about him, and “Harlan Clancy,” a respectful look at traced back to Homer’s Odyssey. One could hang this novel out an American working man who’s tired of bad news shows, who’s to dry for its use of familiar characters in that all-too-familiar laboring hard and drinking beer and who “ain’t no racist.” cycle, but that would do it a severe injustice. It is a savage and brutal novel that rivals Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian THE RIFTERS with its brilliant and lyrical prose, character development and Live at Uptop sweeping panoramas that destroy myths by revealing the dark- Howlin’ Dog Records, $20 ness behind them. This is not a novel for light reading. It places HowlinDogRecords.com a demand upon the reader that cannot be ignored. – Randy Lee Eickhoff The Rifters are Jim Bradley, vocals and bass; Don Richmond, vocals, acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, dobro and ac- RICHARD D. PALACIOS cordion; and Rod Taylor, vocals, acoustic guitar and mandolin. Chon They take their name from Rio Grande rift, they live in the MCM Books West, and Taylor retired recently after 34 years as a cowboy at Trade paperback, 261 pages, $14.95 the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. MCMBooks.com But this is no cowboy band. The Rifters plays songs by Bob Ricardo D. Palacios has written an interesting and unique Dylan, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Van Morrison, Guy tale of a young man, named Chon. As a youth, he was Clark and Rodney Crowell, as well as originals such as “Before trained to be a Samurai. Chon is later ordered to become a the Great River Was Tamed,” about the Rio Grande. All that is Japanese spy for the emperor and sent to Mexico. In the days here on this 30-cut double CD recorded live in August 2017 in a leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, when Chon loses former dance hall in Uptop, a sort of ghost town in southwest- contact with his superiors, he is faced with a monumental ern Colorado. If you like skillfully played string music, some decision: Will Chon keep his oath to kill himself or will he laid back, some high energy, folksy and blue(grama)grass, take risk becoming a traitor to his place of birth? The author has this along on a road trip. It’ll make the miles melt away. penned a story which once again reveals to us the great diver- *** sity possible in Westerns. E-mail Ollie at [email protected] and send CDs to him at – R.G. Yoho P.O. Box 2381, Corrales, NM 87048. DECEMBER 2018 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 25 LISA PRESTON Five Star Publishing In the late 1800s, Devin Cavanaugh The Clincher: A Horseshoer Mystery Hardcover, 334 pages, $25.95 works for a transfer company, carrying Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar Skyhorse Publishing goods by wagon train from Bryan to Hardcover, 254 pages, $24.99 “You’ve covered a lot of ground for South Pass City in Wyoming Territory. SkyhorsePublishing.com your age, Buell.” Readers familiar with In South Pass he meets Dulcinetta Jack- When Patsy-Lynn Harper is murdered Wallace Swenson’s “Journey to the son, a saloon manager skilled at turn- on the afternoon horseshoer Rainy White Clouds” series will agree with ing dreams into reality. She is bright, Dale shoes Patsy’s prize stud, Rainy that summation of the main character hard-hitting, and a force to be reckoned becomes the chief suspect. A compara- Buell Mace and his journey from rejec- with. Cavanaugh, happy enough as a tive newcomer to her small Oregon town, tion to redemption. The Devil’s Due is the hired hand, stumbles into a rich vein of Rainy is an easy mark. Especially since fourth book in the series and it focuses golden luck – if he can survive the bad someone seems determined to set her on the return to Carlisle, Nebraska, of luck tracking him. Alethea Williams up. But Rainy has friends, too, and her Buell Mace and his best friend, Simon tells a story full of great wit, surprising boyfriend, a gourmet chef on the cusp Steele. With a Nebraska and Platte turns and good courage. Her characters of owning his own upscale restaurant, River setting, Swenson offers a refresh- are complex, endearing and sometimes is willing to give up everything to save ing change from the usual locales of despicable, as they overcome hardship her. The plot touches on many subjects: Western fiction. Sharp dialog, strong through fierce independence and brute adoption, teenage waywardness and suspense and smart scene choices lead strength. angst, bullying, and drug use – in this the reader to an ending that is both – Milana Marsenich case steroids. And the shoeing of surprising and inevitable. Alas, Swenson ETHAN J. WOLFE horses, one aspect of which fuels the title died in 2015. The Cattle Drive of the book. The novel boasts a fast- – Tom Carpenter Five Star Publishing paced plot, sympathetic characters who MARK WARREN Hardcover, 248 pages, $25.95 come alive and writing that is excellent Born to the Badge Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar overall. I can’t wait to read the sequel. Five Star Publishing Orphaned 12-year-old twins Michael – Carol Crigger Hardcover, 257 pages, $25.95 and Michele Dunn are living with their Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar ANNE SCHROEDER wealthy, socialite businesswoman aunt Walk the Promise Road: A Novel of the In Mark Warren’s pages, the young in Chicago. When their aunt decides she Oregon Trail Wyatt Earp confirms his calling – law doesn’t have the time or inclination to Prairie Rose Publications enforcement – in Wichita and Dodge. properly raise the twins, she arranges to Trade paperback, 265 pages, $15.99 Wyatt is soft-spoken and low-key unless send them by rail to live with relatives in PrairieRosePublications.com crossed by miscreants, all Texans and all San Francisco, hiring a detective agency Mary Rodgers loses her mother, fa- bad. The resulting fireworks only add to owner to make sure they get there – but ther and brother to the flu. Not wanting his notoriety and the respect in which the owner plans to kidnap the twins. to be left alone in her parents’ empty he is held. His reputation often is as im- Michael overhears the plans, so he and house, Mary convinces her cousin, portant to keeping the peace as his pis- Michele jump from the train at an iso- Philip – who is about to leave on a tol. When not engaged in official work, lated water stop. It isn’t long before they wagon train for Oregon – to take her Wyatt earns income at the card tables. are lost, hungry, and Michele is desper- along. Since two single people travel- Likewise, the enigmatic Doc Holliday, ately sick. They stumble upon a lone ing together would be improper, they who becomes Wyatt’s colleague and cowboy’s camp. Adventures follow. It’s pose as a married couple. That secret friend. Wyatt’s dalliance with a sporting a standard plot, but the journey makes becomes a heavy burden when Mary woman by the end of the book takes a perfect read for the beach, a rainy falls for the trail guide. As their friend- a serious turn. The ending promises afternoon or a long flight. ship develops, Mary overcomes tragic another volume. A well-crafted narrative – James J. Griffin loss and multiple trail hardships with that flows smoothly, with a nice sense MICHAEL ZIMMER fortitude and dignity. Walk The Promise of place and aura, exceptional dialogue. Hard Ride Across Texas Road is a well-researched historical The author includes a useful bibliogra- Five Star Publishing novel set on the Oregon Trail in 1848. It phy, not common in novels, but a trend Hardcover, 346 pages, $25.95 is full of authentic detail, young wisdom that is catching on among historical Gale.Cengage.com/FiveStar and amazing courage. Like Mary’s trip, novelists. Gage Pardell sets out to seek jus- it is well worth the journey. – Harlan Hague tice for the harm done his sister by – Milana Marsenich ALETHEA WILLIAMS Henry Kalb – and kills Henry. A classic WALLACE J. SWENSON Joy That Long Endures blood-feud tale forms the structure of The Devil’s Due: Journey to the White Self-published the story, with enough money to allow Clouds Trade paperback, 171 pages, $17.95 relentless hired hands to carry it out. ActuallyAlethea.blogspot.com Gage doesn’t lay in wait to take down 26 26 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2018 ESTERN VIDEO the bounty hunters. He runs – and rides into a hornets’ nest W of trouble. The first-person narrator has a remarkably chatty manner, mostly with words of more than one syllable and some of them remarkably erudite for a little-educated boy A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die from Louisiana. The manner makes it difficult to keep track Kino Lorber of just how much trouble he faces. By the end, the reader Blu-ray $29.95, DVD $19.95 starts to think that was the author’s goal. KinoLorber.com – Edward Massey Euro-Westerns fall into different categories, from the serious-minded epic to the astonishingly brutal or NONFICTION wildly humorous, sometimes both, and, finally, the near-insane and in- coherent. Often the only things these EVERETT AAKER Television Western Players, 1960-1975: A Biographical hundreds of movies have in common Dictionary is their political bent, astonishing body count and stunning leading ladies. During the later 1960s, when Paramount was McFarland & Company Trade paperback, 478 pages, $49.95 betting heavy on Once Upon a Time in the West, American pro- McFarlandBooks.com ducers were setting up films in Spain and Italy, bringing higher This book describes the life and career of every actor and budgets and stars to the productions along with directors like actress who had a regular or semi-regular role in a Western Tom Gries and John Guillerman to cap- series on American television between 1960 and 1975. It ture the feel and visuals of the Spaghetti begins where the author’s previous book, Television Western West. 100 Rifles, El Condor and Hannie Players of the Fifties, ended. There’s some overlap because Caulder were part of this international many Western series of the 1950s continued into the 1960s. trend, as was A Minute to Pray, a Second to The author concludes with the year 1975 because that’s when Die, which has just received a fine Blu-ray Gunsmoke ended production as a series. An appendix offers release from Kino. brief production statistics for the impressive total of 89 series C. COURTNEY Starring Alex Cord as an outlaw dogged that the author considered. The numerous entries them- JOYNER by the memory of his father’s murder, and selves are long, thorough and informative. Accompanied by sometimes paralysis, A Minute to Pray, a abundant photographs and an index, this is a useful reference Second to Die follows an unusual path, veering into some dark book. and sadistic areas as Cord, who has no interest in an amnesty – David Morrell offered by Governor Robert Ryan, takes refuge in a com- munity of law-breakers to stay free and seek revenge for his BOB ALEXANDER family’s killing. Instead, they turn on him to get the bounty on Old Riot, New Ranger: Captain Jack Dean, Texas Ranger and his head. Cord is betrayed at every turn, except by Ryan and U.S. Marshal sheriff Arthur Kennedy, who are the personification of tough- University of North Texas Press but-fair lawmen. Hardcover, 544 pages, $34.95 UNTPress.unt.edu Even after 1966’s Stagecoach, studios were trying, and failing, to turn Cord into a movie star, but he’s good in this film. No Bob Alexander’s well-researched biography of Texas typical, stoic stranger, Cord’s tortured as hell, but that doesn’t Ranger Captain Jack Dean captures not only the essence of stop him from piling up the bodies. To that end, he’s surround- an honorable man, but also of the dynamic Texas Ranger ed by a dozen familiar faces from Euro-Westerns, all beautiful- th organization itself. Spanning from the mid-20 Century into ly photographed in their sweating glory. Well-mounted action st the 21 , Alexander’s account of Dean’s life and career reflect scenes point to the care behind this Albert Band production, a man determined to become the best law enforcement officer as does Ryan’s leathered presence which gives the film true possible in times of turbulence and uncertainty. Dean, who dramatic weight. was only one of five men to serve in both the Officer’s Corps Saying I like A Minute to Pray, a Second to Die is akin to ex- of the Rangers and also as a president-appointed U.S. mar- plaining to a bourbon-sipper why I like Scotch. I just do. This shal, investigates double murders, suicides, home invasions film’s a perfect example of international moviemaking, when and many other crimes, all while balancing the politics of the Euro-Westerns still made it into theaters. This one is helped job with his family life and ambitions. This book will stand by a great poster painted by James Bama. Kino’s presentation out for many reasons, but Alexander’s storytelling aplomb is – with commentary from historian-director Alex Cox, a trailer on full view here. Captain Dean is a Texas Ranger well worth and the film’s original European ending – can’t be bettered. spending time with. *** – Larry D. Sweazy C. Courtney Joyner writes in many formats, including screenplays, fiction and nonfiction. E-mail him at olcourt@ yahoo.com. DECEMBER 2018 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 27 JOHN M. ALEXANDER MICHAEL L. COLLINS JOE DOBROW The Man in Song: A Discographic A Crooked River - Rustlers, Rangers, and Pioneers of Promotion: How Press Agents Biography of Johnny Cash Regulators on the Lower Rio Grande, for Buffalo Bill, P. T. Barnum, and the University of Arkansas Press 1861-1877 World’s Columbian Exposition Created Hardcover, 283 pages, $36.95 University of Oklahoma Press Modern Marketing UAPress.com Hardcover, 345 pages, $29.95 University of Oklahoma Press OUPress.com Since singer-songwriter Johnny Hardcover, 391 pages, $32.95 OUPress.com Cash’s death in 2003, a number of The author has written a thorough memoirs, biographies and miscella- study about the tumultuous and deadly Joe Dobrow has expertly researched neous books have come out about the era during the Civil War and Recon- and written a comprehensive book de- Man in Black, but perhaps none more struction on the South Texas border. tailing the origins of publicity in the intriguing or original as this one. Music The area of the Rio Grande from late 1800s. With my particular interest historian John M. Alexander documents Brownsville to Laredo was the primary in Buffalo Bill Cody and the Chicago the songs recorded by Cash, those he field of battle. Expanding on the work World’s Fair, I appreciated reading wrote and those he sang, Western, gos- of Walter Prescott Webb, Michael L. biographies of three men responsible pel, autobiographical, rockabilly, comic, Collins details the violence between for many modern promotional tactics prison, story songs, hits and misfires rustlers, army deserters, both blue and – John M. Burke of Cody’s Wild West, – from Cash’s Sun years through his his- gray regular troops, Mexicans, Ger- Tody Hamilton of Barnum & Bailey’s toric comeback with American Records. mans, Indians and the Texas Rangers. Circus and Moses P. Handy of the 1893 Alexander even pays Owen Wister The cause of the conflicts was due to Columbian Exposition. Besides their Award recipient Andrew J. Fenady, cre- a long list of racial and cultural issues. talent as persuasive wordsmiths, often ator of The Rebel TV series and co-writer Of particular interest is the coverage featuring alliteration and exaggeration of the hit theme song recorded by Cash, of Captain Leander McNelly and his in published newspaper campaigns, the the highest compliment: “And although Rangers. Both friends and enemies saw three depended on parades, celebrity Cash did not write it, you would never him as a devil on horseback, an appari- endorsement and ubiquitous posters to know it.” tion, one who stared death in the face glorify the venues they represented. Sev- – Johnny D. Boggs without flinching. eral relevant photos enhance the text, – Monty McCord and Dobrow’s final chapter illustrates EMILY C. BURNS the continued utilization and success of Transnational Frontiers: The American ROBERT K. DeARMENT West in France Man-Hunters of the Old West, Vol. 2 marketing techniques they originated. A terrific, informative, five-star read. University of Oklahoma Press University of Oklahoma Press Hardcover, 231 pages, $45 Hardcover, 344 pages, $29.95 – Sandra K. Sagala OUPress.com OUPress.com CHRIS ENSS and HOWARD Buffalo Bill Cody appears in just one History buffs and others who read KAZANJIAN chapter in Emily Burns’s analysis of the Robert K. DeArment’s Man-Hunters of Cowboys, Creatures, and Classics: The West’s influence in France at the dawn the Old West, Vol. 1 will not be disap- Story of Republic Pictures of the 20th Century. An art historian, pointed with Vol. 2. Once again, Lyons Press Burns explores the visual impressions he focuses on the careers of eight Hardcover, 251 pages, $35 Rowman.com of American Indians, American artists man-hunters, “outlaw trackers of the and writers who attended the 1900 American frontier,” as he likes to call From 1935 through the late 1950s, Paris Universelle World Exhibition. them. Of the eight, Bass Reeves and Pat Republic Studios was a small Hol- This book is full of cartoons, drawings, Garrett, are readily identifiable; others lywood studio with, sometimes, big photographs and illustrations (docu- are less so. However, DeArment pulls dreams, caught between Poverty Row ments, newspaper headlines), many in no punches in describing the question- and the majors like MGM and Warner color, that dazzle the eye. Burns looks able brutality often used to capture and Bros. Republic was also the studio that beyond the pictures to reveal how the document their prey, cautioning readers helped make Western icons Gene Autry, French people found much to admire not to judge these man-hunters by 21st Roy Rogers, Dale Evans and John – and some to criticize – and how the Century law enforcement and judicial Wayne stars. Spur finalist Chris Enss visiting Americans took their measure standards. The book, presented in short and her frequent writing partner, film of French society. Burns did her home- biographies, paints a realistic picture of producer Howard Kazanjian, document work in researching this book: 40 pages frontier justice, is riveting and finally the studio’s up-and-down history in of endnotes, many of them glossing on credits these eight men for deeds that this handsomely illustrated book. Like the text, plus a large bibliography that remained unheralded for too long. most Republic movies, this book lacks may invite readers to look further into – Stan “Tex” Banash depth – a thorough history of the studio this fascinating topic. remains desperately needed – but casual – Abraham Hoffman film buffs will enjoy it. 28 28 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2018 DON GRAHAM VALERIE SHERER MATHES and R. GREGORY NOKES Giant: Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, PHIL BRIGANDI The Troubled Life of Peter Burnett: James Dean, Edna Ferber, and the Reservations, Removal, and Reform: Oregon Pioneer and First Governor of Making of a Legendary American Film The Mission Indian Agents of Southern California St. Martin’s Press California, 1878-1903 Oregon State University Press Hardcover, 323 pages, $27.99 University of Oklahoma Press Trade paperback, 270 pages, $19.95 StMartins.com Hardcover, 344 pages, $36.95 OSUPress.oregonstate.edu Similar to Glenn Frankel’s books OUPress.com Peter Burnett has been largely forgot- about The Searchers and High Noon, Don The tribes of Southern California ten in spite of significant achievements Graham’s Giant explores the historical, were peaceful people, many having in Missouri, Oregon and California. social and Hollywood background to converted to the Catholic religion, The author chose to judge Burnett by this classic film. The dynamic among adopting agriculture, and wearing today’s standards of political correct- James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock white people’s clothing. Their biggest ness and ignore or belittle many of his Hudson is described in detail, as is the problem was dealing with white settlers real accomplishments. The author is a kind of film that director George Stevens who coveted their land and water rights competent writer and the book is worth wanted to make after his horrific experi- and were untroubled by trespassing or reading since this is the first book devot- ences in World War II. More could have filing fraudulent claims on Indian land. ed to the man. Burnett died a wealthy been added about Edna Ferber’s career The authors assess the successes and and esteemed man, and the reader will and about Glenn McCarthy, the oil failures of seven agents appointed to surely want to know more about his tycoon whose rags-to-riches Texas-sized the Mission Indian Agency. Some were contributions to our history. personality was the inspiration for Jett dedicated and others incompetent. In – Nancy B. Samuelson Rink in Ferber’s novel. But those are mi- the end most of the tribes under their R. BARTON PALMER and nor issues about this satisfying, informa- jurisdiction were removed to arid reser- MURRAY POMERANCE (editors) tive profile of a film whose theme is as vations. This is a compelling study of The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz relevant today as it was in the 1950s. injustice to American Indians, bringing University of Texas Press – David Morrell attention to a lesser known aspect of Paperback, 335 pages, $29.95 the interactions of whites and Indians UTexasPress.com BRIAN HANNAN in late 19th Century California. The Making of The Magnifcent Seven Director Michael Curtiz, the genius – Abraham Hoffman McFarland & Company behind Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy Paperback, 280 pages, $35 SUE MATHESON (editor) and scores of other classics, continues McFarlandBooks.com A Fistful of Icons: Essays on Frontier to interest film historians. Editors R. Few movies have had the impact of Fixtures of the American Western Barton Palmer and Murray Pomerance this 1960 Western starring Yul McFarland & Company have called upon leading scholars to Brynner and directed by John Sturges, a Paperback, 308 pages, $39.95 showcase the Budapest native’s incred- McFarlandBooks.com reimaging of the Japanese classic Seven ible range. Only one short chapter, by Samurai. Brian Hannan tackles the Twenty-one academics wrestle with University of Arizona professor Homer making of the movie that led to sequels, the iconography of Western films and B. Pettey, tackles Curtiz’s Westerns, remakes, a TV series, an instantly television programs with essays on including Dodge City and Santa Fe Trail, recognized musical score by Elmer masculinity, gender roles, “the sexual but focuses on the film – as in two-strip Bernstein and – almost – a Broadway signification of the gun” (an oldie but or three-strip color – or improved “re- musical. Box-office minutia bog down a goodie), modernization, the usage of cording and projection techniques,” not the narrative, but the factual errors are coffee, hotels, cemeteries and dynamite the story or history. worse. To correct just a few: Gary Coo- – just about everything except cowboy – Johnny D. Boggs per starred in neither Union Pacific nor dental hygiene. Most are written in a LAURENCE PARENT The Tin Star; George Sherman did not dry, airless style smothered in terms like Offcial Guide to Texas State Parks & direct The Sheepman; Polly Bergen and “deconstruction,” “cultural-coding” Historic Sites: New Edition and other familiar clichés of post- Sterling Hayden weren’t in The Gunfight University of Texas Press at the O.K. Corral; Budd Boetticher never modern academic discourse. Editor Paperback, 226 pages, $27.95 directed a film starring Joel McCrea; Sue Matheson gamely seeks to make UTPress.utexas.edu the case in her introduction that “little and pirate Jean Lafitte was dead long Can the same information about state critical attention has been directed to before the Alamo so he couldn’t have parks be found on the web? Probably. the iconic images found in the Western “participated in the most famous last Will it be as interesting and detailed as films.” Still, it’s hard to escape the feel- stand in U.S. history.” These imbecilic Parent’s book? Probably not. I’d surfed ing it has all been said before. errors unfortunately cast doubt on all of the Texas State Parks website many – Glenn Frankel Hannan’s reporting. times but had never heard of the Old – Johnny D. Boggs Tunnel State Park near Fredericksburg, DECEMBER 2018 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 29 where bats fly out nightly between May memoir tells the charming and often CATHY A. SMITH and October. Chock full of photographs revealing story behind this Steve Mc- The Demise of Tonto or Hollywood Meets that are not overly large, every one of Queen/Sam Peckinpah classic. Numer- the Sioux: The Motion Picture Costumes them is stunning. A wonderful guide ous photographs. of Cathy A. Smith beautiful enough for the coffee table but – David Morrell Self-published easy enough to throw into the car on the Hardcover, paperback, 32 pages, $49.95, RON ROZELLE $29.95 way to a new adventure. Exiled: The Last Days of Sam Houston NambeTradingPost.com – Vicky J. Rose Texas A&M University Press Artist-historian Cathy A. Smith is best Hardcover, 205 pages, $29.95 SUSAN COSBY RONNENBERG known for her costume work in Dances Deadwood and Shakespeare: The Henriad TAMUPress.com with Wolves and Son of the Morning Star, in the Old West Despite the misleading title – the the latter winning her an Emmy Award. McFarland & Company book starts in 1850 and Sam Houston In this short but handsomely illustrated Paperback, 206 pages, $39.95 died in 1863 (that’s a lot of days) – McFarlandBooks.com book, Smith discusses her costumes and Exiled is a good study of Houston’s final career while offering personal insights Frank James, if he were alive today, years, including his pro-Unionist stance such as, “As well as being historically would enjoy reading this scholarly that had him dismissed as governor of accurate, good costumes must say some- work. Frank loved Shakespeare, carry- Texas and shunned, even threatened, by thing about character and plot.” Avail- ing with him a complete works edition many Texans. While focusing on years able at the historic Nambe Trading Post, and often quoting from it. In Deadwood often glossed over by Houston biogra- which Smith (who still outfits film and and Shakespeare, Susan Cosby Ronnen- phers, Ron Rozelle paints a fine picture TV productions) operates in northern berg explores the relationship between of the man and his times, revealing New Mexico. the HBO Series Deadwood and William Houston’s strengths and flaws. Shakespeare’s first set of history plays – Johnny D. Boggs MARY DODSON WADE known as the Henriad: Richard II, 1 Amazing Texas Girls: True Stories from NANCY SCHOENBERGER Lone Star History Henry IV, 2 Henry IV and Henry V. Da- Wayne and Ford: The Films, the vid Milch, the Deadwood series creator Lone Star Books Friendship, and the Forging of an Trade paperback, 248 pages, $16.95 has said that he read 1 Henry IV before American Hero GlobePequot.com writing Deadwood and based his Al Nan A. Talese Doubleday In a collection of stories about 15 Swearengen character on Shakespeare’s Hardcover, 240 pages, $27.95 Falstaff, whom Milch says is his favorite PenguinRandomHouse.com women who shaped the history of the Lone Star State, Mary Dodson Wade character. Ronneberg states her goal is There are an extensive number of to encourage Deadwood viewers to read has created a well-researched hom- publications reflecting on the film age. She includes such notables as the Shakespeare’s Henriad and then view careers of John Wayne and John Ford, Deadwood again for a richer more in- woman who saved the buffalo from resulting in a wide spectrum of quality extinction, Molly Goodnight, wife of depth experience. and originality. Nancy Schoenberger – Bill Markley famed rancher Charles Goodnight, and did not tread the same trail as authors Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who domi- JEB ROSEBROOK of fan literature or the critical analysis nated every sport she played and broke Junior Bonner: The Making of a Classic of film historians but chose to examine the ground for future women athletes. with Steve McQueen and Sam Peckinpah the nature of maleness and manhood Politicians such as Ma Ferguson and in the Summer of 1971 as portrayed by Wayne and defined by Ann Richards are left out to make way BearManor Media Ford. Schoenberger, professor of cre- for important but lesser known figures Hardcover, trade paperback, 230 pages, ative writing at the College of William $35, $25 – Clotilde Perez Garcia, one of the first BearManorMedia.com and Mary, tapped letters and personal Mexican-American women to practice documents by Wayne and Ford for signs Screenwriter Jeb Rosebrook spent medicine in Texas, and Annie Mae Mc- on “how to be a man.” Her reflections Dade Prosper Hunt, who encouraged much of his youth near the small ranch- on perceived masculinity are engaging. ing community of Prescott, Arizona. fellow African-Americans to get out She also reflects on the type of hero and vote. Black and white photos are Years later, he went back, shocked to codified by these two men who were find paved roads and a retirement com- included in this thoughtful compilation. known to have a long-lasting friend/ – Vicky J. Rose munity where cattle had once grazed. mentor relationship. Schoenberger fur- This gave him the idea for a screenplay ther argues that the films of these two MATT WANAT and LEONARD about an aging rodeo star who returns men provide insights into characteristics ENGEL (editors) to Prescott for its historic Fourth of of ideal masculinity objectified in West- The Films of Clint Eastwood: Critical Perspectives. July rodeo and mourns the changes he ern cinema, a cultural legacy greatly sees. The journey from script to location influenced by Duke and “Pappy” Ford. University of New Mexico Press filming was amazingly fast. Rosebrook’s Hardcover, 288 pages, $75 – Don Reeves UNMPress.com 30 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2018 Clint Eastwood’s enduring career as cites numerous examples from novels, actor, producer and director has been advertisements, even cookbooks to il- BOOK NOTES extraordinarily long and produced films lustrate her thesis. A large bibliography that are both entertaining and thought- supports this Idaho State University ROGER L. NICHOLS ful. He has come to rival John Wayne professor’s thought-provoking findings. Indians in the United States and Canada: in popularity, although the Western star – Lynn Bueling A Comparative History, Second Edition he most resembles in style and appear- University of Nebraska Press ance is Gary Cooper. This book is the Paperback, 490 pages, $40 third in a collection of scholarly essays PLAYS NebraskaPress.unl.edu about Eastwood’s films and signifi- RED SHUTTLEWORTH Roger L. Nichols’s book tracing the cance. Previous volumes explored his 1940: Bryan, Texas; 1941: Sunbeam, relationships between Indians and most iconic works, leaving this book to Colorado; 1942: Boise, Idaho; 1943: Kief, whites from colonial to modern times strip-mine more barren fields, including North Dakota; 1944: San Francisco, – and how those relationships changed The Eiger Sanction, The Gauntlet, Firefox California; 1945: Glentana, Montana; – in Canada and the United States was and Space Cowboys, none of which will 1946: Springerville, Arizona; 1947: first published in 1998. This second be mentioned on the sad day when Wagontire, Oregon; 1948: Hulett, edition includes new chapters regard- Eastwood’s obituary finally appears. Wyoming; 1949: Garrison, Utah ing changes from 1945 to the present, For those willing to part with $75 there Bunchgrass Press including transracial adoptions and are detailed treatments of Eastwood’s Chapbooks, no prices listed media exposure. PoetRedshuttleWorth.blogspot.com sensitive work with actresses like Meryl SUE RITCHIE From two friends bickering over Streep, Hillary Swank and Angelina Transformational Bereavement: A Guide Jolie; the inspirational storytelling of the end of the West in a Sunbeam, Through Grief and Mourning into Hereafter, The Bridges of Madison County, Colorado, post office to an Irish cop Healing of the Self waiting for a young bank robber to die Gran Torino and Invictus; and a shot-by- Ritchie Publishing shot deconstruction of his two-minute in a Glentana, Montana, church, Red Paperback, 182 pages, $29 “Halftime in America” Chrysler com- Shuttleworth continues his “Americana TransformationalBereavement.com West” series of 100 short plays and mercial shown at the 2014 Super Bowl. For nine years beginning in 1988, monologues, delivering what he does Six essays manage to squeeze every last WWA member Sue Ritchie lost a loved best: a grim, honest look at the West drop of meaning and significance from one each year – including her husband. told through a poet’s voice. the veins of American Sniper, Eastwood’s Realizing that she was not “truly heal- biggest box office hit as a director and RED SHUTTLEWORTH ing,” she set out to heal herself. Since a stunning, jarring blend of patriotism 1950: Adrian, Washington; 1951: then, she has designed workshops to and pessimism. Finally, there’s a lively Lincoln, Nebraska; 1952: Blunt, South help people with grief. Now she has and revealing dialogue between East- Dakota; 1953: Socorro, New Mexico; updated and republished her memoir wood’s longtime film editor Joel Cox 1954: Ulysses, Kansas; 1955: Vici, and guide to the healing process, first Oklahoma; 1956: Ely, Nevada; 1957: and fellow editor Paul Seydor that alone published in 2001. “Yes, I can replace Weatherford, Texas; 1958: Sterling, would be worth the price of admission the pain of grief,” she writes. “But more Colorado; 1959: Bruneau, Idaho were it not so astonishingly steep. importantly, I will regain my life. And – Glenn Frankel Bunchgrass Press Chapbooks, no prices listed Dear Reader, if I can do that, so can AMANDA J. ZINK PoetRedshuttleWorth.blogspot.com you!” Fictions of Western American OK, it’s not every play where you BRAD SYKES Domesticity: Indian, Mexican, and Anglo have a young couple wearing Lone Terror in the Desert: Dark Cinema of the Women in Print Culture, 1850-1950 Ranger Halloween costumes in a American Southwest University of New Mexico Press McFarland & Company Hardcover, 360 pages, $75 small Colorado motel while planning a bank robbery and then getting into Paperback, 304 pages, $39.95 UNMPress.com McFarlandBooks.com an argument that starts with Tonto. Amanda J. Zink grapples with the Red Shuttleworth’s sixth decade of The author explores “desert terror” idea that writers of the 1850-1950 peri- his “Americana West” series is full of films that blend elements from horror, od transferred ideas of domesticity from pathos and originality. These short noir and road movies into movies about white women to indigenous women. plays and monologues bring to mind isolation and violence. Cult exploita- Willa Cather’s priests “civilize” them, Sam Shepard with a touch of Dylan tion, art-house movies and horror films Edna Ferber’s white women try to make Thomas. dominate, but while the author consid- Americans of them, curricula of federal ers some Westerns, the theme remains Indian boarding schools indoctrinated horror. and forced assimilation to Euro-Amer- ican ideals and much more. The author DECEMBER 2018 ROUNDUP MAGAZINE 31 31