Her Outlaw

With her thirtieth birthday looming, widow Emma McBride Tate yearns to revisit the mischief—making days of her youth. When she indulges her desires by flirting with Dair, a handsome stranger on a busy London street, she sees only his spellbinding eyes, broad shoulders and knee-weakening smile. She hasn't a clue that the man with such an appropriate name is the notorious Highland Reiver, a thief with surprising—and dangerous—ties to Emma's past. When Dair MacRae spies the unique ruby pendant nestled against the beauty's bountiful charms, he knows he must have it—and her. As always, he takes what he wants, but this time something is different. This time the thief is robbed—of his heart. So Dair tempts Emma with a tantalizing offer, and they begin an adventure both thrilling and fated that takes them from England to Scotland and finally, home to Texas. There, they'll dare everything in search of a love more powerful than either can imagine.

With her thirtieth birthday looming, American widow Emma Tate yearns for the excitement and adventure of her youth. When she indulges her desires by flirting with a handsome stranger on a busy London street, she hasn't a clue that the man is the notorious Highland Reiver, a thief with surprising—and dangerous—ties to Emma's past. When Dair MacRae spies the unique ruby pendant nestled against the beauty's bountiful charms, he knows he must have both the necklace and the woman. Dair never hesitates to take what he wants, but the last thing he expects is to be the one robbed—of his heart. So he tempts the young widow with a scandalous offer and they begin a daring and fated adventure that takes them from England to Scotland and finally, home to Texas in an effort to win the greatest prize of all—love.

Meet Depression-era newlyweds Bennie and Stella. He’s reckless, she’s naive. Longing for freedom from tough times, they rob a bank, setting off a series of events that quickly spin out of their control Under an Outlaw Moon is based on the true story of Depression-era bank robbers Bennie and Stella Mae Dickson. She’s a teenage outsider longing to fit in. He’s a few years older and he’s trouble. They meet at a local skating rink and the sparks fly. They marry and Stella dreams of a nice house with a swing out back, while Bennie figures out how to get enough money to make it happen. Setting his sights on the good life, he decides to rob a bank. Talking Stella into it, he lays out his plan and teaches her to shoot. The newlyweds celebrate her 16th birthday by robbing a local bank. They pull it off, but the score is small, and Bennie realizes the money won’t last long, so he plans a bigger robbery. What lays ahead is more than either of them bargained for. After J. Edgar Hoover finds out they crossed state lines, he declares them public enemies number one and two — wanted dead or alive. So much for the good life. The manhunt is on, and there’s little room for them to run.

Following in the tradition of recent work by cultural geographers and historians of maps, this collection examines the apparently familiar figure of Robin Hood as he can be located within spaces that are geographical, cultural, and temporal. The volume is divided into two sections: the first features an interrogation of the literary and other textually transmitted spaces to uncover the critical grounds in which the Robin Hood ’legend’ has traditionally operated. The essays in Part Two take up issues related to performative and experiential space, demonstrating the reciprocal relationship between page, stage, and lived experience. Throughout the volume, the contributors contend with, among other things, modern theories of gender, literary detective work, and the ways in which the settings that once advanced court performances now include digital gaming and the enactment of ’real’ lives.

Renowned songwriter, singer, and wife of Waylon Jennings writes an intimate, enormously entertaining memoir of American music, of life with Waylon and the Outlaws, and of faith lost and found. The daughter of a Pentecostal evangelist and a race-car driver, Jessi Colter played piano and sang in church before leaving Arizona to tour with rock-n-roll pioneer Duane Eddy, whom she married. Colter became a successful recording artist, appearing on American Bandstand and befriending stars such as the Everly Brothers and Chet Atkins, while her songs were recorded by Nancy Sinatra, Dottie West, and others. Her marriage to Eddy didn’t last, however, and in 1969 she married the electrifying Waylon Jennings. Together, they made their home in Nashville which, in the 1970s, was ground zero for roots music, drawing Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Shel Silverstein, and others to the Nashville Sound. And Jessi was at the center of it all, the only woman on the landmark Wanted: The Outlaws album, therecord that launched the Outlaw Country genre and was the first country album to go platinum. She also tasted personal commercial success with the #1-single “I’m Not Lisa.” But offstage, life was a challenge, as Waylon pursued his addictions and battled his demons. Having drifted from the church as a young woman, Jessi returned to her faith and found in it a source of strength in the turmoil of living with Waylon. In the 1980s, Waylon helped launch the super group The Highwaymen with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristofferson, and the hits kept rolling, as did Waylon’s reckless living. Amid it all, Jessi faithfully prayed for her husband until finally, at Thanksgiving 2001, Waylon found Jesus, just months before he died. An Outlaw and a Lady is a powerful story of American music, of love in the midst of heartache, and of faith that sustains.

The South had lost the Civil War and was losing its soul. Uniformed Rebels who had fought honorably in the light of day now wore tattered sheets in the dark and burned crosses. In armed packs they dragged the helpless Negro or Indian from his bed and stopped his hurried prayers with noose or buckshot. In North Carolina’s Robeson county, the Ku Klux did not see the vengeance it was stirring up: Henry Berry Lowery's gang of Swamp Outlaws, who ruthlessly protected themselves and the county's Indians and Negroes. "We kill anyone who hunts us, from Sheriff on down,” Lowery promised, and by forays out of the swamps to keep that promise he became the highest-bountied outlaw in the nation’s history. This tale of bloody revenge and brilliant survival is drawn from the gang’s real victims, benefactors, and descendants – all as told by the Yankee reporter from the New York Herald who joined the gang to get the story.

In Food and Feast in Premodern Outlaw Tales editors Melissa Ridley Elmes and Kristin Bovaird-Abbo gather eleven original studies examining scenes of food and feasting in premodern outlaw texts ranging from the tenth through the seventeenth centuries and forward to their cinematic adaptations. Along with fresh insights into the popular Robin Hood legend, these essays investigate the intersections of outlawry, food studies, and feasting in Old English, Middle English, and French outlaw narratives, Anglo-Scottish border ballads, early modern ballads and dramatic works, and cinematic medievalism. The range of critical and disciplinary approaches employed, including history, literary studies, cultural studies, food studies, gender studies, and film studies, highlights the inherently interdisciplinary nature of outlaw narratives. The overall volume offers an example of the ways in which examining a subject through interdisciplinary, cross-geographic and cross-temporal lenses can yield fresh insights; places canonic and well-known works in conversation with lesser-known texts to showcase the dynamic nature and cultural influence and impact of premodern outlaw tales; and presents an introductory foray into the intersection of literary and food studies in premodern contexts which will be of value and interest to specialists and a general audience, alike.

Includes disucssion questions and an excerpt from Roping the wrangler by Lacy Williams.