Legends Of The Wild West

For several hundred years, the West had been the land of dreams, an extraordinary region of hope, expansion and opportunity where European countries—and then the young USA itself—sent their finest explorers to plant seeds in a seemingly untapped, open landscape. This spirit captured the popular imagination in the Wild West, those raucous 30 years between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of a new century. Within these pages, readers will explore true tales of rebels and heroes such as General George Custer, Buffalo Bill, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Annie Oakley, and Sitting Bull, among others. The Wild West was the American Dream on steroids. It was an age of gunfights and gold rushes, cowboys and Comanches, with the likes of Buffalo Bill, Jesse James and Billy the Kid making their names. It forged extraordinary legends and even bigger lies, with everything fueled by dime novels written back East that encouraged folks to grab their share of a promise that was difficult for this hard land to keep. This book looks at all these mythical characters, the start of the railroad across the nation, the cost it all dealt to the Native Americans whose land was lost, and the way Hollywood still keeps the dream alive. As historian Richard White says, “People could go west and no matter their failures elsewhere, they had an opportunity to remake themselves. It’s a symbol for a kind of individualism that actually doesn’t exist in the West, but mythically it does.”

Featuring profiles of the most famous--and infamous--characters of the time, this special guide covers everyone from Buffalo Bill to Sitting Bull to Custer. Lively, anecdotal, and entertaining, this is something no fan of the Old West should be without!

Much has been written about the west—most of it clouded by exaggeration and fabrication. Since 1953, True West magazine has been devoted to celebrating the West’s true colors, giving the men and women who settled there accurate voices, exploring every triumph and tragedy of their time—and exposing every vice and virtue. True Tales and Amazing Legends of the Old West commemorates these unforgettable cowboys, Indians, and city slickers through a mix of classic histories and brand-new narratives, all illustrated with photographs—many reproduced here for the first time—of the people and places that gave rise to America’s Western mythology. With twenty-six stories that blend fact with folklore, this collection abounds with accounts of the famous and the infamous, including Sacagawea, Wild Bill Hickok, Pancho Villa, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Davy Crockett, and Wyatt Earp. Also here are lesser-known figures whose stories were pivotal to shaping the culture of the era, such as European conquistador Francisco Coronado, rancher “Black Billy” Hill, and fearless lawman Orlando “Rube” Robbins. Other tales recount the wide open plains, lawlessness, drama, mayhem, and promise embodied in the Old West. Whether you’re a history buff, an Old West devotee, or simply someone who is fascinated by the characters of America’s early years, these timeless tales and photographs epitomize the legendary spirit of what it meant to settle the West.

This true crime history of the American Frontier separates fact from fiction with in-depth profiles of thirty-eight career criminals and infamous outlaw gangs. In the years following the American Civil War, the country’s western frontier was home to a prodigious number of myth-making cowboys, infamous gunslingers, saloon madams, and not always law-abiding lawmen. But the romantic mystique of these individuals and the time in which they lives is largely the product of novelists and filmmakers. In Outlaws of the Wild West, Terry Treadwell presents the real stories behind such legends as Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, the Dalton Brothers, and others—as well as their lesser-known but equally criminal peers. Here are the stories of William Clark Quantrill and his Confederate Army unit, Quantrill’s Raiders, who turned hit-and-run raids into a way of life; Henry Starr, the Native American career criminal who went on to play himself in the movie of his life; Ann and Josie Bassett, the sisters who defended their ranch from cattle barons with the help of Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch; and many more.

The settling of the West in the 19th century is the essential American story, rich in symbolism and full of inspiration. This narrative of intrepid explorers, hardy pioneers seeking a better life, and daring outlaws who flouted authority, defintes the American spirit even today.

Collection of legends, fairy tales, and sagas of the American West.

Re-explore the Wild West, where America's legends and myths were made, for the first time with fully colorized images by best-selling author and cinematographer John Guntzelman. The lure of the Wild West has been a driving force in the American experience. Originally the stuff of dreams, dime novels, and Wild West shows, the fascination continued in motion pictures such as The Great Train Robbery, High Noon, The Magnificent Seven, the so-called spaghetti westerns of Clint Eastwood, and hundreds more. Whether through the appeal of wide-open spaces, the control of our own destiny, or just the desire for a better life, the Wild West still strikes a chord that resonates within. Following the Civil War and Reconstruction, the country expanded westward ready to grow--and grow it did. The evocative landscapes of these unexplored lands were recorded by a number of excellent photographers: John C. H. Grabill; Edward S. Curtis; John K. Hillers; and Timothy O'Sullivan, the famed Civil War photographer. Many of their striking images survive and continue to inspire us today. These iconic and incredibly evocative photographs from another era capture the reality and immediacy of that time and only require the careful addition of color to make them far more accessible, believable, and meaningful to present-day readers. The Wild West in Color includes over 200 of the best black-and-white photographs from that time, fully colorized to bring this lost world back to life! It offers a new glimpse into a period of the American experience that has inspired countless books, motion pictures, and stories--a time that continues to resonate and inspire us to the present day.