Oklahoma Books

Several years ago while at work, it became evident that at least for several weeks Billy Joels'well known song, "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid" was getting airplay at the same time each week. We could almost predict it and kind of expected it.I had heard it before but never really listened to it closely.Now, I was paying attention to every line as others may have,and took it for fact.This was right up until I heard a well known disc jockey discount the song and state that much of what was in the song was not fact at all but just made up ,fabricated and just literal allusion. At first I was taken aback, a little annoyed, but then I realized that Mr. Joel had to rhyme his words and possibly used what worked and to hell with the facts,which of course, was his prerogative.In doing so however, he did Billy The Kid a great injustice.Now I became curious for real facts about Billy and I did some searching and boy was I astounded at what I found.His life was nothing at all like the song or even what I had thought Billy the Kid was like based on my general knowledge of him picked up along the way.I envisioned a killer cowboy,a bank robbing,train robbing outlaw terrorizing the early west.Well,I have since developed an enduring respect for him after reading a very accurate and truthful history of him as written by Frederick Nolan.This book reads like a Russian novel.There are so many characters and people involved in the Kids world it boggles the mind.This book is completely filled with photos,maps,references and mini histories, one doesn't know where to begin. It does get jumpy at times where I felt lost in all the action but each chapter ends well seemingly tying up all the loose ends.How these guys did it and why anybody would go west is beyond me.But go they did and it was less than placid. The early west was a dry, dusty violent place and the Kid was right in the middle of it.His beginnings were confusing from a historical point of view due to lack of information and it seems he rarely experienced any lengthy periods of true peace.He always had to scrape for an existence,fight for scraps and he did defend himself as any respectable person would.He killed when absolutely necessary and was not the sociopathic killer history's tall tales have made him out to be.He had emotion,compassion and youthful exuberance and was well liked among his peers and was respected as well for his sense of fair play and justice.This it seems, was all for nought for his death was both tragic and violent at the hand of Pat Garrett who has his own version to tell and did for profit.He lived his life as best he could under the circumstances and remains a tragically misunderstood chapter of our midwest history. Just a blip on the radar, but a person who stood fast for his rights and was cheated out of a fair shake on more than one occasion. Nolan reflects that and is honest in his assessment of just what is truth and what is fiction.He attempts to dispell the myths and report the events down to their absolute truths without using dramatic,theatrical scenes.I did alot of research on Billy and boiled down the real books on his life.This book glared like a beacon for its honest assessment of just who and what Billy Antrum,and then Billy Bonney and then who became finally, Billy The Kid, was and what his life was from its mysterious beginings to its abrupt yet vague end.If Billy the Kid is a source of mystery that needs to be cleared then Nolans book is it.It is clearly evident that he did his research and would not fabricate facts to enhance the history.I recommend this book to Mr. Billy Joel.Perhaps he could compose a second edition more accurate to poor Billy Bonney to give him proper justice.As a book about the man and his times I highly recommend it.It is an arduous but fun read and when you hear the above noted song you will smile to yourself and know better and perhaps hold a place in your heart for the young man that history crucified perhaps a bit prematurely.The book is tops if you need or want to know Billy the Kid.

Nolan does a great job in describing the events of Billy the Kids life. One of the best historians out there. i would recommend this book for all who are interested in Billy The Kid. Unlike the book written by Jim Johnson this book is full of facts.

Fred Nolan is one of the most recognized and popular historians of the old west, but where he makes many of his mistakes is by repeating too many things written by previous authors without sufficient evidence. I find most of his statements impossible to prove incorrect, but there are a few problems in his writing. Also, the editing of his book has a few flaws in that there are many glowing contradictions within the book. But, if you can figure out where the errors were made, the rest of the book is interesting and appears to be factual. In comparison to the other books currently on the market on Billy, this is one of the better ones, especially if like good pictures..

Frederick Nolan has established a book on "Billy the Kid," which out does most before and after it's initial publication in 1999. An easy to follow book for all readers that tells the true story based on documentation and "real" proof to the life and death of "Billy the Kid." Bye far the best out there on this subject matter. Purchase it!!!

Mike Koch, Author of "The Kimes Gang."

What lacks in this describtion in the life og Billy the Kid, is a bit more detail in the last chapters. Clearly Frederick Nolan is most interestet in the Lincoln County War - thats why I give the book 4 stars and not 5.

Having said that I must hurry to make clear that this book probaly is the best biografy to read about Billy the Kid if you are just af normal human being knowning nothing first hand of the old west.
I am such a person, and when I started reading the book, Frederick Nolan unfolded the true old west before my eyes in a manner I have never imagined anyone would be able to. He writes in a nice easy-to-read way even for a guy like me who hasn't got english as my first language. He mannages to tell all the details of the story in such a way, that it is easy to understand what was going on, and why people were acting as the were - and that is a very big accevement as some subjekts in the book - for exampel the Lincoln County War - is af very complicated affair involving many different persons.

Frederik Nolans mission with this book is to show us the kid as he were in the old west as it was in the late 1870ties. And he succedes. He shows us a young man with a difficult childhood who has driftet from one bad area to another only to end up in the lions cave - Lincoln County - where a great cattle-war is about to break. And from their on his fate is seeled. Being the one he is with the past he has - he has no chance of avoiding bekomming a part of the war, and in the end one of the most feared - and wanted - outlaws in the territorry.

I picked up this book because when I initially read the plot it was like someone had taken a page out of my own life. My "Chebon" was a well known pow-wow dancer. All I can say there is that I wished he'd done a disappearing act like "Chebon"; it would've saved me alot of grief. Potts does a good enough job with the descriptions of pow-wow; although I think she could fine tune her character development and dialogue. I wanted to feel more sisterhood with Ilianna but her 'history' was awfully vague. Same with Chebon. There were numerous printing errors in my copy of the book, but this may be what happens when you self-publish which I think is the case here, but I could be mistaken. I was disappointed with the ending; after experiencing a major burn, the character seemed to have learned very little from her experience. I think Potts had an opportunity to bring the vibrancy of pow-wow, the cultural conflicts between NDN men and White women, and more, to her readers and fell short.

Forty-two year old Ilianna Marshall has a job, a house, her hobbies, and a best friend, but no romance to erase the remnants of an unhappy marriage and lonely nights. Attending a powwow and meeting Chebon Charboneau, a Native American, remedies that problem. The two share a weekend of love that will last for a lifetime--she hopes and he promises. She hopes she's not being used. She doesn't want to be just a powwow pickup. She wants desperately to believe Chebon's promises, but should she?

Leanna Potts writes a fulfilling story of a woman's hunger for love and the cost of satisfaction. Lovers of romance stories will savor every moment Ilianna and Chebon spend together. And, the way the book ends, romance lovers will beg for the sequel.

Have just finished a great summer time read, "PowWow Pickup" by Leanna Potts. The heroine Ilianna Marshall is recovering, but slowly, from a loveless marriage. As therapy she attends a local powwow. She also hopes it will get her in touch with her Native American background which has largely been ignored by her mother. While there, she meets and falls in love with Chebon, a Grass Dancer

The author paints a vivid picture of the modern powwow. One can see the costumes, hear the drums, smell the dust and gain understanding of this little known slice of ethnic culture. Tenderly and with sensitive awareness of her needs Chebon breaks through the shell Ilianna has built around herself. Would that we all could have such a lover!

The surprising ending sends a realistic message about romance in the Twenty First century. Well written, with lively dialogue, colorful descriptions and true to life situations, Powwow Pickup is bound to hold your interest.

Reviewed by Betty Wold,Phoenix,AZ

As a avid reader, I go through books of multiple types like candy. It is at times, very difficult to keep me engrossed. This book was gripping from the first page. The author has managed to include native american lore, romance, mystery and plain good fiction while at the same time staying realistic. The combination is very difficult to find in one place, not so with Powwow Pickup. The author's ability to reach into the human heart and pull out emotions that all of us have probably felt at some time is uncanny. The author is truelly on the rise.

I LOVED this book and couldn't put it down until I finished. It's a romance set in a contemporary Native American background, which is difficult to find today. Illiana, the main character, is a woman still bitter after a divorce, but who feels an instant attraction that she resists to Chebon, a grass dancer she meets at a powwow. He overcomes her insecurities and uncertainties about getting to know him, and they have a short, wonderful romance. The sense of loss and betrayal Illiana feels when she and Chebon part is palpable. The author has a great ability to make her characters real, interesting, and strongly capturing the reader's empathy. I look forward to more from this writer.

quienes desertaron del ejercito invasor, pues se rebelaron ante la injusta guerra impuesta por el ya poderoso vecino del norte a la república del sur, recien independizada, quince años tenia como tal, enconrandose debilitada por una serie de pugnas inetrnas, las cuales por cierto, habian sido atizadas por el primer representante oficial del vecino del norte, se trato de una gvulgar uerra de conquista, la mas injusta que han visto los tiempos, por eso no es de extrañar que el ejercito invasor expe- rimentara el mas alto porcentaje de desercion durante una guerra, Polk, su mentor Jackson, Gaynes, Taylor, Scott, Pillow y demas caterva hoy por hoy se cuecen todos los dias en el infierno.

This book chronicles the rise and fall of the Saint Patrick's Battalion, "The San Patricios," a notable arm of the Mexican Army during the War of 1846-1848. Two hundred deserters from the U. S. Army joined the San Patricios and fought against their former comrades in five major battles. As detailed by the author, the history of the San Patricios is a woeful tale of angry, bewildered, naive, or calculating young men, from varied backgrounds, who deserted for a myriad of reasons and paid a fearful price.

John Riley, the Irish born originator and organizer of the San Patricios, was a soldier of fortune who survived all of his wars. (Riley had the distinction of serving three different national flags in the 19th century) Two-fifths of the San Patricios were from Ireland and the remainder from other European nations or the United States. All of the deserters had been privates in the U. S. Army and several were noted troublemakers.

The casualties suffered by the San Patricios at Churubusco on August 20, 1847, were devastating. Three hours after the battle had commenced, 60% of the two hundred and four men were either dead or had been captured by the Americans. Of the 85 San Patricios taken prisoner, 72 including Major John Riley were tried for desertion. All were found guilty except for one man who was judged insane. Fifty men were condemned to death by hanging, fifteen were to suffer lesser punishments, and five were pardoned.

On September 10, Riley and 14 men were brutally whipped and branded with a large "D." Sixteen of the condemned were hanged that day and four others the following day. The remaining men were positioned two days later on a scaffold overlooking Chapultepec Castle awaiting an American victory. When this occurred, 30 San Patricios were to be launched into eternity. A macabre chapter took place when the condemned men viewed the American flag being raised over the castle. They cheered with eyes uplifted and their loyalties reclaimed at the instant of their deaths.

The victory over Mexico was celebrated by the U. S. military and by politicians as it was the first war fought and won on foreign soil. It involved the first large scale amphibious landing of troops; it provided the U. S. Army with its first experience in occupying a foreign capital; and it crowned manifest destiny as the harbinger of America's future. Four officers who fought in the war became U. S. Presidents and forty-three officers became noted generals in the American civil war.

Mexico lost the war because the balance between politics and the military became unhinged and thus destroyed any semblance of strategy. This resulted in a lack of control on the battlefield. Few Mexican commanders had any idea as to what was happening during most battles. Their tactics were poorly conceived and doomed to failure although the bravery of the Mexican soldier was unquestioned. The difference between the two sides was the fact the President of Mexico also conducted field operations; a relic of European command structure unsuited for the innovative strategy employed by the Americans.

There were many reasons why American soldiers deserted during the Mexican War; the highest desertion rate in any foreign war fought by the United States. The reasons were varied: the severe regimentation of 19th century military life; the harsh and cruel punishment for the slightest infraction; the unpopularity of the war; the Catholic issue; economic enticements offered by the Mexicans such as higher pay, land grants, and higher rank; the widespread prejudice toward foreign born soldiers; and the lack of promotion or advancement in the U. S. Army.

The members of the San Patricios weren't cowards despite the opprobrious words heaped on them by the Americans. Their proficiency and bravery in battle elicited the highest praise from the Mexican Government, "...all the time the attack(s) lasted they sustained the fire with extraordinary courage." On September 12, the anniversary of the hangings and on every Saint Patrick's Day, ceremonies are held in San Angel, a suburb of Mexico City to honor these heroes of Mexico.

Robert Miller constructed his story from known data and from sources hitherto unread. He manages to combine, arrange, and connect a mass of facts with the insight of a very good historian yet his careful scholarship doesn't interfere with nor detract from an exciting tale. He writes with a flowing style so clear and alive that the reader is drawn into this book with pleasure. The footnotes, bibliography, and index are comprehensive and reflect a very thorough job. The battle maps are adequate. It's unfortunate no pictures or paintings exist in order to identify members of the San Patricios.

Miller's book isn't about leaders, winners, or losers. It's about people with their strengths and their weaknesses; their virtues and their vices; and the realization that some people when beguiled by perceived glory, might take a final and fatal step in their lives. If good writing and careful scholarship are signs of a professional than Robert Ryal Miller is a stylish professional indeed.

This is an OK book on the subject, but unfortunately it turns a blind eye to the true reasons why a large number of immigrant Catholic soldiers deserted from the U.S. army before and during the war with Mexico. Nativism and anti-Catholic prejudice were the norm among military officers of that day. Violence, abuse, religious persecution, and unfair punishments were routinely directed against Irish and German soldiers like a hellish disease.

The courts that condemned the deserters did not allow religion or racial prejudice as a defense in the trials and that is why so many of the "San Patricios" cited abduction by Mexican "rancheros" or drunkenness as the reason they went "over the hill." Their fates at trial were assured from the beginning. The author doesn't take this into account, and in this sense one concludes that the research was shallow.

A better book is "The Rogue's March" by Peter Stevens.

Miller does a nice job keeping the reader's interest and his presentation of the facts is clear and upfront. However, more than a few times he does go out of his way to present his opinion that the San Patricios where more likely motivated by personal benefit than a search for justice. Fortunately, he doesn't allow his opinion get in the way of the facts letting the reader make his own informed decision.

With the exception of two romantic novels and an amateur 1986 stage play,
no treatment of the history of The Saint Patrick's Battalion was available
until the publcation of this volume.

This unique unit, composed almost entirely of U.S. Army deserters, the
majority of them Irish-born, operated as part of Antonio de Santa Ana's
army during the Mexican-American war of 1846-1848.

Described by the author as a group of "bewildered young men", they were
idolized in Mexico as martyrs and heroes while being despised in North
America as traitors and deserters.

For deserters, they were certainly fond of warfare. Participating in
five major battles, including Buena Vista and Churubusco, the
artillery and infantry units of their battalion typically suffered
combat casualties upwards of fifty percent.

The author, Robert Ryal Miller, tells their story well - from the inception
of their unit to the last days of the war and beyond. Especially gripping
is his description of the despicable U.S. Colonel William Selby Harney's
punishment of thirty captured "San Patricios". He timed the hanging of
his captives (including Francis O'Connor, who had lost both legs to cannon
fire and had to be propped up on the gallows) to coincide with the raising
of the American flag at the conclusion of the assault on Chapultepec castle.

Miller does his best to deal with the many myths that surround the "Batallion
de San Patricio", including the one that has them establishing San Patricio,
Texas and, for the most part, succeeds. However, as Thoreau once said: "Some
circumstantial evidence is too strong to ignore - such as a trout in the milk".

This excellent (and long past due) history is enhanced by the inclusion of
a preface, illustrations, maps, tables, an appendix, notes and a bibliography.

Teddy Blue Abbott rode the old western cattle trails from his early teens and shares his memories in 'We Pointed Them North'. A willful young man, Abbott left his Nebraska home early and followed his dream of being a cowboy all the way north to his eventual home in Montana. Along the way he rode many a horse, chased a lot more cow critters, shared an occassional drink and dallied a bit with 'sporting' women and met numerous other young men with similar dreams. The times could be tough but looking back on his life, Teddy Blue wouldn't change a thing.

I purchased this book for research purposes. I was surprised to find it so engrossing - a real page turner!

Of all the books I've read and owned on the historic west - and they're many - among the finest is Teddy Blue's personal account of the early cattle drives from Texas to Montana. He lived it, he remembered it in all its finest detail, and he told it well. This book both informs and entertains, and with Teddy's tongue firmly planted in his cheek at the right times - such as his account of how he came by his nickname - it flat out amuses. Teddy walked it like he talked it, and there is no better, straighter picture of his wild times than We Pointed Them North.

This is another of the several books now available that describes the Texas trail herds and Eastern Montana cattle industry from a cowboy's perspective. Many people consider this the seminal book of the genre. My copy was published in 1939, the year I was born; however, it has been republished several times and is currently available.

My father knew Teddy Blue and I grew up around a mix of cowboys raised in Texas and the northern states. This book is an authentic view of the cowboy's life. Like Teddy Blue, many started out at a young age as an adventure-seeking, rather wild kid. Hard work that wasn't always fun molded them into skilled hands in handling cattle. Teddy Blue finally married, took a homestead, and became one of the settlers whom he used to detest for running livestock and farming on fenced land. That was typical of those Texas cowboys that came to Montana or Wyoming and didn't run back south with the first snowflakes.

This is the true story of trailing livestock from Texas to Montana and raising cattle on the open range. It has stampedes, blizzards, settlers, Indians, prostitutes, outlaws, and vigilantes. It is a story of love, courtship, and marriage. It relates the maturing of Montana from no government or law to established statehood and communities.

E.C. Abbott earned the nickname "Teddy Blue" during one of his more boisterous minutes in Miles City, Montana. Admittedly, it is a misnomer to call Mr. Abbott a Texan since his family moved to Nebraska from England when Teddy Blue was eleven and he fully adopted Montana as the state where he lived out his life. However, he, like the other cowboys who "came up the trail," refers to himself as a Texas cowboy.

This book is very readable. We are indebted to Helena Huntington Smith for recording Teddy Blue's memories, as well as her other writings such as "A Bride Goes West." Those two books are an anchor for the history of the "old west."

A good look at the life of a cowboy in Montana and Wyoming in the late 1800's. Not politically correct by any stretch. Not very well put together but a very interesting read.

Set in modern day Santa Cruz, Owens has constructed a fictional thriller based on events in and around the infamous mission's domain. Troubled spirits mingle with malignant minds as Native American professor Cole McCurtain finds himself and his Choctaw family drawn into a story he has dreamed for many nights. Find yourself drawn to Cole's wise young daughter Abby and his wise-cracking cross-dressing Navajo friend Alex Yazzie. This literary novel is a great thriller which provides lots of laughs and some sexy characters along the way.

Bone Game is the sequel to The Sharpest Sight, a mystery set many years earlier with protagonist Cole McCurtain coming of age along the Salinas River. Another excellent and very funny literary text that doubles as a sensational mystery

The whole history of the opression of Native Californians is not widely known or spoken of, even in California (I still hear that misbelief that the missions were good for the Indians occaisonally -- don't get me started0. And unfortunately, many times people aren't even aware that native peoples such as the Ohlone that figure into Owens' book still exist (they were, after all, declared extinct by anthropologists like Alfred Kroeber, which is extremely untrue). So I commend Owens for drawing upon the rich history of California in a way I have not seen many other authors do. Plenty of books rely on the premise of the wronged native -- most deal with horse-back riding Plains Indians with names like "Big Wolf" or "Two Eagles."

As for plot, and story, Owens scores here as well. I notice that many other reviewers found the plot line confusing, which in turn confuses me as I found it easy to follow. I even figured out that there were two...well, I don't want to spoil it for you. Owens also has good descriptions of the local scenery -- the redwoods forests of the Santa Cruz mountains as well as the juniper-pinyon forests of New Mexico - that come through as authentic to any who has ever walked in those places.
It's too bad Owens isn't still around producing works like these.

I ran across this book in my search for mysteries written by Native Americans. The jacket blurb and book reviews made it sound intriguing and worth picking up to read.

The story line weaves back and forth between murders set in present day California and Spanish Colonial times.

Owens prose is haunting; his images catch just at the edge of the reader's mind. Ok, one asks, is this happening today? Or 300 years ago? Is it real? (whatever that means.) Or just one of the protagonist's screwy dreams?

Frankly, I got exhausted trying to figure out where and when I was supposed to be. I fought my way through several hundred pages, searching for a plot I could hang on to. We finally got there, but by that time I had become bored with Cole - the angst-ridden, usually drunk, central character.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned - I like my mysteries to unfold in a more or less straight line. Too much poetry, imagery, and symbolism for my taste.

I just happened to stumble upon this novel through a book club. I enjoyed every sentence of it! Owens blends Native American history, lore and custom with his characters' modern-day American concerns and fears. Cole McCurtain, teaching Indian Studies at Santa Cruz, finds that he is lonely, drinking far too much, and missing his family. His daughter, Abby, comes to stay with him at the same time that body parts start floating ashore. Cole is haunted by nightmares that seem to be telling him a story. He is also surrounded by a fascinating array of characters who fill the novel with humor, sarcasm and wisdom.
Owens' writing is first-rate. This is a chilling novel that, at the same time, is quite touching. I cared about what happened to the characters and had to keep reading to find out the next twist.

After reading the novel Bone Game, a common reaction of many readers must be confusion. There are so many visions and dreams in this novel. These visions seem to occur independent of time and space, leading a reader used to highly structured "Western" novels to throw up their hands in futility. On reflection, however, several themes can be discerned from this confusing novel. One overarching theme seems to be the pervasive force of evil that manifests itself throughout the book. Louis Owens definitely has a grasp of criminal history. He has borrowed from real life events to construct his novel. Most of the events in Bone Game occur at the University of California, Santa Cruz where Cole McCurtain works as a professor. During the early 1970's Santa Cruz suffered through a crime wave when three serial killers committed crimes there.

Herbert William Mullin was, by anybody's account, a strange bean. A heavy user of LSD and a frequent pot smoker, Mullin eventually suffered a serious psychological collapse. He began hearing voices that commanded him to kill people in order to prevent earthquakes from destroying Southern California.

Edmund Kemper embarked on a sadistic rampage of murder and mayhem that culminated with his arrest in Pueblo, Colorado in April 1973. Kemper was a giant of a man, 6'9" tall and 280 pounds. Inside lurked a monster. Kemper despised women, especially his mother. When Kemper began to hunt women, his mother, a UCSC employee, inadvertently aided her son's murderous desires by providing him with a parking sticker for his car. This sticker allowed Kemper to lure young college co-eds to their deaths. After killing his victims, Kemper dismembered their bodies and decapitated them. Kemper buried one particular head in the yard outside his room, with the head facing towards the house so he could "talk" to his victim.

The third killer was John Linley Frazier. Frazier's spree was limited to a single event in 1970, when he torched the house of a local doctor. Frazier left a note at the crime scene expressing his outrage at the exploitation of the ecosystem and the rampant materialism prevalent in American society. When arrested, it was discovered that Frazier was a rabid ecologist and a practitioner of Tarot cards. Police believed that the murders Frazier committed might have been linked to the hippie culture movement that existed in the surrounding areas of Santa Cruz.

This lengthy description of madness is not an attempt to skirt discussion of Bone Game. Rather, Owens uses these real events to create fictional characters that adopt, and ultimately subvert, Indian culture. Can any reader look at the hulking figure of Paul Kantner and not see Ed Kemper? The murderer in Bone Game uses a car with a UCSC parking sticker to pick up one of his female victims. Kantner even murders his mother in the same way Kemper killed his mother. Paul also admits to burying the head of one of his victims so that it faces his room, allowing him to talk to the head. Again, this is the same thing that Kemper did.

Herbert Mullin and John Frazier are also represented in the story. Robert Malin, Cole's graduate assistant, seems to possess some of Mullin's attributes. Both Mullin and Malin (the names again share a similarity) engage in hallucinogenic experiences. Mullin takes acid and Malin takes part in the peyote ceremony. Mullin's experience with hallucinogens does not have the spiritual and healthy connotations of an Indian peyote ritual. Instead of receiving visions helpful and cleansing visions, Mullin's visions are nightmares of depravity that lead to murder. Even Robert does not share in the healthy experience of the ritual because he runs out before the ritual is finished. Robert talks about his "dreams" to kill, closely resembling Mullin's own sadistic visions. It is also important to point out that Malin seems to have adopted Mullin's fascination with earthquakes, as can be seen when he talks to Abby after he has abducted her.

Frazier's fascination with ecology and the prevention of materialistic consumption are both ideas that are closely associated with Indian values. In the hands of Frazier, they become twisted beyond recognition and turned into a reason for murder and destruction. The hippie culture that Frazier was immersed in also presents a problem. The hippie culture attempted to co-opt many Indian ideas, especially the concept of community. While this may seem to be a noble goal, in the hands of Whites it had a propensity to occasionally produce a John Frazier or a Charles Manson. The hippie culture that Frazier was a part of actually does makes an appearance in Bone Game, when Paul takes Abby to a place called Elfland. Elfland is a place where white students go to take part in wacky "New Age" rituals. These rituals are actually pathetic attempts by Whites to copy Indian ritual.

Another important event in Bone Game that illustrates the idea of subversion deals with the Indians themselves, as people. Luther and Hoey run into a gang of criminals who deal in a sort of Indian slavery. The evil committed against the Indians here is twofold: not only is an Indian abducted and denied dignity as a human being by Whites, the Whites have also turned Indian against Indian. One of the gang is an Indian who has nothing but contempt for his own people.

A weird book but worth reading if you like Indian literature.

I did not pick up this book because I was particularly interested in Calamity Jane. No, I was going to attend a presentation the author, James D. Mclaird, was giving to the National Outlaw-Lawmen Association meeting in Rapid City, South Dakota. I wanted to know what he would talk about. (His presentation was excellent, by the way.)
I thoroughly enjoyed the book, especially the discussion of Calamity Jane's legend. And, not long afterward, I spotted an autobiographical pamphlet of Jane's on a table at a bookseller's. I grabbed it immediately. Fifteen bucks ... and autographed in the BACK, not the front. Ha ha! I'd like to have met Jane. I was pleased to meet James D. Mclaird, and I'm glad to have read this book! Highly recommended.

An interesting review of Jane's life. Well written, this book shows the real Calamity Jane not just the Dime Novel Legend. Make no mistake, Jane lived a hard life, but her story is well worth your time to read.

In the past 20 years I've read a lot of information on Calamity Jane, and James Mclaird's book is the most reliable, well-researched book on the subject of this woman. Most of the information floating around about her is false, and Mclaird painstakingly dissects myth from fact, including how each myth or rumor was started in the first place. Since reading Calamity Jane:The Woman And The Legend, I feel like a pseudo-expert on her myself, and can easily spot misinformation and poor research whenever I see it in other publications. I highly recommend this read for Old West enthusiasts, students who are looking for a topic, and anyone interested in what a genuinely thorough biography is supposed to be. If you're considering another source on her life other than this one, don't bother because it's probably a jumble of misinformation. This book is the only way to go.

This well researched and documented biography of Mary Canary a.k.a. Calamity Jane (1856-1903) lifts the veil behind a Western myth. The real Calamity Jane really did have a calamitous life. She spent most of her life in the roughest spots - as a military camp follower, in rough and tumble mining towns, and in the ever raucous and short lived railroad junction towns springing up as the tracks were laid across the country. She made her living as a dance hall girl, prostitute, laundress, cook, Madame, and similar pursuits. She was a life long alcoholic and was clearly dissipated at an early age. Later in life, some ways, she lived off the kindness of others or cashed in on her unearned fame as a frontier hero.

McLaird does a good job of uncovering the real Calamity Jane and explaining how her myth was built up through Western dime novels and newspaper reporters, thirsty for good stories. For example, stories about Calamity the camp follower turned into her being a scout for the army. As her legend grew, the stories became even more farcical. Later in life Calamity cashed in on these stories to garner sympathy and support from others. But ultimately she died young, most likely simply from alcoholism.

The downfall to this biography is twofold. First, the author could have cited other writers that discuss the process of Western myth building and incorporated that into his thesis. Secondly, the prose is very matter of fact and rather bland. I found the topic fascinating but the writing style a bit boring, so at times the biography gets a little tedious and academic.

Nevertheless, it does offer another solid academic work on Western myth building, with Calamity Jane maybe the biggest farce of them all.

Though it's not mentioned in this biography, it's worth noting that cowboy artist C.M. Russell, who was more or less Calamity's contemporary, and who shared at least one mutual friend, cowboy Teddy Blue Abbott, never painted nor even mentioned Calamity in any of his artwork, stories, or recollections. It was Russell who wrote, "The worst old timer I every knew, looks dam good to me." James McLaird's painstaking new book suggests that perhaps Russell didn't find Calamity scandalous but dull.

Martha Jane Canary / Calamity Jane was, in her childhood and adolescent years, an example of resourcefulness and grit. She survived a broken home, neglect, and abandonment. That she survived at all, much less as a camp follower who chanced to visit some famous camps, would be enough to earn her a footnote in history books. Had she never returned to Deadwood after her first visit, she'd probably have some polite mention in the town's history. When she came back a second time, she was an item of nostalgia; but when she returned a third time, she was a nuisance and embarrassment.

James McLaird has done nothing less than a phenomenal job, and possibly a thankless one. He sifted and sorted through every book, article, memoir, and dime novel that might make mention of Calamity in order to establish just who she was and how much of her legend had any basis in fact. And the truth is neither flattering nor thrilling. If Calamity has anything to be memorialized for, apart from occasional nursing duties, it would be her travels. When not following the U.S. Cavalry into the Black Hills, she followed the railroad as it pushed its way across the West. She hobnobbed with Wild Bill Hickock, but probably never shared a bed with him. She was nowhere near General Custer and the 7th Cavalry when they encountered Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. She tended bars, drove wagons, whored, drank, and fought till she was asked to leave town, and might have continued to do so comfortably if she hadn't become a celebrity. Behind her dime novelesque façade, she was a bitter alcoholic, aging prematurely and sinking toward an early death in her late 40s.

McLaird paints as sympathetic a portrait as he can. Calamity fell victim both to herself and the legend she engendered. Some years after her death, she was exploited again by Jean McCormick, a con artist who fabricated an elaborate and clumsy hoax to "prove" she was the daughter of Calamity and Wild Bill Hickock. McLaird commendably restrains his sarcasm and lets irony speak for itself. The McCormick ruse not only found believers in the 1940s, but continues to have adherents in these days of "Deadwood."

As I began to read the book, I constantly keep in mind just who the authors were. Having read "Others Unknown", I knew that James Nichols was a suspect at one point.

The first several chapters is mainly concerned with James Nichols' lashing out at the FEDS for raiding his farm. It's loaded with hilarious jabs at the federal government which at times overshadows the facts. The book poses some very interesting questions about the bomb and obstruction of justice. But I think the best information in the book comes from the last several chapters begining with "Witnesses". I was losing enthusiasm in the book until I hit this chapter. From then on the book took a more serious approach to the facts. Stephen Jones' book had a chapter on US v. McVeigh and he rattled off a list of names of people who the goverment never called as witnesses without explaining what the significant of those witnesses were. This book explained what those witnesses saw the morning of April 19, 1995 as well as the weeks/days leading up to the bombing. (The fact that I was able to cross-reference FE with Jones' book gave it more credibility).

The book also gave more in-depth information on the ATF informant, Carol Howe and exactly what she had reported to her superiors which was ignored at the expense of 168 men, women and children.

My lasting impression is that there was a grand COVER-UP, the government had been tipped off (Jones said the same in his book) and we may never know what really happened and why.

WORTH THE READ FOR THE SECOND-HALF, WILL LEAVE YOU WANTING MORE INFORMATION.

Being the brother of convicted co-conspirator Terrry Nichols does not give the author any inside info on the bombing. Terry was able to tell him very little about the plot while being visited in jail. This is only about the FBI's high-handed investigation of the author due to his relationship to Terry. Not relevant to the main event. I wish I hadn't bought it.

I have read almost all of the books out there about the Oklahoma City bombing and the Assault on The Branch Davidians in Waco which is often cited as having been the inspiration for the destruction of the Murrah Building. This book contains LOTS of scathing information regarding The US Governments manipulation of people and its censorship/fabrication of information released to the public. The story it tells is vitally important for all Americans to read although I found the book to be tedious reading in certain areas. Nichols tells his story with all the emotion it deserves and what he has to say is important. Read it!

This is a great book which gives a lot of information that the most American's have NO IDEA. James Nichols has a great sense of humor through it all as well. It shows the INJUSTICE in this case. I highly recommend.

As I began to read the book, I constantly keep in mind just who the authors were. Having read "Others Unknown", I knew that James Nichols was a suspect at one point.

The first several chapters is mainly concerned with James Nichols' lashing out at the FEDS for raiding his farm. It's loaded with hilarious jabs at the federal government which at times overshadows the facts. The book poses some very interesting questions about the bomb and obstruction of justice. But I think the best information in the book comes from the last several chapters begining with "Witnesses". I was losing enthusiasm in the book until I hit this chapter. From then on the book took a more serious approach to the facts. Stephen Jones' book had a chapter on US v. McVeigh and he rattled off a list of names of people who the goverment never called as witnesses without explaining what the significant of those witnesses were. This book explained what those witnesses saw the morning of April 19, 1995 as well as the weeks/days leading up to the bombing. (The fact that I was able to cross-reference FE with Jones' book gave it more credibility).

The book also gave more in-depth information on the ATF informant, Carol Howe and exactly what she had reported to her superiors which was ignored at the expense of 168 men, women and children.

My lasting impression is that there was a grand COVER-UP, the government had been tipped off (Jones said the same in his book) and we may never know what really happened and why.

WORTH THE READ FOR THE SECOND-HALF, WILL LEAVE YOU WANTING MORE INFORMATION.

I used this years ago in college and just got it off the shelf as I prepare to take up Homeric Greek again for fun.

This was a great help when I first needed it for both 'Odyssey' and 'Iliad' readings. I can certainly agree with those who want principal parts and more definitions, but that's why you also need Liddell and Scott's or Cunliffe's 'Lexicon...' My sticking point is that nouns could've been given a definite article and a genitive ending, even so supplying them yourself (as I did) is a great exercise.

What is so nice about this book is the great number of words listed for you and especially its portability. Take it every where; use it any time!
What Owen and Goodspeed wanted to do is provide vocabulary as simply as possible. And they succeeded.

If you wish to read any language, vocabulary is necessary. The listing of words by frequency and parts of speech helps one to focus study time where it will bear the most fruit.

This wordlist is of inestimable value to all those few yet thrice-blessed who still learn to read Homer in Greek. By the time you finish it, you will have at least a nodding acquaintance with every word that appears ten times or more in the Iliad and Odyssey. That may indeed leave a trireme of unknown words, but trust me, knowing the most frequent ones makes it much easier to get the gist of a passage before running to the lexicon. If you are learning Homer from Pharr--as nearly everyone does--this is a good reference to consult to see which words in his chapter vocabularies are worth committing to your active memory. (I wish that Pharr had marked the words of infrequent occurrence. Wright should have done this in his "revision" but he didn't really revise Pharr much at all.)

There is only one shortcoming, though I do consider it a serious one: the list of verbs does not include principal parts, and the noun list does not give genders or stems. You could easily write in the article and genitive forms for the nouns, but good luck trying to fit the five remaining principal parts of a verb on the same line as its entry. So no matter how you solve this problem, you will still need to look up nearly every word. That's an onerous task to inflict on a beginner. With a class of students, though, I suppose the teacher could divide up the drudge-work.

The greatest obstacle to reading Homer in Greek is the sheer density of the vocabulary. That is to say, Homer's vocabulary is
enormous. As an attempt to help the student of Homeric Greek acquire a good grasp on Homer's vocabulary, this little book is useful yet not as useful as it could have been.

The book contains word lists covering words that occur up to ten times in the Iliad and Odyssey. Unfortunately, there are serious faults with the word lists. As one reviewer has already mentioned, the verbs give only the present indicative active; with a verb such as audao (to speak, say, utter (something)(to someone)), this is no problem, since the verb only appears in a few tenses in which context and form always guarantee one's recognition of it. However, there are countless verbs which undergo such dramatic changes in form from one tense to the next
that knowing the present indicative active alone is well-nigh useless. Thus, principal parts should have been provided for such words.

Also, there are many words whose meaning changes from one context to the next. The definitions provided for such words in the word lists are almost useless, since they only equip the reader with an understanding of them in certain contexts.

One last criticism: There are a number of words which really do not need to be included in these word lists. Words like kai, de, and alla are so common and so basic that only the most intellectually challenged of Greek students would need to practice them.

So the book is useful for the absolute beginner in Homeric Greek, but its defects become more and more obvious the more
one progresses in one's learning. It's a shame that no one has come up with a better alternative to these word lists. Personally, I would love to see a full vocabulary guide to Homeric Greek such as one can find for the vocabulary of the Greek New Testament, in which principal parts and variant meanings are included, and in which all of Homer's vocabulary is covered down to those pesky hapax legomena (words used only once).

I will disagree with the reviewers that fault Owen & Goodspeed for the lack of principle parts and alternate definitions; for me, the strength of this little volume was the ability to carry it tucked in a pocket and quickly drill vocabulary when I had a few minutes. Anyone reading Homer should have a good lexicon and use that for examining meanings and forms; if you memorize the contents of Owen & Goodspeed, you'll be able to quickly identify words and, if necessary, look them up for other meanings or unusual forms.

I purchased this book after reading a review about it on someone's blog. The book presents the fascinating history of the planning and building of the Hoover Dam. I was particularly struck by the descriptions of the working conditions that the workers endured. While the text appeared to be fairly dense, it was actually a fast read. The only real complaint I have about the book is that I think it could have used a few more maps to help the reader get a sense for where things were. I believe there was one map, and it wasn't very details. If you are at all interested in the history surrounding the construction of the Hoover Dam I highly recommend getting this book.

What a wonderful book. As a civil engineer, if I had been born 50 years sooner, I probably would have gone in dam-building, but by the time I came along, the great dam-building era in the US was over. On a recent trip to Las Vegas, my wife and I visted Hoover Dam three times, we were both so fascinated with this monumental structure.

So I bought "Hoover Dam - An American Adventure" by Joseph E. Stevens. The author does a great job of describing the technical details without getting too technical for laymen, and he also covers the human details and the political background of the huge project.

One thing that really made the book so enjoyable was the liberal use of photographs, and unlike many books where the photographs are all in the middle of the book, the photographs are located throughout the book in the appropriate chapters.

This book made me proud to be an American, with the roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-the-job-done attitude that typified the early dam and bridge builders.

If you have the slightest interest in major engineering feats, read the book, it's a good one.

Excellent book. I have read a number of science/engineering histories and this is one of the best. It follows the building of the Hoover Dam from start to finish. If I ever go to Las Vegas, it will be because I wanted to see the Dam. It has just the right amount of detail, both technical and political to keep me interested. It read faster than its size would suggest.

I was a young boy who lived in Boulder City for five years when my father helped build the dam. This is an excellently written - maybe one of the best I have ever read - and very accurate account of the construction, the people who did it, and life at the time. I stop and reminisce every time I go through Boulder City and drive over the dam. I loved my Dad and am very proud of his participation there. This book took me back in a very instructive and entertaining manner. It did the entire project proud. I won't hesitate one second to recommend this book to anyone who appreciates excellence in writing, or who loves America and its history. For this was a truly great undertaking, excellently and excitingly performed. And by people who, in my opinion, are prime examples of the so called "Greatest Generation". Detailed accounts of the construction of the dam are available, and are also excellent. But that is not the focus of this book.

According to the jacket, this is the first book for this author. You can't tell after turning the last page. Well written, easy to read history of the Hoover Dam project. Never overly technical, yet highly informative.

The third edition to Garrison's Catullus is an improvement from the last edition. A minor revision includes updated bibliography concerning textual tradition. But the big improvement is the reformatting of the book's type-face. It is now set in Minion Pro which is easier to read, in my opinion, than Times New Roman. In other words, it is beautifully laid out to present a good book overall. Other things: still remaining are the commentary and vocabulary in the back of the book.

Garrison's book is not the soundest text for people reading Catullus in Latin. For one thing, the book does a disservice in "titling" every poem in the collection with an English one-liner...this goes a long way towards influencing the reader before s/he even reads the Latin. Second, there is no critical apparatus with the Latin text...and with a poet like Catullus, for whom textual issues are more than marginally important, this is a lamentable loss...even beginning Latin students can be sophisticated enough not to think that the text of an author was handed down by Jupiter on golden tablets...or in this case, in a forest green paperback. Fordyce's 1961 Oxford commentary remains standard for the poems he covers (and contrary to popular lore he did not leave the others out out of a sense of Puritanism but rather because the Oxford Press at the time thought the book would sell to a larger market with the obscene poems omitted)...there is also Merrill, still in print (he has every poem)...and for more accomplished Latinists, we now have Thomson's big 1997 volume. If you can find it, Kenneth Quinn's 1970 commentary on the whole corpus is also worth a close look...

I am a T.A. for a course in Catullus, and I find this book to be very helpful. Included in this volume are the complete extant works of Catullus, a Catulluan vocabulary (crucial because some of Catullus' more colorful vocabulary does not appear in all dictionaries), a brief and informative commentary, a list of people to whom Catullus makes reference, a review of Catullus' meters, and a glossary of terms and their definitions. This book is extremely helpful and is ideal for a student reading Catullus for the first time or a more experienced Latin reader who is attempting to read Catullus' corpus as quickly as possible.

Daniel H. Garrison's THE STUDENT'S CATULLUS, published by University of Oklahoma press, contains all 113 poems of the standard collection which are belived to be authentic, including the fragmentary poems. Garrison provides an introduction and notes for the individual poems, as well as four appendices on various matters ("People", "Meters", "[Poetic] Terms", and "Poetic Usage") and a complete vocabulary. In his notes, Garrison often directs the student towards the meaning without giving it away as such, preserving the comedic impact of much of the shorter poems. While no scholar could deny the obscenity of much of Catullus' poetry, Garrison sometimes shows a shyness in his notes which I found odd. I used THE STUDENT'S CATULLUS for a semester-long course at Loyola University Chicago, and thought that it served my needs well.

If there is one big downside to the book, it is the typesetting. The Latin text is fine, but the notes and commentary are all done in hideous double-columns and a typeface smaller than the Latin. This is one of the least professional-looking academic books I've come across in a while. Still, that doesn't stop the content from being useful, so THE STUDENT'S CATULLUS is worth seeking out.

This handy edition is perfect for the casual reader of Latin. Garrison's extensive notes answer most questions a reader is likely to have concerning the grammer and they also provide a considerable amount of relevent mythology. The book also contains a complete vocabulary which I have found invaluable. This is not a scholarly edition, but provides everything for the non-scholar.