Oklahoma Books

With sometimes wry humor, Raymond Stedman shows us one shameful stereotype of American Indians after another, and makes one realize how these images have become engraved on our subconscious in films, novels, and sports mascots. From bloodthirsty savages to noble creatures of nature, impossibly muscular warriors to nubile, nearly-naked maidens, Indians have never been depicted as ordinary human beings with the same feelings we all share. This book should be on reading lists in schools everywhere!

I come from the area where Shanghai lived and reigned. I even lived in Pierce, Tx for a while. I think that anyone who is interested in Texas history and Cowboys will find this a must read. I have stood by his grave many a time through out the years and wondered about him. This book answers many of those questions. A larger than life person!

There are those who revere a past where western heroes ride tall. If so, they are forewarned as the author dismantles the celebrated frontier reputations of Chris Madsen, E. D. Nix, and Bill Tilghman. Heck Thomas is left unscathed. Some may feel the author's unyielding stance is a tacit admission that she is arguing rather than proving her premise but they would be wrong as this is a well documented book derived, in the main, from original sources.

Samuelson offers the proposition that the early transgressions of Madsen and Tilghman in particular were harbingers of their misbehavior in Oklahoma Territory. A misspent youth isn't always a predictor of a misspent adulthood yet the author makes a good case to the contrary. The guardsmen's early deeds and misdeeds coupled with names, places, and dates does complicate Samuleson's narrative. Her task is eased somewhat when the subjects' lives converge in Oklahoma Territory where their primary focus settles on the Oklahoma outlaws. Samuleson illuminates various incidents from that time period and matches legend against fact and myth against truth.

Nix was a venal U. S. Marshal who hired scores of incompetent relatives and associates. He also hired some lawmen including the guardsmen to help police Oklahoma Territory. Complaints soon surfaced about drunken officers and their illegal seizures of property. An audit of Nix's office disclosed, among other things, that he was forging and/or inflating expense vouchers and discounting fake vouchers to banks for cash. Nix later wrote a popular book extolling his Oklahoma experiences wherein he often claimed as his own the accomplishments of other enforcement agencies.

Madsen's assertions that he fought in foreign wars with the Danish army and the French Foreign Legion were false. In contrast, he did spend considerable time in Danish jails because of forgeries and frauds. He was deported as an undesirable and came to the United States. Madsen joined the U. S. army, served six months in a Wyoming prison, lied about his Rough Rider experiences, and continued romanticizing and embellishing his phantom exploits, including those in Oklahoma, until his death at 92 years.

Heck Thomas was a policeman, trail driver, express man, and bounty hunter before being appointed deputy U. S. Marshal for the Indian Territory. He was an excellent deputy and arrested scores of violators. If Thomas had one fault it was a fiery temper which led him into trouble at inappropriate times. He was quick to use a billy club or firearm and engaged in several shoot outs .

Tilghman's claim to fame as the "outstanding lawman on the frontier" was promoted by Outlaw Days (1926) and Marshal of the Last Frontier (1949) written by his widow Zoe Tilghman. Frontier myths have a life of their own and Tilghman's were no exception as they were passed on by succeeding writers who based much of their narratives on Zoe's loving but somewhat mythic information.

Tilghman led a checkered life in Kansas . He served as a lawmen yet had earlier joined with known thieves to steal scores of horses from protected Indian lands. He also sold whiskey and guns to Indians. The author regards Tilghman and his associates' illegal actions as a major cause of the Red River War of 1874-75. Tilghman hadn't altered his wayward ways decades later as he was arrested six times in Oklahoma for running bawdy houses and consorting with prostitutes, and at least nine times for illegal gambling. His job as Sheriff of Lincoln County, Oklahoma, was clouded by minor scandals and issues of impropriety, a consequence of his advanced age and diminished future.

Samuelson carefully examines the 1924 shooting death of Tilghman in Cromwell, OK, by Wiley Lynn, a Federal Prohibition Officer. She raises the specter of "Special Officer" Tilghman as a pay-off man for the Governor and uncovers troubling questions. Why was Tilghman in a notorious place late at night sitting with the owner, a known lawbreaker? Was Tilghman a protector for the night spot? Was Tilghman, who didn't like Wiley, waiting to confront him? Why did Wiley Lynn have a night time search warrant for that particular place to be served at that particular time? Was Lynn as corrupt an officer as other writers have portrayed him?

The author doesn't provide answers to all these questions leaving it up to the reader to be the judge. What is clear is that Lynn's and Tilghman's careers came to an end on that fateful evening in Cromwell. Two men: one young, brash, and destined to die within a few years; the other aged, physically ill, and ensnared by his past. Tilghman the possessor of clay feet became a legend when he died on that dusty street.

These celebrated Oklahoma lawmen may have lacked firmness of character when in positions of power. They may have faltered occasionally when crucial decisions had to be made. However, on most occasions they acted with assurance and celerity, rarely allowing themselves the burden of doubt. This is an admirable trait in the right place at the right time. According to the author, the right places were few and far between. Some will argue the guardsmen were victims of circumstances that few of us will ever experience; that they shouldn't be judged for indiscretions precipitated by exigent circumstances and that their hallowed status as myths should remain untarnished. The author would probably describe those so inclined as failing to grasp reality by clinging so fiercely to the past.

The book's title may prove confusing unless one is familiar with the subject. A list of photographs and documents would have been helpful along with additional maps. Each chapter should have had related end notes rather than being grouped together at the rear of the book. The appendix contains thorough and useful genealogical information on all four subjects. Excellent information is contained in the author's notes. The source material Samuelson examined is quite impressive.

This is an admirable addition to book collections of frontier lawman and outlaw histories.

Simon Says by Molly Levite Griffis is the last of a 3 book series. The book, though fictional, gives a very accurate historical view of what it was like growing up during the WWII era. Although this is a crossover book for tween and young teenaged children, as an adult I too enjoyed the reading of this book for the historical value. There are not that many folks left who can tell us how it felt living in that generation and what is was like as a child especially growning up during this time. The book is not only educational but funny and an entertaining read! Molly is a wonderful story teller!!!

My grandfather was a ragtime/jazz musician in Oklahoma from 1916 to 1928 -- something I've always thought strange. This book makes sense of it, adding names, dates, and facts that would otherwise be lost to history. Chapters are far too short. But it's a quick read, if you consider that a good thing.

Excellent research source for jazz history buffs.

Sarah Wakefield, being an educated doctor's wife in 1862, had a lot more than many of the people who lived through the 1862 Uprising/Conflict, she was able to relate in a logical way what happened to her, without anger. She tells of the way she and her children were taken care of by Chaska and his family. How their lives were spared because of the Dakota family. Her words show another side of the story, how whites were saved by the Dakota. When many were saying they had been abused, Sarah told of care. When Chaska was hanged on 26th December she was understandably distressed, here was her saviour, who she had promised would be spared as she was, dead, through a quirk of fate. In 1997, I and another woman working on a Native American Committee to honor the dead of the conflict in Minnesota wrote to President Clinton asking for a pardon for Chaska, on Sarah Wakefield's behalf. Chaska's name should be cleared. It has been 136 years and he is still known as a man who abused women and children during a six week war. Read this story and if you feel the same way, please write to the President as well. Chaska saved Sarah's life, his name should at least be cleared of wrongdoing.Thank you.

Six White Horses by Janet Dailey is one of the best romances I've ever read! It has passion, tenderness, misunderstandings, and most of all--the arguments that come along while trying to deny your attraction and love. It is an excellent novel if you have a fondness for someone who was in love with the other person for a long time without the other person having a clue, and covering it up with seemingly uncaring and harsh words. This is a relatively quick read and I always pick it up for a few hours respite. I have already read this book at least 6 times and will continue to do so in order to keep my spirits up about my own true love!!!

This journal from John Work is a wonderful and intriguing look into the hardships, sacrifices and perseverences of fur trapper life in 1830-31. The Hudson's Bay Company's policy to strip the Snake River Country of beaver to make the lands less attractive to American trappers and thus eventually to American settlement, was the purpose of Work's mission. Work's trapping party of 115 men, women and children, 272 horses and mules and 337 traps departed from Fort Nez Perce for parts of Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Nevada. What unfolds is a fascinating, enthralling adventure of suffering through one of the worse winters on record, along with dodging and combatting the ever persistent Blackfeet Indians. Due to the severity of the winter, the party lost over 80 horses from the cold. We read of daily journal entries how grass was almost non-existent for the horses as the buffalo had already devoured most of it. As the winter dragged on, eventually the buffalo became so lean that there was hardly any meat to be taken from them. Horses were so jaded and fatigued from lack of food, blistered feet and traveling, that at times it wasn't even worth the effort to pursue the buffalo for what food there was on them. The Blackfeet were a constant menace, in fact killing a few of Work's party. He had to take many preventative measures to thwart these Indian hostilities and attacks. The introduction and footnote editing by Dr. Haines, Jr. is extremely well done.

Not all history is made by the likes of George Washington, Napolean, or Babe Ruth--larger than life individuals. Sometimes, lesser known luminaries from smaller locales make a significant mark. Such is the case with Nicholas Comfort, as shown exquisitely by Robert Cottrell. Professor Cottrell, the author of biographies about I.F. Stone and Roger Nash Baldwin, recounts in this carefully researched and beautifully told biography the story of a minor character in history who bravely stood up to larger forces. Comfort, a professor of religion at the University of Oklahoma, was ahead of his time--in a region not necessarily receptive to his mindset. For example, Comfort stood up against racism by confronting the KKK and befriending black leaders. He stood up to the powers of a people at war by supporting pascifism. Cottrell's biography depicts the actions of a brave man with unpopular convictions. This compelling biography is told with compassion, and again marks Cottrell as one of our most important biographers of the radical left.

S.E. Hinton has collected a powerful group of stories, all under one thousand words, revolving around cousins Mike and Terry, who are as close as brothers. When prison separates them, their lives take different turns, and they have to learn to live with what has changed them.

Her writing is taut and expressive in all of her fiction, but the tight confines of short story writing has really brought out some of Hinton's best work. The stories are filled with an emotional resonance that stays with the reader.

Longtime fans will appreciate the second half of the book, which contains interviews with Hinton regarding all of her fiction, as well as the movies they inspired.

This book is a must-have for fans of S.E. Hinton, and for those new to her writing this is a wonderful introduction to the types of characters and themes she excels in writing about.