A memoir and a history, Grampas Left Arm tells the story of Jakob Tirjan and Annie Kaufold, immigrants who settled in southeastern Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. Their village on the Austro-Hungarian eastern frontier faded into history when the province of Galicia came under Polish rule after WWI. The Authors curiosity about the origins of his name led him to explore Eastern Europes troubled twentieth century history and the societal transformations which shaped his political perspective of the United States. Ethnic clashes, the Red Scare, the KKK, fair wages and strikes, even the Business Plot were all heated topics around the dining table. These arguments planted the seeds of curiosity about the origin of his name. No one in his family knew for sure if Grampa Tirjan was really Austrian, as he claimed, or exactly where he had come from. But they all agreed that greedy captains of industry and politicians had their own interests at heart and working men and women had to look out for themselves. Jim Tirjans post-WW II all-American boyhood echoed many of the major events of the century: wars, the Depression, Communist spies, the isolation of rural life, lives painfully disrupted in modern industrial society and our fascination with and dependence on the automobile. Grampa Tirjan labored at Baldwin Locomotive Works while Grandma Annie ran a boarding house. Jims mother bought a new 1931 Plymouth for $530 with housekeeping wages. Jim picked string beans with prisoners and earned a masters degree. His story is told with humor and compassion and a great appreciation for the forces of history we ignore at our peril. Was Grampa Tirjan really an Austrian? Indeed and then some.

A collection of serious and not so serious short stories from the coast of Maine. Some of these stories are intended to amuse, and some may touch a chord and bring a tear. But they are all intended to help pass some leisure time, perhaps while waiting for the kids to get home from school, or the even the winter to pass into spring. No guarantee is given concerning the political correctness of any of these stories, but when reading one should remember that some people actually enjoy satire. And for those who do not, the author humbly submits that perhaps those who can't laugh at history may be worrying about the wrong things.

STICK HORSES And Other Stories of Cowboy Life HERE ARE TRUE-LIFE STORIES about cowboys, Indians, (ranch hands, sheriffs) and the milieu of characters that populated the legendary American West. McRae tells about his heroes and also the town vagabonds who came and went through the landscape of his growing up as a ranch kid and his adult life as a third-generation Montana rancher.Both humorous and poignant, the people and events in McRae's stories portray the living Cowboy Code. Enjoyable, can't-put-it-down reading in a conversational style from one of the West's best storytellers. Don't pass this one up!

Step back into the exciting and humorous American West with several selected short stories and the novella, SundayOCOs Colt from award winning Old West fiction and outdoor writer Randy D. Smith. Read fictional accounts of the death of the notorious man burner of the plains, Print Olive, and the first documented journey of the Santa Fe Trade in 1823. These stories are based upon actual period journals of the events and retold in exciting modern language to provide the reader unique insight into years of historical research. Join Ty Lee Driscoll and Red River Sam Bonnet in hilarious and touching short stories from a popular series featured in Read the West .Com. - some never before published. Finally, enjoy the touching story of a young manOCOs early life in turn of the 20th Century Kansas as it centers on an orphan colt. Based upon fictionalized accounts of the authorOCOs family history of Kansas settlement and the challenges they faced, SundayOCOs Colt is the perfect story to warm your heart, make you laugh out loud, and perhaps shed a tear or two. These arenOCOt your typical shoot-em-ups but stories meant for all ages to inform and entertain. This book is also available in print. Boson Books offers several westerns and nonfiction works by Randy Smith. For an author bio, photo, reviews, and a reading sample visit bosonbooks.com."

A collection of twenty traditional tales from southern Texas viewed through the author's experiences on the cattle ranches owned by his father, including one in an area known as "el desierto muerto."

This collection of stories describe the struggle of the people who settled the Blue Ridge Mountains as they undergo the transition from plowshares to bulldozers.