Bat Masterson's illustrated biographies of legendary gunslingers Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Luke Short, Bill Tilghman, Ben Thompson, and others paint a vivid portrait of the Old West, a world of sharpshooters, cattle rustlers, and Dodge City justice.

Legendary gunfighters come to life in these vivid, true stories of Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Belle Starr, Doc Holliday, Black Bart, and Joaquin Murietta --- often a far cry from the glamorous tales they told about themselves to the newspapers. Andrew Glass gives readers an overview of the rough and tumble days following the Civil War that produced these unlikely heroes.

In 1969--the counter-cultural moment when Easy Rider triggered a "youthquake" in audience interests--Westerns proved more dominant than ever at the box office and at the Oscars. It was a year of masterpieces--The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Once Upon a Time in the West and True Grit. Robert Redford achieved star status. Old-timers like John Wayne, Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum appeared in two Westerns apiece. Raquel Welch took on the mantle of Queen of the West. Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin tried their hand at a musical (Paint Your Wagon). New directors like George Roy Hill reinvigorated the genre while veteran Sam Peckinpah at last found popular approval. Themes included women's rights, social anxieties about violence and changing attitudes of and towards African-Americans and Native Americans. All of the 40-plus Westerns released in the U.S. in 1969 are covered in depth, offering a new perspective on the genre.

Ime Ben is a passionate storyteller and historian, dedicated to bringing the rugged and adventurous spirit of the American West to life through his writing. With a deep love for Western fiction and a keen interest in the historical events that shaped the frontier, Ime has crafted a series that honors the bravery, resilience, and enduring legacy of the cowboy. His work is celebrated for its vivid descriptions, authentic characters, and a profound understanding of the challenges and triumphs that defined life on the open range. When not writing, Ime enjoys exploring the landscapes that inspired his stories, connecting with readers, and researching the rich history of the Wild West. "Riders of the Wild West: Classic Western Fiction for All - Series 8" is a testament to his commitment to preserving the stories of the frontier and sharing them with a new generation of readers.

For every Wild Bill Hickok or Billy the Kid, there was another western gunfighter just as deadly but not as well known. Robert K. DeArment has earned a reputation as the premier researcher of unknown gunfighters, and here he offers twelve more portraits of men who weren’t glorified in legend but were just as notorious in their day. Those who think they already know all about Old West gunfighters will be amazed at this new collection. Here are men like Porter Stockton, the Texas terror who bragged that he had killed eighteen men, and Jim Levy, who killed a man for disparaging his Irish blood, though he was also the only known Jewish gunfighter. These stories span eight decades, from the gold rushes of the 1850s to the 1920s. Telling of gunmen such as Jim Masterson, the brother of Bat Masterson, or the real Whispering Smith—the man behind the fictionalized persona—whose career spanned four decades, DeArment conscientiously separates fact from fiction to reconstruct lives all the more amazing for having remained unknown for so long. The product of iron-clad research, this newest Deadly Dozen delivers the goods for gunfighter buffs in search of something different. Together the Deadly Dozen volumes constitute a Who’s Who of western outlaws and prove that there’s more to the Wild West than Jesse James.

A novel that examines the exploitation of college athletes at the trial of the century. College sports go on trial in a Federal courtroom while all the while terrorists are plotting to blow up the Super Bowl.

African American westerns have a rich cinematic history and visual culture. Mia Mask examines the African American western hero within the larger context of film history by considering how Black westerns evolved and approached wide-ranging goals. Woody Strode’s 1950s transformation from football star to actor was the harbinger of hard-edged western heroes later played by Jim Brown and Fred Williamson. Sidney Poitier’s Buck and the Preacher provided a narrative helmed by a groundbreaking African American director and offered unconventionally rich roles for women. Mask moves from these discussions to consider blaxploitation westerns and an analysis of Jeff Kanew’s hard-to-find 1972 documentary about an all-Black rodeo. The book addresses how these movies set the stage for modern-day westploitation films like Django Unchained. A first-of-its kind survey, Black Rodeo illuminates the figure of the Black cowboy while examining the intersection of African American film history and the western.