Western Biography

Benjamin Franklin was first and foremost a public servant, but he was also a prolific writer, humorist, musician, inventor, businessman, and scientist. He was always working to improve civic society. Among many other things, he organized the first volunteer fire department and established the first lending library in America. In the 18th century, he was celebrated as a scientist, inventor, and innovator who somehow emerged from the obscurity of his modest birth to prominence.

This biography of Marcus Garvey documents the forging of his remarkable vision of pan-Africanism and highlights his organizational skills in framing a response to the radical global popular upsurge following the First World War (1914-1918). Central to Garvey’s response was the development of organizations under the umbrella of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League, which garnered the transnational support of several million members and sympathizers and challenged white supremacist practices and ideas.

While Pang-Mei Natasha Chang was a Chinese Studies major at Harvard University, she stumbled across the name of her 83-year-old great aunt Chang Yu-i in a history book. Over the next several years, Pang-Mei spent long afternoons drawing forth her aunt's story. Born in Shanghai to a well-to-do family, Chang Yu-i lived a life of defiance, continually breaking class and culture barriers.

In Jerry West: The Inspiring Story of One of Basketball’s Greatest Point Guards, you'll learn the inspirational story of one of basketball's greatest of all time, Jerry West. Jerry West is one of the few individuals in the game of basketball who has seen success both as a player and as an executive. A 14-time All-Star, West won an NBA Championship in 1972 as a player, and has also won eight titles as an executive at the time of this writing.

Country Editor's Boy picks up where Hal Borland's classic memoir High, Wide and Lonesome left off: with Borland, on the cusp of adulthood in the early twentieth century, making his way in an eastern Colorado town that still retained all the flavors of the Old West. Borland's father, the editor of a local weekly newspaper, was working to help his publication transition along with the town around him. At the same time, young Hal was experiencing dramatic social and economic change in his own way.

I feared for their lives and their ears. Our local weekly newspaper showed pictures of them dangling from ropes hanging in woven baskets off the embankment of a mountain in order to tap sticks of dynamite into the holes they drilled in the granite cliff faces they blasted away. One could hear that awful, loud dynamite blasting all the way in town. But the booming had been even worse for the ears of the railroad workers who detonated the charges for the grading and tunneling, especially the Chinese who were given these most dangerous jobs.

Harold Lamb's superb story-telling and clear, sharp scholarship are focused on Peter the Great, his gigantic labors to raise Russia in one generation to cultural equality with Europe, and his efforts to mold and shape a sprawling empire. At the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648, the city of Moscow had extended its sway eastward through the Asiatic continent. People began to ask, "Will the city control the continent?" or "Will the continent control the city?" These were crucial questions...questions that continue to bedevil Russians to this day.

During the 19th century, Japan severely limited contact with the rest of the world, although it was not the total isolation sometimes presumed. The government was quite aware of what was happening in the rest of the world. The Japanese also left a window open to Europe, in the form of a small and highly restricted Dutch presence on an artificial island in Nagasaki harbor - a presence that lasted more than 200 years.

Rollyson accumulated what's now another book about Rebecca West. This new collection tells the story of how his biography got written, of what it means to think like a biographer, and why West's vision remains relevant. She's one of the great personalities and writers of the modern age, and one that we are just beginning to comprehend.

A “long-shot” or “underdog” would best describe the former governor of Tennessee, James Knox Polk, who had lost two reelection bids and now sought his party’s vice-presidential nomination. Events unfolded rapidly at the Democratic convention in the warm summer of 1844. James Polk had hoped to be his party’s choice as front runner Martin Van Buren’s vice presidential nominee going into the fall general election. Seven ballots into the nomination process the convention was hopelessly deadlocked, then Polk’s friends began spreading the word that “Young Hickory” was Andrew ...

Jesse James grew up in Clay County, Missouri, a place where north and south conflicted over the issue of slavery. Tensions grew in the lead-up to the Civil War, and James’ Southern loyalties meant he had to make a decision. When war broke out, Jesse and his brother Frank joined the Confederate guerrillas known as “bushwhackers” alongside other notorious characters like “Bloody Bill”. By the age of 17, Jesse had escaped death twice and gained a reputation as a ruthless killer.

The era of the gunfighter in the Wild West began during James Butler Hickok's life. Better known as "Wild Bill," he was the first and most famous gunfighter. A man without equal, he was said to have killed hundreds of outlaws in valiant and bloody struggles to the death, from which he invariably emerged the victor and the hero. Hickok himself was not above adding embellishments to the stories about himself to any reporter who sought him out.

On a warm night in September 1985, teenagers Kimberly Dowell and Ethan Dixon were brutally murdered in Westside Park in Muncie, Indiana. Their killer has never been charged. Early on, police focused on a family member of one of the teens as a primary suspect. The investigation even ruled out fantastic scenarios, including a theory that the perpetrator was a Dungeons & Dragons devotee. The case grew cold.

Kit Carson (1809-1868) has long held a prominent place in the popular imagination of the American West. However, little is known about his family life, thanks largely to Carson's own guardianship of his privacy. After almost four decades devoted to researching Kit Carson's personal life, Marc Simmons provides information here to further our understanding of Carson.

Author Orlando "Ori" Spado honestly recounts his humble beginnings from the small town of Rome in Upstate New York to becoming known as "The Mob Boss of Hollywood". This candid account documents his fall from the life of a well-known Hollywood fixer who mixed with A-list celebrities to serving 62 months in a federal prison and ultimately making a determined comeback.

In many ways, the narrative of the Wild West has endured more as legend than reality, and a perfect example of that can be found in the legend of William Henry McCarty Jr., better known as William H. Bonney or "Billy the Kid". Indeed, separating fact from fiction when it comes to the life of the West's most famous outlaw is nearly impossible, due in great measure to the fact that the young man himself cultivated the image of a deadly outlaw and legendary gunman himself.

Sir Walter Ralegh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth. She showered him with estates and political appointments. He envisioned her becoming empress of a universal empire. She gave him the opportunity to lead the way. In Walter Ralegh, Alan Gallay shows that, while Ralegh may be best known for founding the failed Roanoke colony, his historical importance vastly exceeds that enterprise. Inspired by the mystical religious philosophy of hermeticism, Ralegh led English attempts to colonize in North America, South America, and Ireland.

The Wild West has made legends out of many men through the embellishment of their stories, but one of the most colorful stories of them all is the fateful Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The West's most famous gunfight, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral involved two of the West's most legendary figures, and though the gunfight lasted less than a minute, it is still widely remembered as the climactic event of the period, representing lawlessness and justice, vendettas, and a uniquely Western moral code.

"Chowdhury’s work stands out as a beacon of clarity... a testament to his dedication to making sense of the headlines and providing readers with a comprehensive, thought-provoking perspective on one of the most significant conflicts of our time”―San Francisco Post Fazle Chowdhury delivers a compelling, deeply researched exploration of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, offering a comprehensive examination of Russia's prolonged tension with the West, particularly through the lens of President Putin’s unrelenting efforts to reclaim Ukraine—viewed by many Soviet nostalgists as ...

Alexander Hamilton, born in the British West Indies, was an outsider from the very beginning. His illegitimate birth drove him to prove his worthiness to others throughout his life. His quest for honor was one of the defining characteristics that colored his decisions. Hamilton was a small man with a large ambition, and this would drive him to greatness and create some powerful enemies in his wake.