True Tales of the American Southwest: Pioneer Recollections of Frontier Adventures

by Howard Bryan

True Tales of the American Southwest by Howard Bryan offers a treasury of stories, anecdotes, and personal histories published here for the first time. Drawn from his personal archives, Bryan’s book is based on the recollections of pioneering “oldtimers” who lived in the Southwest in the 1800s and early decades of this century as the frontier era was drawing to a close. In extended informal interviews during the 1950s, Bryan gathered authentic accounts of the West that reflect the determination, humor, and courage of men and women surviving in dangerous and violent times. The stories yield a variety of adventures and anecdotes about frontier life. Bryan presents new information on famous characters such as Pancho Villa, Geronimo, Victorio, Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and Black Jack Ketchum, many of whom the oldtimers knew personally. A pioneer woman remembers almost being “rescued” by Geronimo- who believed she was an Indian child held captive by whites. A missionary an

286 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1997

Reviews

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taken from the Goodreads synopsis. "Tue Tales of the American Southwest by Howard Bryan offers a treasury of stories, anecdotes, and personal histories published here for the first time. Drawn from his personal archives, Bryan’s book is based on the recollections of pioneering “oldtimers” who lived in the Southwest in the 1800s and early decades of this century as the frontier era was drawing to a close. In extended informal interviews during the 1950s, Bryan gathered authentic accounts of the West that reflect the determination, humor, and courage of men and women surviving in dangerous and violent times. The stories yield a variety of adventures and anecdotes about frontier life. Bryan presents new information on famous characters such as Pancho Villa, Geronimo, Victorio, Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and Black Jack Ketchum, many of whom the oldtimers knew personally. A pioneer woman remembers almost being “rescued” by Geronimo- who believed she was an Indian child held captive by whites. "

A collection of sixteen people's stories. Some of the stories are very interesting and shows the ugly and good in people. Other stories are not put together very well, seem like things are missing. Over all a good book about long gone people living their lives as best they could, some are good people and others not so much.