4.21 avg rating — 47 ratings

"The only book of its kind! All sorts of material artifacts used in the (mostly) post-Civil-War West."

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating

"I can do no better than to quote the cover copy off my paperback edition: “The life, lore, and legend of the West, from Black Hawk to Buffalo Bill...chuck wagon campfires to the Pony Express...trappers and traders to lawmen and honky-tonkers.”"

3.97 avg rating — 30 ratings

"Not so much a history as a social history, beginning with Colonial days and going on to the closing of the frontier, with the bulk of the book focusing on the 19th Century. Hundreds of beautiful illo’s, many created especially for the book to give detailed information on towns, sod houses, the equipment of trapper and cowboy, etc."

4.10 avg rating — 10 ratings

"A (very) thick volume (be sure not to drop it on your foot!) covering all aspects of Western history and life, with many original illo’s (photos, prints, etc.)."

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings

"One of the best social histories of the westward movement ever written; it reads like a novel. Get the 4th (1964) or 5th (1971) edition, and be sure to consult the bibliographies!"

3.86 avg rating — 7 ratings

"If anyone ties with Riegel for first place, it's Bartlett."

4.25 avg rating — 8 ratings

" A study of the cowboy’s life and work told in dialect, and illustrated with many excellent pen-and-ink sketches by the great Nick Eggenhoffer."

4.42 avg rating — 12 ratings

"Genial explication of the cowboy's history, equipment, and work, packed with line drawings that will make you drool. Also look for his "Californios," about the vaqueros of Spanish California."

4.44 avg rating — 50 ratings

"Don't fear the juveniles! This 1930’s kids' book is packed with the author’s clear, detailed drawings and will give you information you can’t get anywhere else. Companion volume is "The Book of Indians.""

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3 ratings

"Juvenile, alphabetically arranged, about every aspect of cowboy life and work."

4.36 avg rating — 22 ratings

"All about range food and how it was prepared. There's no other book like it. Not to be missed."

3.79 avg rating — 675 ratings

"From sodbusters’ wives to ladies of easy virtue, a splendid social history of the gentle sex in the West. "

4.10 avg rating — 48 ratings

"Fascinating study of the lives, work, education, and play of children on the frontier, buttressed by the actual recollections of many. Again, nothing quite like it."

3.95 avg rating — 21 ratings

"Fascinating study of mining camps that explains clearly why they were what they were. A book unique in my experience. "

4.17 avg rating — 30 ratings

"Concentrates chiefly on the homesteading farmer but gives a good picture of how all common folk lived at the time. "

3.67 avg rating — 9 ratings

"A social history of the West: how people lived, worked, and played. With Dick's volume above, indispensable to a clear picture of the day-to-day life of Westerners."

3.91 avg rating — 224 ratings

"Juvenile with many fine illo’s, about how people built, drilled wells, etc. Excellent supplement to the above. Don’t miss his "Colonial Living," either; though it’s really about the 18th Century, much of what’s in it can be translated to the more primitive regions of the 19th. Tunis also produced a volume on "Indians.""

3.57 avg rating — 7 ratings

"The core of every small town, East and West, is minutely examined in this fascinating book. Also read Lewis E. Atherton's "The Southern Country Store," which is more universal than you'd think from the title."

4.14 avg rating — 42 ratings

"The center of all sin and male social life in the West entertainingly examined."

3.83 avg rating — 6 ratings

"Just what it says: outlaws and lawmen. Gard wrote many other books, including "Rawhide Texas" (not in GR's database), about the culture of the Lone Star State in antebellum days."

4.15 avg rating — 34 ratings

"Sandoz was reared in Nebraska and knew the West well. Also read her "Beaver Men" and "Buffalo Hunters.""

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 11 ratings

"Drago was a prolific writer of fact and fiction about the West; this is just one of the former. Search for more titles (there are at least 10)."

3.50 avg rating — 10 ratings

"A Texas feud, like a summer cold, is a different animal. In this and its partner, "I'll Die Before I'll Run," Sonnichsen examines feuds that in other places would have been called political squabbles, range wars, ethnic strife, vigilantism, and economic rivalry, as well as the classic "family" feud. Unique books that anyone interested in the West should read."