Montana's Righteous Hangman
344303
This was a good purchase and went very smoothly.  The book was in excellent condition.  The book was purchased after a visit to Virginia City, Montana.  The 1860's was a very interesting time with the start of an instant city due to the finding of gold.  With the hard working miners came the lowest element of humanity.  The book portrays how law and order were started.
576993
Lester Hunt is one of the great Wyoming politicians who had an immense impact on the state - his governorship during the Great Depression has always been of great interest to me.  The untold story here - the fact that he was essentially hounded to death by Joe McCarthy's thugs - is startling and a worthy contribution to our knowledge about the true damage done by McCarthyism to Wyoming, and to this country.  Lester Hunt was no spy, no "Red," no Nazi, no threat to this country - on the contrary, he was a patriot and a great public servant. But he was politically inconvenient for McCarthy and his henchmen.  He paid the ultimate price for that. Thanks to Rodger McDaniel for finally letting the truth be known.
142356
Stanley Gordon West is an extraordinary writer of fiction featuring people in environs of rural Montana.  This is a highly entertaining story, and once you read one of Mr. West's books, you will be hooked forever on his narratives.
3013464
I had to start this book four times, but once I did I couldn't put it down. Doig has a very unique style of writing, this novel being one in the first person. Angus and Rob are two characters the reader feels for; the  novel does a wonderful job of engaging us in their lives. For Montana  history and landscape, this book cannot be beat; Doig's descriptions of the  land makes one feel like they are standing there at the time. This is a  very beautiful historical account of a much-forgotten piece of American  history.
1412263
This Western will keep the reader guessing about how justice will be served.  Well written.  I will be looking for other Westerns  by this author.
2204871
Was there ever another country performer as adorable as Patsy Montana?  I doubt it.  Montana was the greatest of the "cowgirl" singers, and now at  last we get a chance to really check out Montana at her peak form -- perkily yodelling away on these delightfully antiquated, sentimental "western" tunes.  This is a long-overdue American edition collecting her best work from the 1930s and '40s -- two dozen old tracks from Vocalion and several smaller labels that have been out of print for decades, available only on teeny specialty labels, and in dribs and drabs on various compilation albums.  The songs are corny, but Montana's delivery is not, especially later on as her band put more and more swing into their sound -- and you can hear that progression as it actually happened, since these songs are presented in straight chronological order.  A particular highlight is a tune Montana penned herself, "Cowboy Rhythm," which demonstrates how strange musical fads such as opera and jazz can't hold a candle to a coyote's howl and a lonesome guitar as the moon starts to rise...  Fans of swing-string revivalists such as The Hot Club of Cowtown are strongly urged not to let this one slip by -- records this fun don't come along that often.
4426716
Working Song by Ivan Doing
The author is a skillful storyteller.  While reading the book, I felt like I was in Butte, Montana and felt the spirit of the bustling mining town.  What a variety of characters came to life in the everyday happenings of this western municipality.  Morris Morgan was such an interesting character with a past that added depth to the story.  You never knew what was going to come up from his past that would help him in his future endeavors.  I didn't want to put the book down as I got closer to the end of the tall tale.  This is the first one of Ivan Doing's books that I have read but it will not be the last.
202488
Part of the Redemption Mountain series, this book also spans the Montana landscape. The characters are realistic men and women who struggle to make a living. Romance is the frosting on the cake-- makes everything in life sweeter!
2025525
Fans of prolific true crime author, Don Lasseter, will be pleased to discover this brand new Kindle version of his book, "Perfect Justice". It is the story of Judge Donald A. McCartin, of Orange County, California, who sentenced nine convicted murderers to California's death row, only to see them live perpetually incarcerated, waging one appeal after another in the prolonged epic battles to avoid their fates. Judge McCartin spent his storied career as a fierce proponent of capital punishment which inspired this author to refer to him as "The Hanging Judge". Eventually, after witnessing what he considered to be a great travesty of the justice system (one of the men he sentenced has logged thirty years in his death row cell) and being challenged by appeals attorneys on technicalities, religious "conversions", and a plethora of other sometimes laughably insignificant challenges to his rulings, he changed his pro death penalty stance and decided to fight along with opponents of the law against it. One of the condemned men had his court appearances arranged around kidney dialysis treatments, which prompted a local newspaper's headlines to read "Officials Keep Inmate Alive While Seeking Death". Although they did not agree philosophically, he joined the passionate battle against the death penalty along with the liberal actor Mike Farrell. Don Lasseter spent hours with the Judge after his retirement helping him document his new passion. It was not a "bleeding heart" liberal stance they took, but one of disgust at the astronomical costs that the taxpayers were forced to endure at the hands of the killers he had sentenced and their appeals attorneys.

Regardless of how one feels personally about the politics of California's death penalty (a ballot proposition abolishing it in favor of life in prison without the possibility of parole was defeated in 2012 by voters; however, the election results were over ruled by Judge Cormac J. Carney in July of 2014) this book is a fascinating study of the nine vicious murderers that were sentenced to die by McCartin. From well known serial killers, like "The Angel of Death", Randy Kraft, and Rodney Alcala, the wicked slayer of several women, who made a now famous appearance as a contestant on "The Dating Game" in the midst of his killing spree in 1978 (is that enough to send a shudder down the backs of dating website enthusiasts OR WHAT???) to the murderer of young paper delivery boy, Benjamen Brenneman , in 1981.... each story is as bone chilling as the next. Young Benjamen's killer, Robert Jackson Thompson, died of natural causes in his cell in 2006, twenty five years after the crime. This prompted an outraged statement by the boy's mother crying that she felt cheated and "robbed" at not being able to witness the execution of her son's murderer. One is certainly left shaking their head after reading of the circus like atmosphere that the often endless appeals process brings to the judicial system and readers will feel Judge McCartin's frustration sharply.

If you visit San Quentin prison, just north of San Francisco, in Marin County, on the beautiful bay, and gaze up at the decaying turrets that house California's death row, you will be struck with the most haunting sensation. "The Hanging Judge of California" is an extraordinarily compelling study of nine of its inhabitants. It is a breathtaking account of cold blooded murder, as well as a lens focused on a system that appears to be irreparably shattered and faces an uncertain future in the courts. You will also meet Judge McCartin. He was a man of witty insight who was capable of great humor and knowledge of the human spirit. He died in 2012, living to see only one of his condemned prisoners lose his life, and that to natural causes. You will undoubtedly have solidified your own personal opinion on capital punishment upon finishing "The Hanging Judge of California". And you will never forget Judge Donald McCartin.
3055620
Take a populist libertarian governor, throw in some free range buffalo, mix it up with a massive federal legislative program and an incident at Sturgis, and toss in some nuclear missiles for seasoning, and you have The Third Revolution.

I fully expected this book to be the Libertarian party's answer to Atlas Shrugged, though lengthwise, the whole book (at 335 pages) comes in at 200 pages lighter than John Galt's speech alone. (Sit down, objectivists, I'm just funnin' yas.)

While it does have that element, complete with speeches from various personalities (and a horse named Cato), what I found was a pretty darn good story.

Governor Ben Kane, is a restauranteur-cum-politician who finds himself at the center of a growing storm. The federal government has enacted legislation taking the country closer to collectivism, which doesn't set well with folks, but for the most part no one does anything about it. The storm picks up strength when a National Guard unit called up to provide security at Sturgis overreacts and kills some bikers, some of whom are Montanans.

As resentment toward the federal government grows, the Montana legislature passes a Nullification law.

Inside the beltway, this goes over like a lead balloon, and the president and his advisers try to figure out a way to bring the lost sheep of Montana back into the fold. Back-channel negotiations fail to produce any results. Plus, there's a slight problem: someone has cracked the command-and-control systems for the nuclear missiles, and Governor Kane now has his finger on the proverbial button.

In the meantime, a wealthy entrepreneur sets his buffalo loose on the open range, as his land can no longer contain them, and he can't get federal grazing permits. Governor Kane allows him to run his herd over state (formerly federal) lands, which draws the attention of the Blackfeet and Crow who have been running their own small herds.

The story comes to a head in the Montana legislature, where both houses unanimously pass a declaration of secession, which Kane signs into law. He finds himself surprised by the support of other western governors and officials from both the U.S. and Canada, and we, the readers, are left to wonder, "What happens next?" So, we'll have to stay tuned for Middle America.

The criticisms I have are fairly mild, and in fact, some of them may be addressed in Middle America. The treatment of the "opposition" was a little superficial in my mind. There were some reversions to stereotype (e.g., a farmer with a John Deere hat) which isn't all bad, and I did get a little bent out of shape when it was suggested that most of the state's population didn't give a lot of thought to what the economic consequences of secession might be. While many ranchers and farmers are simple folks, that doesn't necessarily make them simpletons.

Those are pretty minor quibbles, though.

One thing that struck me was that Ben Kane has a more-than-superficial resemblance to current Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, from the "aw-shucks, I'm just one of the guys" shtick right down to the bolo tie. I can't help but wonder if Schweitzer wasn't a model for Kane.

Overall, it's a good "what-if?" story, and I did like the way that the "Third Revolution" was brought about incrementally with a series of seemingly disconnected events. That's how things happen.

I heartily recommend this book. You can read it as just a story, or as a libertarian tract, and it works in both directions. Buy it here.

If you'll pardon me, now, I have to get started on Middle America, because I need to see how Montana's going to dig itself out of this mess.
2343948
After reading this book, it is not surprising that both the University of Oklahoma Press' Western Frontier Library and the Time-Life Classics of the Old West included it in their respective series.

It is a fast-paced, well-written narrative of an adventurous life.  "Bill" Hamilton recounts his life as a free trapper and mountain man in the last days of their remarkable time.

There is much here on Indian life.  And Indian death, for Hamilton was a hard-bitten Indian fighter, who gave no quarter and certainly expected none from his foes.  Some readers today may be shocked by his point of view.  But they weren't in his moccasins when he was fighting for his life.

Hamilton's prose is simple and straightforward, a reflection of the man who wrote this book.  And, perhaps, some help from a frontier editor, although Hamilton was well read if not formally educated.

If you want an excellent autobiography of a man who trapped the creeks and streams of the Far West, lived with and fought against Indians, helped settlers come West to make a new life, this is the book for you.  Drop that paperback Western and pickup the real story - history with the bark still on it.
771093
Karen and John Tanner's book on one of the last of the Old West outlaws provides us with a window to look into the past through the lens of a man who broke the law so many times that people would not even notice.  Born in South Texas in the area south of San Antonio, George West Musgrave quickly entered a life of lawlessness which was marked with various exploits such as robbing of the first bank in then-Arizona Territory, a massive heist of a train near Grants, New Mexico and numerous cattle rustler endeavors across the Southwest.  With the closing of the Frontier, Musgrave took his show far south of the border to the developing nation of Paraguay where he continued his lawless exploits in the Gran Chaco.  In both the north and the south, Musgrave used a combination of persuasion, intimidation and friendliness to maintain control over the people he met; his gift for public relations served him well.  Despite these "gifts," he was unable to provide a stable family life for his wife, being divorced by her and marrying a Paraguayan native who bore him several children before they had a falling out.  His life of crime continued unabated until heart disease took his life in 1947 at age 70.

The book was an enjoyable read and tells us much about the time of the closing of the Old West.  Railroads, the expansion of settlement in the Southwest and better police work spelled the end for the old outlaws and Musgrave saw the handwriting on the wall.  The book has 259 pages of text with copious end notes, bibliography and an index.  A good book for historians of the Old West and Latin America as well; four stars.
1476694
Will Grant is meeting his old friend Tom Elsworth at the express office in Coltonville, Montana.  Their plan for having dinner together turns into a living nightmare for Grant.  When he comes to he is laying on the floor with a gun in his hand a bullet in his leg, his dear friend Elsworth is dead & the payroll of $40,000 for an engineering firm is missing.
Witness' will tell of seeing no one come out the front door of the express office & the windows & back door are locked & hoof beats are heard as someone, more than likely Will's accomplice, flees down the street.  This leaves the jury to conclude the only person who could have committed this terrible crime must be Will Grant.  He is found guilty of robbery & murder & sentenced to life in the state penitentiary.
After serving a year of his sentence the town drunk, Charley Ferris is shot by an unknown assailant & his dying confession exonerates Grant.  His conviction is overturned & he is now free.
Grant returns to his home town & is determined to find the person or persons responsible for murdering his friend Tom Elsworth & robbing the express office.
This vendetta he has taken upon himself will lead to more questions than answers & intrigue will blossom as more & more suspects are introduced into the mix.
As other reviewers have said, this is actually a mystery that you will have all the puzzle pieces at hand but fitting them together will make you crazy until the very last piece.
For those who desire a clean read & a story that will keep you interested, this is the book for you.  I highly recommend to all!
2570493
WRONG TOWN is a new e-book release of the first novel by Matthew P. Mayo, originally published as a Black Horse Western a few years ago. It's also the first book in the Roamer series and has a great opening as the narrator/protagonist, who goes by the name Roamer, is attacked while he's sleeping by a grizzly bear.

This is a very harrowing scene. It's not a big spoiler to say that Roamer survives his encounter with the bear, but then things get even worse. While he's still in bad shape from that battle, he's robbed and left a-foot by a couple of drifting outlaws. Despite everything that's happened to him, Roamer is stubborn and a survivor, and those qualities allow him to make it to the town of Tall Pine.

Where, you guessed it, things continue to get even worse.

In the great tradition of noirish Westerns by authors such as Lewis B. Patten and H.A. DeRosso, the town of Tall Pine is full of dark secrets, and Roamer finds himself being blamed for a murder he didn't commit. With nobody he can trust and with a truly despicable villain manipulating things, it's all he can do to stay alive and try to untangle the deadly web being woven around him.

WRONG TOWN has a solid plot and fine characters, but its strongest appeal is the narrative voice that Mayo gives to Roamer. Ugly enough to make babies cry and somewhat antisocial because of his appearance, Roamer is also highly intelligent and well-read, in addition to being pretty doggoned tough. He's a great character, and I'm glad there are more novels about him on the way. In the meantime, WRONG TOWN is a top-notch traditional Western yarn and well worth reading.
1349455
After reading "Killing Is My Specialty" I had to get Carlson's  sequel on my recent trip through Wyoming. I found it in a bookstore in West  Yellowstone, MT, leaving plenty of Wyoming time to read it.
Between the  Horn book and the Lefors book, a mock trial had been held in Cheyenne  wherein Horn was acquitted.
Although both books appear to be very well  documented, I couldn't help but feel that Carlson may have a bit of bias in  favor of Horn and against Lefors. Not being part of the Wyoming culture, it  may be unfair to make that characterization, but it's what I felt.
An  eminently readable book; not to be read without having read about Tom Horn  first; preferably Carlson's account.
4373018
(NOTE: I count the author as a friend. Notwithstanding that lapse, he has written a very fine little book here.)

Bill Markley usually writes carefully researched articles about history, especially old west history.  This is when he is not writing environmental reports for the State of South Dakota. In DEADWOOD DEADMEN he has an opportunity to clothe the dry bones of history with a bit of flesh - Some of it quite attractive by all reports!
We all know that Wild Bill was murdered in Deadwood SD, but why? Rest assured Wild Bill is not the only soul who died with his boots on and lies in the Mount Moriah Cemetery. Were there other murders in that far from peaceful little frontier gold rush town? Almost every day and two on Sunday.  This "whodunit" is a bit of a "whytheydunit" and builds a remarkable feeling of suspense as we follow an intrepid fictional reporter from a real life "back east" newspaper as he tracks down a crime syndicate on the prairie and finds romance, adventure, serious injury along the way.
No spoiler here but did you know the gold rush miners invented the wave back in the 1800's? Check out "Oh Joe!" The colorful sidelights are researched and accurate in this tale.  Want a severed head along with breakfast? How about meeting an oriental gentleman and beautiful princess?  They're all here and Calamity Jane will do her best to keep order while protecting the working ladies of Deadwood, Dakota Territory. OGTHH
3202149
Larry Len Peterson and his expose of Hoffman is a masterpiece. Of course, the attraction here is Western American lore. But, anyone can pick up this title and enjoy. It brings the world of the West to the reader. The pictures in this book are priceless in giving you a true idea of what the American West and Frontier was like. Although it focuses on Montana, it does not ignore the Frontier as a whole.

Old housing, clothing, people and all kinds of stuff are within these pages as photos and they are remarkable. Pick up this book and treasure it. It is a gem of a title.