by James R. Mead (1986)
James R. Mead arrived in Kansas Territory from his family home in Iowa in the spring of 1859. His journey west was a young man's adventure undertaken only with vague ideas of what he might do or just where he might go. He was 23 years old and soon fell under the spell of the wide open spaces of the plains, the prospect of encounters with Indians, and the great herds of buffalo. This lively memoir, long out of print, chronicles his life and experiences in Kansas from Territorial days to early statehood. In it we are taken along pioneer trails to Indian camps, sometimes in the company of Jesse Chisholm, William "Buffalo Bill" Matthewson, and Kit Carson; at other times with famous Indians such as Satanta, War Chief of the Kiowas. Mr. Mead's career on the plains began as a buffalo hunter, which he soon abandoned in favor of trading with the Indians, and then went on to become town founder (Wichita) and State Senator.
Nat B. Read
"Don Benito Wilson (née Benjamin Davis Wilson) is remembered as the namesake of Mount Wilson. Few know he was the second mayor of Los Angeles. Twenty-six State Senators divvy up the district that Benjamin Wilson once represented. Southern California will never again see anyone who made such a mark on so many different fields as Don Benito Wilson"--Provided by publisher.
Larry McMurtry
"What was achieved and destroyed, what was made up and forgotten in the American West as the continent was mapped, the natives were displaced, and exploits were transformed into legends? In this new collection, Larry McMurtry profiles explorers and martyrs, hucksters and scholars - figures in the West's enduring yet ever-shifting mixture of myth and reality."--BOOK JACKET.
Michael Burgan
"Chronicles the life of Edward S. Curtis and his 20-volume life's work, The North American Indian"--Provided by publisher.
Michael J. Neufeld
The first authoritative biography of Wernher von Braun, chief rocket engineer of the Third Reich—creator of the infamous V-2 rocket—who became one of the fathers of the U.S. space program. In this meticulously researched and vividly written life, Michael J. Neufeld gives us a man of profound moral complexities, glorified as a visionary and vilified as a war criminal, a man whose brilliance and charisma were coupled with an enormous and, some would say, blinding ambition. As one of the leading developers of rocket technology for the German army, von Braun yielded to pressure to join the Nazi Party in 1937 and reluctantly became an SS officer in 1940. During the war, he supervised work on the V-2s, which were assembled by starving slave laborers in a secret underground plant and then fired against London and Antwerp. Thousands of prisoners died—a fact he well knew and kept silent about for as long as possible. When the Allies overran Germany, von Braun and his team surrendered to the Americans. The U.S. Army immediately recognized his skills and brought him and his colleagues to America to work on the development of guided missiles, in a covert operation that became known as Project Paperclip. He helped launch the first American satellite in 1958 and headed NASA’s launch-vehicle development for the Apollo Moon landing. Handsome and likable, von Braun dedicated himself to selling the American public on interplanetary travel and became a household name in the 1950s, appearing on Disney TV shows and writing for popular magazines. But he never fully escaped his past, and in later years he faced increasing questions as his wartime actions slowly came to light. Based on new sources, Von Braun is a brilliantly nuanced portrait of a man caught between morality and progress, between his dreams of the heavens and the earthbound realities of his life.