A collection of American Wild West stories and poems along with artwork by the author chronicles legends and traditions picked up by the author as a lawman.

Now the kids of today can walk in the boots of wranglers of the Wild West. This new activity-packed addition to the American Kids in History Series transports readers to a cattle ranch near Cheyenne, deep in the Wyoming territory of the 1870s.

This unique collection of poetry and pen and ink drawings recall the lore, traditions and romance of the Old West. Originating from recollections of Fred Lambert's childhood in New Mexico, as well as carefully chronicled stories gleaned from legends and traditions picked up during his years as a lawman, it gives a glimpse into life on the American western frontier that is no more. Bold artwork accompanying each and every tale entertains and transports the reader back in time. FRED LAMBERT was a lawman, poet and artist. He was born in 1887 in Cimarron, New Mexico in the historic St. James Hotel, which was built and owned by his father, Henry Lambert. He knew many famous and infamous characters including Buffalo Bill Cody, Bat Masterson, Black Jack Ketchum, Charlie Siringo, Pawnee Bill Lillie, and Buckskin Charley. He grew up working on his father's cattle ranch and bartending in the saloon at the St. James. At age sixteen he became Deputy Sheriff of Colfax County, a Commission he retained for thirty years. In 1910 he became Marshal of Cimarron at age 23 and in 1911 he received a governor's appointment to the New Mexico Mounted Police.

In an elaborately documented, day-by-day format, The Old West meticulously records every incident that shaped the frontier from the years 1848 to 1890. Whether it's a gold discovery, an advance in transcontinental travel, or a series of racial skirmishes, each chronological entry furnishes the reader with a quick, fascinating summary.This extraordinary reference condenses and organizes decades of history and lore that must otherwise be laboriously hunted down in newspaper records and secondary sources.

Texas cowboys are the stuff of legend — immortalized in ruggedly picturesque images from Madison Avenue to Hollywood. Cowboy cooking has the same romanticized mythology, with the same oversimplified reputation (think campfire coffee, cowboy steaks, and ranch dressing). In reality, the food of the Texas cattle raisers came from a wide variety of ethnicities and spans four centuries. Robb Walsh digs deep into the culinary culture of the Texas cowpunchers, beginning with the Mexican vaqueros and their chile-based cuisine. Walsh gives overdue credit to the largely unsung black cowboys (one in four cowboys was black, and many of those were cooks). Cowgirls also played a role, and there is even a chapter on Urban Cowboys and an interview with the owner of Gilley’s, setting for the John Travolta--Debra Winger film. Here are a mouthwatering variety of recipes that include campfire and chuckwagon favorites as well as the sophisticated creations of the New Cowboy Cuisine: • Meats and poultry: sirloin guisada, cinnamon chicken, coffee-rubbed tenderloin • Stews and one-pot meals: chili, gumbo, fideo con carne • Sides: scalloped potatoes, onion rings, pole beans, field peas • Desserts and breads: peach cobbler, sourdough biscuits, old-fashioned preserves Through over a hundred evocative photos and a hundred recipes, historical sources, and the words of the cowboys (and cowgirls) themselves, the food lore of the Lone Star cowboy is brought vividly to life.

Saddle up and get ready for a ride back into the wild and wooly past of the American West. The west was at its wildest from 1865 to 1895, when territories west of the Mississippi River remained untamed and lawless. Famous for cowboys, American Indians, lawmen, gunslingers, pioneers, and prospectors, this period in US history captures the imagination of all kids and now is brought vividly to life.

The Bad Old Days of Colorado celebrates the state’s glorious and rowdy past. Many people born and bred here relish just how “bad” things used to be: the terrain, the inhabitants and especially the quality of whiskey. It almost goes without saying that Colorado had all the characteristic Wild West elements—and in abundance! The chapters focus on the infamous and notorious rather than the law-abiding and civic-minded settlers. These pages, like the state, recount the tales of people who came West seeking, if not their fortune, at least opportunity. It is no secret that Colorado was settled by the adventurous willing to brave the harsh conditions and to prevail. Whether on the right or the wrong side of the law, all settlers and pioneers made unique contributions to the state’s complex culture. Certainly, in the nineteenth century, Colorado was not for the faint of heart.

This collection of poems was chosen from among 10, 000 gathered from cowboy reciters, ranch poets and from a library of over 200 published works of cowboy verse. One third of the poems are classics that have proven their vitality by having lived in the hearts and minds of cowboys and ranchers for decades. The remaining two-thirds are new, created within the last few years. "Most cowboy poems speak of real events and people, from bucking horses and cagey cows to old Stetson hats and long winter travels. Although they focus on the ordinary stuff of life, their truths . . . seem no less eternal than those penned by William Shakespeare. Some cowboy poems are bust-a-gut funny; a few are downright dirty . . . most carry an honest, primitive power." --Michael Riley, TIME Magazine