"Here is a book for the historian, the student, the gun collector or aficionado. . . . It approaches understatement to call Guns on the Early Frontiers an outstanding contribution to firearms literature. It sets its own standard."--New York Times. "A Glossary of Gun Terms, ample footnotes most skillfully arranged and illustrations beyond the dreams of avarice complement the text, which achieves the miracle of scholarship without tedium."--W.H. Hutchinson, San Francisco Chronicle. "Not the least interesting portions of the book are the notes and glossary and the excellent bibliography. Here [is] a book designed primarily for the serious collector or gun historian, but whose readable style should appeal even to the casual amateur. The collecting of old guns, whether privately or by a public institution, involves a certain responsibility. These guns, whose history is inextricably linked with the history of settlement, require something more than careful preservations. They require--and the present volume goes far to supply--accurate documentation."--Canadian Historical Review. Carl P. Russell, a leading authority on firearms of the American frontier, was coordinator of planning for the science and history museums and other interpretive facilities of the National Park Service in the Western United States.

A former firearms executive pulls back the curtain on America's multibillion-dollar gun industry, exposing how it fostered extremism and racism, radicalizing the nation and bringing cultural division to a boiling point. As an avid hunter, outdoorsman, and conservationist-all things that the firearms industry was built on-Ryan Busse chased a childhood dream and built a successful career selling millions of firearms for one of America's most popular gun companies. But blinded by the promise of massive profits, the gun industry abandoned its self-imposed decency in favor of hardline conservatism and McCarthyesque internal policing, sowing irreparable division in our politics and society. That drove Busse to do something few other gun executives have done: he's ending his 30-year career in the industry to show us how and why we got here. Gunfight is an insider's call-out of a wild, secretive, and critically important industry. It shows us how America's gun industry shifted from prioritizing safety and ethics to one that is addicted to fear, conspiracy, intolerance, and secrecy. It recounts Busse's personal transformation and shows how authoritarianism spreads in the guise of freedom, how voicing one's conscience becomes an act of treason in a culture that demands sameness and loyalty. Gunfight offers a valuable perspective as the nation struggles to choose between armed violence or healing.

"The Wounded Knee Massacre of 29 December 1890, involving the loss of more than two hundred Lakota men, women, and children in South Dakota, marked the tragic climax of the Indian wars in the American West. This book compiles a variety of little-known sources explaining what happened at Wounded Knee, encompassing early and later accounts by men, women, and grown children that appeared in official government reports, newspapers, and collected published reminiscences"--

Provides information on long-range shooting, including the best new long-range guns and an explanation of what Rifle Golf is.

Stories about Laura's father and life on the frontier.

Jeff Bussey walked briskly up the rutted wagon road toward Fort Leavenworth on his way to join the Union volunteers. It was 1861 in Linn County, Kansas, and Jeff was elated at the prospect of fighting for the North at last. In the Indian country south of Kansas there was dread in the air; and the name, Stand Watie, was on every tongue. A hero to the rebel, a devil to the Union man, Stand Watie led the Cherokee Indian Na-tion fearlessly and successfully on savage raids behind the Union lines. Jeff came to know the Watie men only too well. He was probably the only soldier in the West to see the Civil War from both sides and live to tell about it. Amid the roar of cannon and the swish of flying grape, Jeff learned what it meant to fight in battle. He learned how it felt never to have enough to eat, to forage for his food or starve. He saw the green fields of Kansas and Okla-homa laid waste by Watie's raiding parties, homes gutted, precious corn deliberately uprooted. He marched endlessly across parched, hot land, through mud and slash-ing rain, always hungry, always dirty and dog-tired. And, Jeff, plain-spoken and honest, made friends and enemies. The friends were strong men like Noah Babbitt, the itinerant printer who once walked from Topeka to Galveston to see the magnolias in bloom; boys like Jimmy Lear, too young to carry a gun but old enough to give up his life at Cane Hill; ugly, big-eared Heifer, who made the best sourdough biscuits in the Choctaw country; and beautiful Lucy Washbourne, rebel to the marrow and proud of it. The enemies were men of an-other breed - hard-bitten Captain Clardy for one, a cruel officer with hatred for Jeff in his eyes and a dark secret on his soul. This is a rich and sweeping novel-rich in its panorama of history; in its details so clear that the reader never doubts for a moment that he is there; in its dozens of different people, each one fully realized and wholly recognizable. It is a story of a lesser -- known part of the Civil War, the Western campaign, a part different in its issues and its problems, and fought with a different savagery. Inexorably it moves to a dramat-ic climax, evoking a brilliant picture of a war and the men of both sides who fought in it.

The third book in Laura Ingalls Wilder's treasured Little House series—now available as an ebook! This digital version features Garth Williams's classic illustrations, which appear in vibrant full color on a full-color device and in rich black-and-white on all other devices. The adventures continue for Laura Ingalls and her family as they leave their little house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin and set out for the big skies of the Kansas Territory. They travel for many days in their covered wagon until they find the best spot to build their house. Soon they are planting and plowing, hunting wild ducks and turkeys, and gathering grass for their cows. Just when they begin to feel settled, they are caught in the middle of a dangerous conflict. The nine Little House books are inspired by Laura's own childhood and have been cherished by generations of readers as both a unique glimpse into America's frontier history and as heartwarming, unforgettable stories.

A “well-researched and very readable new biography” (The Wall Street Journal) of “the Thomas Edison of guns,” a visionary inventor who designed the modern handgun and whose awe-inspiring array of firearms helped ensure victory in numerous American wars and holds a crucial place in world history. Few people are aware that John Moses Browning—a tall, humble, cerebral man born in 1855 and raised as a Mormon in the American West—was the mind behind many of the world-changing firearms that dominated more than a century of conflict. He invented the design used in virtually all modern pistols, created the most popular hunting rifles and shotguns, and conceived the machine guns that proved decisive not just in World Wars I and II but nearly every major military action since. Yet few in America knew his name until he was into his sixties. Now, author Nathan Gorenstein brings firearms inventor John Moses Browning to vivid life in this riveting and revealing biography. Embodying the tradition of self-made, self-educated geniuses (like Lincoln and Edison), Browning was able to think in three dimensions (he never used blueprints) and his gifted mind produced everything from the famous Winchester “30-30” hunting rifle to the awesomely effective machine guns used by every American aircraft and infantry unit in World War II. The British credited Browning’s guns with helping to win the Battle of Britain. His inventions illustrate both the good and bad of weapons. Sweeping, lively, and brilliantly told, this fascinating book that “gun collectors and historians of armaments will cherish” (Kirkus Reviews) introduces a little-known legend whose impact on history ranks with that of the Wright Brothers, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford.

Cracker Westerns are rip-roarin, action-packed, can't-put-'em-down tales set in the frontier days of Florida. They are full of adventure, real heroes, and vivid, authentic details that bring Florida's history to life. Tree Hooker will take on anything—man, animal, or force of nature—that stands in the way of his cattle drives during the Civil War. He's a Confederate soldier trying to save his country from starvation. Assigned to lead a group of tough, sun-baked cow hunters, he sets out to supply the South with beef from the herds on Florida's plains. Plenty of others also want those herds. There are the Yankees, led by men like Major Dan Greenley. He's tired of the war and knows that it will end quickly once the Confederacy runs out of food. Greenley is new to Florida and still believes in fighting by the rules of civilized warfare. But he's also a fast learner. He soon realizes that there is no such thing as civilized warfare in the palmetto scrub. A few people try to keep their humanity despite being surrounded by the horrors of war. Doris Brava is one of those. A young widow surviving on her own in Yankee-occupied St. Augustine, she finds hope and love in an unlikely place—Greenley's arms. But hope and love can't shield Doris from the savagery that rules on the palmetto plains. Next in series > > See all of the books in this series

The revised third edition of the landmark Guns in American Society provides an authoritative and objective survey of the history and current state of all gun-related issues and areas of debate in the United States. Guns in American Society: An Encyclopedia of History, Politics, Culture, and the Law is a comprehensive and evenhanded three-volume reference resource for understanding all of the political, legal, and cultural factors that have swirled around gun rights and gun control in America, past and present. The encyclopedia draws on a vast array of research in criminology, history, law, medicine, politics, and social science. It covers all aspects of the issue: gun violence, including mass shootings in schools and other public spaces; gun control arguments and organizations; gun rights arguments and organizations; the firearms industry; firearms regulation, legislation, and court decisions; gun subcultures (for example, hunters and collectors); leading opinion-shapers on both sides of the gun debate; technological innovations in firearm manufacturing; various types of firearms, from handguns to assault weapons; and evolving public attitudes toward guns. Many of these entries place the topics in both historical and cross-cultural perspective.