A Legend Comes To Life The central character in this historical novel is a well educated Indian renegade who also has the blood of both black and white in his veins. His notable size, 68-1/2 tall, general countenance and certain exploits form the orienting track of this story gleaned from books on Idaho history and newspaper accounts of more than 120 years ago. Apparently he did exist. But legend has colored his life almost to Paul Bunyan extremes. This account has been written to tint the character in more believable terms. Starr Wilkinson was born in 1837 near Tahlequah, out in the India Territory (Oklahoma). He was very quiet, even introverted. So the thread that is woven through this story of his life is one of trouble stemming from an inability to communicate well with others. Starr served on the crew of a Mississippi riverboat for several years. He then accompanied a family on the road to Oregon and, as time passed, fell in love with the daughter. This led to the slaying of a young rival by Wilkinson. He then deserted the wagon train and of necessity joined a renegade Indian band that wandered the Snake River country. Before long he became the leader and, largely because of his size, was notorious throughout the area. Here, he again took on his schooldays name of Bigfoot. After years of eluding pursuers and avoiding traps, he was killed via ambush in July, 1868. This story of his life is in accord with his own lengthy statement made as he lay dying on a dry, sage covered hillside near the Snake River. An eyewitness account of that event and Bigfoots last words was published several years later in the Tri-Weekly Statesman, the Boise City newspaper in those days. Legend. . .fable. . . myth. . . fact. . . or history liberally embellished? Take your choice.

The Night Wind must fight to save his wife! A thrilling pulp classic and sequel to "Alias the Night Wind" and "The Return of the Night Wind"!

From every “beautiful mornin’” to “some enchanted evening,” the songs of Oscar Hammerstein II are part of our daily lives, his words part of our national fabric. Born into a theatrical dynasty headed by his grandfather and namesake, Oscar Hammerstein II breathed new life into the moribund art form of operetta by writing lyrics and libretti for such classics as Rose-Marie (music by Rudolf Friml), The Desert Song (Sigmund Romberg), The New Moon (Romberg) and Song of the Flame (George Gershwin). Hammerstein and Jerome Kern wrote eight musicals together, including Sweet Adeline, Music in the Air, and their masterpiece, Show Boat. The vibrant Carmen Jones was Hammerstein’s all-black adaptation of the tragic opera by Georges Bizet. In 1943, Hammerstein, pioneer in the field of operetta, joined forces with Richard Rodgers, who had for the previous twenty-five years taken great strides in the field of musical comedy with his longtime writing partner, Lorenz Hart. The first Rodgers and Hammerstein work, Oklahoma!, merged the two styles into a completely new genre—the musical play—and simultaneously launched the most successful partnership in American musical theater. Over the next seventeen years, Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote eight more Broadway musicals: Carousel, Allegro, South Pacific, The King and I, Me and Juliet, Pipe Dream, Flower Drum Song, and The Sound of Music. They also wrote a movie musical (State Fair) and one for television (Cinderella). Collectively their works have earned dozens of awards, including Pulitzers, Tonys, Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys. Throughout his career, Hammerstein created works of lyrical beauty and universal feeling, and he continually strove—sometimes against fashion—to seek out the good and beautiful in the world. “I know the world is filled with troubles and many injustices,” he once said. “But reality is as beautiful as it is ugly . . . I just couldn’t write anything without hope in it.” All of his lyrics are here—850, more than a quarter published for the first time—in this sixth book in the indispensable Complete Lyrics series that has also brought us the lyrics of Cole Porter, Lorenz Hart, Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, and Frank Loesser. From the young scribe’s earliest attempts to the old master’s final lyric—“Edelweiss”—we can see, read, and, yes, sing the words of a theatrical and lyrical genius.