{"product_id":"son-of-the-old-west-9780802162083","title":"Son of the Old West","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn epic narrative of\u003cbr\u003ethe Old West told through the vivid, outsized life of cowboy, detective, \u003cbr\u003eand chronicler Charlie Siringo\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNo figure in the Old West lived or\u003cbr\u003eshaped its history more fully than Charlie Siringo, as Nathan Ward reveals in his colorful portrait of this epic era and one of its primary protagonists. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBorn in Matagorda, Texas\u003cbr\u003ein 1855, Charlie went on his first cattle drive at age twelve and spent two decades\u003cbr\u003eliving his boyhood dream as a cowboy. As the dangerous, lucrative \"beeves\"\u003cbr\u003ebusiness boomed, Siringo drove longhorn steers north to the burgeoning Midwest\u003cbr\u003ePlains states' cattle and railroad towns, inevitably crossing paths with such\u003cbr\u003elegendary figures as Billy the Kid, Bat Masterson, and Shanghai Pierce. In his\u003cbr\u003eearly thirties he joined the Pinkerton Detective Agency's Denver office, using\u003cbr\u003ea variety of aliases to investigate violent labor disputes and infiltrate\u003cbr\u003eoutlaw gangs such as Butch Cassidy's train robbing Wild Bunch. As brave as he\u003cbr\u003ewas clever, he was often saved by his cowboy training as he traveled to places\u003cbr\u003ethe law had not yet reached.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSiringo's\u003cbr\u003ebestselling, landmark 1885 autobiography, \u003ci\u003eA Texas Cowboy\u003c\/i\u003e, helped\u003cbr\u003emake the lowly cowboy a heroic symbol of the American West. His later\u003cbr\u003ememoir, \u003ci\u003eA Cowboy Detective\u003c\/i\u003e, influenced early hard-boiled crime\u003cbr\u003enovelists for whom the detective story was really the cowboy story in an urban\u003cbr\u003esetting. Sadly sued into debt by the Pinkertons determined to prevent their\u003cbr\u003esources and methods from being revealed, Siringo eventually sold his beloved New Mexico\u003cbr\u003eranch and moved to Los Angeles, where he advised Hollywood filmmakers, and\u003cbr\u003eespecially actor William S. Hart, on their early 1920s Westerns, watching the\u003cbr\u003efrontier history he had known first-hand turned into romantic legend on the\u003cbr\u003escreen.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn old age, \u003cbr\u003eCharlie Siringo was called \"Ulysses of the Wild West\" for the long journey he\u003cbr\u003etook across the western frontier. \u003ci\u003eSon of the Old West\u003c\/i\u003e brings\u003cbr\u003ehim and his legendary world vividly to life.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Atlantic Monthly Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/05\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780802162083\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 368\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 06\/05\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2023\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Nathan Ward","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43040213467317,"sku":"9780802162083","price":23.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/files\/img_77266d55-0de1-4ef9-972d-f4c2f1d683c0.jpg?v=1689087041","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/son-of-the-old-west-9780802162083","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}