Barbed Wire, Windmills, & Sixguns: A Book of Trivia, Fact, and Folklore About Westerns & The American West - Softcover

Kirk, Donald K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 098017435X ISBN 13: 9780980174359

Publisher: The Old West Company, 2012

Synopsis

This illustrated Old West trivia book is a must-have reference for western writers, re-enactors, and diehard fans that love westerns and want to relax in their favorite chair and discover hundreds of interesting lists, fascinating stories, historical events, unusual people, and special places relating to the American West. This book will entertain and educate in the ways of the Wild West and in Hollywood’s interpretation of it. 740 pages of fun and fascinating content that will take months to browse through. For those not yet into this new popular pastime, get past the tenderfoot stage with this manual so you can converse intelligently with your western-fan buddies. It’s chock-full of fun trivia quizzes to challenge you and them. Great for parties.

About this title

About the Author:

Don has been an Old West fan for about as long as he can remember. He, like so many baby boomers, sat with his father in front of a small black & white television set watching westerns like “Gunsmoke” with the bumbling but lovable Festus Hagen and “Wanted: Dead or Alive” starring Steve McQueen, the first character to holster a sawed-off rifle. Before that, it was singing cowboys like Roy Rogers and Gene Autry on Saturday morning matinees. With Don—still wearing his coon-skin cap—the West stuck with him: he traveled the American West in search of movie locations, went to Hollywood, met Roy Rogers, worked on a western, and collected all things western—including costumes—until there was no room left in his home. So, to reduce the number of file boxes with scribbled notes on the American West, he put those notes in this book.

Review:

"A whooper of a book at 740 pages, BARBED WIRE, WINDMILLS, AND SIXGUNS is a marvelous and utterly fascinating trivia compendium on the Old West. Kirk's book is over flowing with dozens of lists, biographies, stories, chronologies and illustrations on cowboys, Indians, gunfighters and gunfights, lawmen, miners, towns, western words and phrases, six-shooters, western ballads and poems, card games, western movies and TV shows, battles and other Wild West facts. It's entertaining and educational and should give all armchair cowboys hours of reading delight." -Mike O. Marathon County Public Library April 2014 "This book is a treasure trove of information for those of us who love cowboy folklore. After reading this book I think I can hold a conversation with real cowboys, not just the eastern kind. You will definitely win the "Old West" category on Jeopardy after you read this book." -Eastern Cowboy (2012) "Donald Kirk's BARBED WIRE, WINDMILLS & SIXGUNS is a wonderfully appealing, utterly fascinating door stopper of a book brimming with TRIVIA, FACT AND FOLKLORE ABOUT WESTERNS & THE AMERICAN WEST. A 2010 Sweetwater Stagelines release, Kirk's book will delight anyone with an interest in the old West. Kirk's book is filled with hundreds of lists, stories, chronologies, bios, photographs and illustrations on the American West. The material is divided into chapters on Old West Historical Events, Cowboys & Their Cowponies, Western Words & Phrases, Gunfighters, Outlaws, Lawmen, Gamblers, Railroads and the West, Indian Nations, Western Place Names, Miners, Western Ballads, Western Movies & Their Stars, Western Movie Trivia, TV Westerns, etc. Here's a sampling of what can be found: Included in the book: 21 Wild West Nicknames; 38 Cowboy Words; 15 Western Movie Directors; 18 Guns that Settled the West; 58 Indian Warriors & Chiefs; 9 Tales of Outlawry; 8 Reward Posters; 24 TNT Westerns; 21 Dust Cutters (Drinks) of the Old West; Tombstone Records of Deaths; Glossary of Indian Words; 8 Last Words; An Old West Chronology; Gunfight at the O.K. Corral Quiz; 14 Movie Ranches; 4 Deserts of the West; The West's 50 Most Wanted; 10 Instructions for Sentinels; Clay Allison Bio; 126 Top Western Movies; 52 Movie Trivia Questions; 7 Rules for Driving a Carriage; 11 Old West Games of Chance; 27 Phrases for Dying; 45 Best Western Theme Songs; 14 Legendary Superstars; Custer's Last Stand Quiz; 8 Cacti of the American West; 33 Elmer Kelton Books; 33 Major Indian War Battles; John Wesley Hardin Bio; Code of the Gunfighter; and so on. "A must-have for anyone who has ever dreamed of living in the American frontier, this well-researched collection is easy to read, and you'll enjoy every bite of this tasty stew. Don "Captain" Kirk is an authentic Texas character, actor, Aggie, US Army veteran, artist, modeler deluxe, Civil War historian, genuine architect, and gifted storyteller. You'll be proud to have this book in your library, on your coffee table, or in your private reading room. Enjoy Barbed Wire, Windmills, & Sixguns. It's as sure as a good saddle horse, a trusty repeating rifle, or a razor-sharp flint arrowhead on an warrior's notched arrow."-J. Serop Kizirian Feb 2013

About this edition

• Publisher: The Old West Company
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 098017435X
• ISBN 13: 9780980174359
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 740