The Cowboy and the Cossack

Fifteen Montana cowboys sail into Vladivostok with a herd of five hundred longhorns, ready to cross a thousand miles of Siberian wilderness. When a band of Cossacks, Russia’s elite horsemen and warriors, shows up to escort these rough and ready Americans to their destination, the clash of cultures begins. The feud between American six shooter and Russian saber is embodied in two men: Shad, the leader of the Montana cowboys, and Rostov, the Cossack commander. Nature and man are enemies that will force them to work together―and a ruthless Tartar army that stands between them and their destination. The code of the cowboy West and the credo of the Cossack East seem to be two different measures of a man―but honor and courage are the same in any language when a common enemy must be faced. Lonesome Dove meets Dr. Zhivago in this rousing tale of West meets East in the days of the Russian Tsars and the Wild West.

Clair Huffaker was a legendary western screenwriter and author. His screenplays include The Comancheros, Hellfighters, and War Wagon starring John Wayne, along with Flaming Star, Seven Ways from Sundown, Rio Conchos, and Posse from Hell. Huffaker also wrote for TV western series such as Bonanza, The Rifleman, The Virginian, and Rawhide, including eighteen episodes of Lawman. Many of his movies were based on his bestselling books. Huffaker was a cowboy, a champion boxer, a part-time smuggler, and a writer for Time, Inc. in New York. He served in the Navy in World War II, studied in Europe, and eventually returned to the US where he began his career as a freelance writer. He wrote short stories, screenplays, and novels at his home in Los Angeles, which was a gathering place for actors, stuntmen, directors, and writers who could regularly be found there shooting pool, playing poker, and exchanging tall tales.

Nancy Pearl is a librarian and lifelong reader. She regularly comments on books on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. Her books include 2003’s Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason, 2005’s More Book Lust: 1,000 New Reading Recommendations for Every Mood, Moment and Reason; Book Crush: For Kids and Teens: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Interest, published in 2007, and 2010’s Book Lust To Go: Recommended Reading for Travelers, Vagabonds, and Dreamers. Among her many awards and honors are the 2011 Librarian of the Year Award from Library Journal; the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association; the 2010 Margaret E. Monroe Award from the Reference and Users Services Association of the American Library Association; and the 2004 Women’s National Book Association Award, given to “a living American woman who…has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or occupation.”