Nighthawk Rising: A Biography of Accused Cattle Rustler Queen Ann Bassett of Brown's Park

High Plains Book Award Finalist
Colorado Book Award Finalist
Winner of the prestigious 2020 Spur Award in Biography
Author Diana Allen Kouris, a native of Brown's Park, utilized her personal and family connections, along with years of research, to meticulously and extensively record the fascinating life events of Ann Bassett. Kouris includes never-before-published photographs. Ann Bassett was known as the Queen of the Cattle Rustlers, although she was never convicted. Queen Ann, as she was called, lived a life full of adventure and controversy in the Brown s Park region of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. She broke bread with Butch Cassidy, had her life turned upside down by notorious range detective Tom Horn, and stood tall against cattle baron Ora Haley. Anyone with an interest in Western History will want this comprehensive book!

In Nighthawk Rising, Diana Allen Kouris has painted a new masterpiece of what life was like in the remote, rugged, and yet beautiful Brown s Park. Through her years of tireless research, she has in a another sense become amaster restorationist bringing back color and depth to a canvas once obscured by generations of smoke and grime of half-truths and misinterpretations regarding Ann Bassett and her family and their neighbors. Diana s own Brown s Park roots, combined with her love of its history and a talent for the written word, has gifted her with the unique ability to accomplish such amonumental task. --Dan Davidson, Director The Museum of Northwest Colorado Craig