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The Euro-Western: Reframing Gender, Race and the 'Other' in Film
by Lee BroughtonThe Western has always been inextricably linked to the USA, and studies have continually sought to connect its historical development to changes in American society and Hollywood innovations. Focusing new critical attention on films produced in Germany, Italy and Britain, this timely book offers a radical rereading of the evolutionary history of the Western and brings a vital international dimension to its study. Lee Broughton argues not only that European films possess a special significance in terms of the genre's global development, but also that many offered groundbreaking and progressive representations of traditional Wild West 'Others': Native Americans, African Americans and so-called 'strong women'. European Westerns investigates how the histories of Germany, Italy and Britain - and the idiosyncrasies of their respective national film industries - influenced representations of the self and 'Other', shedding light on the broader cultural, historical and political contexts that shaped European engagement with the genre.
Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Westerns
by Howard HughesThe true story of the American West on film, through its shooting stars and the directors who shot them...Howard Hughes explores the Western, running from John Ford's "Stagecoach" to the revisionary "Tombstone". Writing with panache and fresh insight, he explores 27 key films, and draws on production notes, cast and crew biographies, and the films' box-office success, to reveal their place in western history. He shows how through reinvention and resurrection, this genre continually postpones the big adios and avoids ending up in Boot Hill...permanently. Major films covered include the best from genre giants John Ford, Howard Hawks and John Wayne, plus classics "High Noon", "Shane", "The Magnificent Seven" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". "Stagecoach to Tombstone" makes many more stops along the way, examining well-known blockbusters and lowly B-movie oaters alike. It examines comedy westerns, adventures 'south of the border', singing cowboys and the varied depiction of Native Americans on screen.Hughes also engagingly charts the genre's timely renovation by Sam Peckinpah ("Ride the High Country" and "The Wild Bunch"), Sergio Leone ("Once Upon a Time in the West") and Clint Eastwood ("The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Unforgiven"). Presented too are the best of western trivia, a filmography of essential films - and ten aficionados and critics, including Alex Cox, Christopher Frayling, Philip French and Ed Buscombe, give their verdict on the best in the west.
Silver Light
by David ThomsonFrom 1865 to 1950, the multi-faceted world of the American West, its rich, colorful characters, and its many faces - historical, mythic, and cinematic - are captured in the story of a reclusive, elderly photographer and her friend, a writer of Western comic booksSet in 1950, the novel tells the tale of two 'relics' of the old West: Susan Garth, a reclusive octogenarian photographer, and her friend Bark Blaylock, an equally reclusive 75-year-old writer of Western comic books. Their life stories tell the tale of the West, a place of 'silver, space, the epitome of liberty.' Susan and Bark cross paths with the characters of movies such as Wagonmaster, McCabe and Mrs. Miller, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. They had also been witness to the slaying of Billy the Kid, the cattle drive along the Chisholm Trail and the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.Combining history, fiction, and the fabricated realities of film, Thomson examines the mythic image of the West and its meaning for Americans.'Thomson's rangy metafictional collage blends figures from history and legend as well as characters from Hollywood films in an endlessly inventive cinematic meditation on the American West' - Publishers Weekly
Whiskey When We're Dry: A Novel
by John Larison'A powerful, impressive novel with a visceral sense of time and place' - TimesIn the spring of 1885, seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbours, she cuts her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains. Her goal? To find her gun-slinging fugitive brother Noah and bring him home.A talented sharpshooter herself, Jess's quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah - dead or alive. Wrestling with her brother's outlaw identity, and haunted by questions of her own, Jess must out-manoeuvre whose who underestimate her, ultimately rising to become a hero in her own right.Told in Jess's wholly original and unforgettable voice, the story brims with page-turning Western action, but its approach is modern and nuanced, touching on powerful issues from gender and sexuality to family and identity.In the sweeping storytelling tradition of Larry McMurty's Lonesome Dove and Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, Whiskey When We're Dry transcends the straight-and-narrow Western to land among the classics.'True Grit meets Blood Meridian meets Mulan' - Stuart Neville'Whiskey When We’re Dry transcends many of the genre's limitations' - Sunday Times'The book is clearly a child of True Grit… but Whiskey When We’re Dry plays it straight and Larison makes the reader believe in the unlikely premise through the remarkable skill with which Jess’ narrative voice is realised' - Telegraph'Larison imbues the romance and wide-open spaces of the classic western with modern gender and racial awareness, giving space to those left out of the classic Old West mythos, but the main draw is Jesse’s narrative voice, all folksy eloquence peppered with grit and determination' - Herald Scotland'The punch and intensity of the writing and the voice of Jess are rather remarkable…' - Daily Mail
Wag the Dog: A Novel
by Larry BeinhartOnce upon a time there was a mean, dying GOP chairman who had a brilliant scheme to assure that his man would retain the office of president of the United States of America. And the only man who could pull off this elaborate plan was a celebrated Hollywood director. Add to the mix a left-coast gumshoe named Broz who is trapped among cover-ups, undercover work, and his own morality, a cast of bicoastal desperate characters, and the stage is set for a powerful D.C./L.A. production. From Edgar award winning author Larry Beinhart, Wag the Dog was the most brilliant political satire of the last decade. It was made into a classic film by Barry Levinson, and, fortunately, is now back in print.
Midnight Blue (Wyoming Frontier #1)
by Dorothy GarlockLeaving her finishing school behind, Mara Shannon McCall comes back to Wyoming, determined to reclaim the ranch that was her father's legacy.
Almost Eden (Missouri #3)
by Dorothy GarlockFrom the moment Baptiste Lightbody found beautiful Maggie in the Missouri Territory, he knew they were two parts of the same spirit. Shunned by a world that called him a half-breed, and her a witch, they brave the wilderness to find a paradise of their own. But Lightfoot and Maggie soon face a test that could break their hearts, or unite them forever.
My Last Days as Roy Rogers
by Pat Cunningham DevotoIn an Alabama town in the early 1950s during the last polio summer before the Salk vaccine, ten-year-old Tabitha "Tab" Rutland is about to have the time of her life. Although movie theaters and pools have been closed to stem the epidemic, Tab, a tomboy with a passion for Roy Rogers, still seeks adventure with her best friend Maudie May, "the lightest brown colored person" she knows. Now as they meddle with the local bootlegger, Mr. Jake, row out on the Tennessee River to land the biggest catfish ever, and snoop into the town's darkest secrets, Tab sets out to be a hero...and comes of age in an unforgettable confrontation with human frailty, racial injustice, and the healing power of love.
The Cajun Cowboy (Cajun Ser. #2)
by Sandra HillThis New York Times bestselling author welcomes you to the bayou in this "hot and hilarious" (Publishers Weekly) second chance cowboy romance!Talk about a bad hair day. Louisiana beauty salon owner Charmaine LeDeux has a loan shark on her tail, and Raoul Lanier, the six-foot-three hunk of testosterone she thought she divorced, has just delivered a bombshell: They're still married! At least the rundown ranch they've inherited together is the perfect hideout. It's hard enough for Raoul to play cowboy to a bunch of scrawny steer, let alone suffer the exquisite torture of living with the delectable Charmaine, who's declared herself a born-again virgin. What's a man crazy with desire to do?With the moon shining over the bayou, this Cajun cowboy must sweet-talk his way into his wife's arms again...before she unties the knot for good!
Kalinda
by Evan GreenThis stunning sequel to Adam's Empire, centred on his remote sheep station Kalinda, tracks the development of Adam's family. Having grown up as a poor orphan child, Adam finds himself financially secure, in love and a father. But Adam's new found bliss is short lived. His relationship with his lover, Nellie, collapses under societal pressure and lawyers are threatening to take away his young daughter. When WWII breaks out, Adam enlists in the army and finds himself stationed in Nazi-occupied Greece. Heartbroken and far away from everything he knows, will he decide to give love another chance?As the decades pass, the lives of Adam and his family will intertwine in ways they never expected. Kalinda, set against a backdrop of some of Australia's most stunning scenery, explores the lengths people will go to for love and what it really means to be a family.
Adam's Empire
by Evan Green"It's a great country, but never trust it, son. It's beautiful but it's treacherous."Adam Ross had seen the way his country could destroy a man. Growing up in the Australian outback in the first half of the twentieth century with no formal education, no parents and no one to love him, he learned to fend for himself. But when he forms an unlikely friendship with Jimmy, who works in the Opal mines, his luck begins to change. The land that stole Adam's father gives him an opportunity to start anew. Armed with determination and ambition, Adam treks west to carve himself an empire. However, success doesn't come easy and Adam, a man who spent much of his life devoid of love, soon finds himself caught between two women. Torn between his love for his cold-hearted wife and his mistress, Adam must make decisions about his future and the type of man he wants to be.
Close to Home
by Pamela CookA captivating story that shows the only thing harder than letting go is moving on.Orphaned at 13, Charlie Anderson has been on her own for a while. Not that she minds - she has her work as a vet, her friends, and most days that is enough. But then she's sent to a small town on the south coast of NSW to investigate a possible outbreak of the deadly Hendra virus. Travelling back, she will find herself torn between the haunting memories of her past and her dedication to the job.Returning to Naringup means coming face to face with the members of what is left of her dysfunctional family - her cousin Emma, who begged Charlie not to leave all those years ago, and Hazel, her mother's sister who allowed her abusive husband to spend all of Charlie's inheritance.When the local vet dies and more horses are taken ill, Charlie is caught in the centre of a professional, and a personal, crisis. Working with local Park Ranger Joel Drummond, Charlie finds herself drawn not only to Joel but to his eccentric mother, siblings and sister-in-law. Through them, she begins to understand what it means to be part of a family.As the panic around Hendra increases, and Emma's husband starts to make threats, tensions in the country town rise. While trying to remain professionally distant, Charlie must decide whether to run away from her family or step up and allow them back in. But can she reconcile with the past and find herself a new future in the town she left long ago?This is smart writing from Pamela Cook, who manages to tug at the heart strings, while keeping the brain fully engaged. - Book BirdyA strong heroine, cheeky hero, a close-knit country community and a hint of danger and suspense makes Close to Home an engaging and easy read. I'd recommend it. - Australian Bookshelf
The Giver of Stars: Fall in love with the enchanting Sunday Times bestseller from the author of Me Before You
by Jojo MoyesDON'T MISS THE STANDALONE NEW NOVEL FROM JOJO MOYES, THE NO. 1 BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF ME BEFORE YOU, AFTER YOU AND STILL ME'With characters so real they feel like dear friends and a compelling storyline, this is a beautiful, special novel. I loved it and didn't want it to end!' Liane Moriarty, author and screenwriter of Big Little LiesEngland, late 1930s, and Alice Wright - restless, stifled - makes an impulsive decision to marry wealthy American Bennett Van Cleve and leave her home and family behind.But stuffy, disapproving Baileyville, Kentucky, where her husband favours work over his wife and is dominated by his overbearing father, is not the adventure - or the escape - that she hoped for.That is, until she meets Margery O'Hare, a troublesome woman - and daughter of a notorious felon - the town wishes to forget.Margery's on a mission to spread the wonder of books and reading to the poor and lost - and she needs Alice's help.Trekking alone under big open skies, through wild mountain forests, Alice, Margery and their fellow sisters of the trail discover freedom, friendship - and a life to call their own.But when the town turns against them, will their belief in one another - and the power of the written word - be enough to save them? Inspired by a remarkable true story, The Giver of Stars features five incredible women who will prove to be every bit as beloved as Lou Clark, the unforgettable heroine of Me Before You.'A wonderful novel. The Giver of Stars is the most sweeping, dramatic, richly evocative book, full of brilliantly feisty women' Sophie Kinsella, author of Confessions of a Shopaholic'Epic' David Nicholls, author of One Day'Timeless, Jojo Moyes' greatest work yet, and one of the most exquisitely-written - and absolutely compulsory - novels about women ever told' Lisa Taddeo, author of Three WomenPraise for Jojo Moyes:'Moyes somehow manages to break your heart before restoring your faith in love' Sunday Express'Storytelling at its best' Marie Claire'A triumph' Heat'A deeply satisfying book full of big emotions' Good Housekeeping'Britain's best contemporary female author' Sun on Sunday
The Prairie (The\john Harvard Library #140)
by James Fenimore Cooper Domhnall Martin MitchellIn The Prairie (1827), Cooper's most celebrated literary work, Natty Bumppo, now aged, is reduced to making a living by trapping. As his journey from Atlantic to Pacific nears its end in a vast uninhabited grassland that Cooper consistently imagines as an ocean of the interior, nothing less than the future identity of America is at stake.
The Blinds: A Novel
by Adam SternberghThis may not be a prison, and it may not purgatory, but it's sure as hell not a paradise either...Imagine a place populated by criminals - people plucked from their lives, with their memories altered, who've been granted new identities and a second chance. Welcome to The Blinds, a dusty town in rural Texas populated by misfits who don't know if they've perpetrated a crime or just witnessed one. All they do know is that they opted into the programme and that if they try to leave, they will end up dead.For eight years, Sheriff Calvin Cooper has kept an uneasy peace - but after a suicide and a murder in quick succession, the town's residents revolt. Cooper has his own secrets to protect, so when his new deputy starts digging, he needs to keep one step ahead of her - and the mysterious outsiders who threaten to tear the whole place down. The more he learns, the more the hard truth is revealed: The Blinds is no sleepy hideaway, it's simmering with violence and deception, heartbreak and betrayal, and it's fit to burst.
Old God's Time
by Sebastian Barry**AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER NOW**TWICE WINNER OF THE COSTA BOOK OF THE YEAR'Full of love and heartache, this is an unforgettable novel from one of our finest writers.' DOUGLAS STUART 'Shocking, stunning and extraordinarily brave. Barry has once again written a character for the ages.' LIZ NUGENTRecently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children.But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.A beautiful, haunting novel, in which nothing is quite as it seems, Old God's Time is about what we live through, what we live with, and what may survive of us.
The Log of a Cowboy: A Narrative of the American Old West
by Andy AdamsThe most authentic account of cowboy life ever written, this compelling narrative traces the events of an 1882 cattle drive, during which 3,000 longhorns traversed the Great Western Cattle Trail from Brownsville, Texas, to the Blackfoot Indian Reservation in Montana. The author, real-life cowboy Andy Adams (1859–1935), worked as a prospector as well as a cattle driver on the Western trails. Although The Log of a Cowboy crackles with the energy and excitement of fiction, it is based on Adams' own experiences. The Chicago Herald noted, "As a narrative of cowboy life, Andy Adams' book is clearly the real thing. It carries its own certificate of authentic firsthand experience on every page."Fascinating details of day-to-day life on the trail emerge as a team of a dozen cowhands — accompanied by a cook, horse wrangler, and foreman — set out on the long trek. Days are marked by dangerous river crossings and buffalo stampedes as well as encounters with Indians and cattle thieves. Evenings find the crew exchanging tall tales around the campfire and occasionally hunkered down at cowtown saloons. Originally published in 1903 to refute popular but unrealistic tales of the Old West, this classic adventure story remains a remarkable historical resource and portrait of American frontier life.
The Prairie Traveler: The 1859 Handbook for Westbound Pioneers
by Randolph B. MarcyAlong with a good rifle and a sturdy horse, this guidebook was essential for westward-bound pioneers. Originally published by the War Department, Capt. Marcy's manual offers life-or-death advice on choosing the best routes to California, food supplies, treating snakebites, fording rivers, and encountering Native Americans.
The Spell of the Yukon and Other Poems
by Robert Service"There are strange things done in the midnight sun," declared Robert Service as he related the fulfillment of a dying prospector's request. "The Cremation of Sam McGee" was based on one of many peculiar tales he heard upon his 1904 arrival in the Canadian frontier town of Whitehorse. Less than a decade after the Klondike gold rush, many natives and transplants remained to tell stories of the boom towns that sprang up with the sudden influx of miners, gamblers, barflies, and other fortune-seekers. Service's compelling verses — populated by One-Eyed Mike, Dangerous Dan McGrew, and other colorful characters — recapture the era's venturesome spirit and vitality.In this, his best-remembered work, the "common man's poet" and "Canadian Kipling" presents thirty-four verses that celebrate the rugged natural beauty of the frozen North and the warm humanity of its denizens. Verses include "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" ("A bunch of the boys were whooping it up in the Malamute saloon"), "The Heart of the Sourdough" ("There where the mighty mountains bare their fangs unto the moon"), and "The Call of the Wild" (Have you gazed on naked grandeur where there's nothing else to gaze on"). Generations have fallen under the spell of these poems, which continue to enchant readers of all ages.
She's Gone Country
by Jane PorterShey Darcy, a 39-year-old former top model for Vogue and Sports Illustrated led a charmed life in New York City with a handsome photographer husband until the day he announced he'd fallen in love with someone else. Left to pick up the pieces of her once happy world, Shey decides to move back home to Texas with her three teenage sons. Life on the family ranch, however, brings with it a whole new host of dramas starting with differences of opinion with her staunch Southern Baptist mother, her rugged but overprotective brothers, and daily battles with her three sons who are also struggling to find themselves. Add to the mix Shey's ex-crush, Dane Kelly, a national bullriding champ and she's got her hands full. It doesn't take long before Shey realizes that in order to reinvent herself, she must let go of an uncertain future and a broken past, to find happiness--and maybe love--in the present.
The Wives of Bowie Stone
by Maggie OsborneKnowing that she can save the life of a condemned man by offering to marry him, Rosie Mulvehey opts for a marriage of convenience to ex-cavalry man Bowie Stone, who promises to save her rundown farm as his part of the agreement.
Treason of Hawks: The Shadow, Book Four (The Shadow #4)
by Lila Bowen'Quite simply, brilliant. A mind-bending mix of history, fantasy and folklore, it's a wild bronco of a read that'll leave you breathless for more' Rachel Caine on Wake of Vultures The conclusion to Lila Bowen's widely-acclaimed dark fantasy series, which New York Times bestselling author Kevin Hearne described as 'thrilling, delightfully written, and important.'Rhett Walker is looking for peace, the memories of all he's lost haunting his dreams. And now the Shadow tugs him West, back to where his journey began. With the lawless Rangers on his heels and monster attacks surging, Rhett is surrounded on all sides. This time it's not all about horses and land. This time, it feels personal. Because the newest monster on the horizon just may be wearing the face of someone from Rhett's past.To save the Durango territory, Rhett must accept the Shadow's call and fulfill his destiny. Treason of Hawks is the gripping final instalment of the acclaimed Shadow series, starring a hero who has been hailed as 'one of the iconic characters of this generation'.Praise for the Shadow series:'I don't care what else you've seen in the bookstore today. Read this one' Kevin Hearne 'I enjoyed the hell out of it' Patrick Rothfuss 'Weird and wonderful . . . Hot damn, this book is good' Chuck WendigThe Shadow seriesWake of VulturesConspiracy of RavensMalice of CrowsTreason of Hawks
Malice of Crows: The Shadow, Book Three (The Shadow #3)
by Lila Bowen'I don't care what else you've seen in the bookstore today. Read this one' Kevin Hearne on Wake of Vultures'I enjoyed the hell out of it' Patrick Rothfuss on Wake of Vultures'Quite simply, brilliant. A mind-bending mix of history, fantasy and folklore, it's a wild bronco of a read that'll leave you breathless for more' Rachel Caine on Wake of Vultures 'Weird and wonderful . . . Hot damn, this book is good' Chuck Wendig on Wake of VulturesThe Ranger known as Rhett has shut down a terrible enterprise running on the blood and bones of magical folk, but failed to destroy the dark alchemist behind it. Now his destiny as the Shadow refuses to let him rest.To save his friends - and the lives of countless others - he'll first have to lead them on a mission more dangerous than anything they've ever faced.Malice of Crows is the gripping third instalment of the acclaimed Shadow series, starring a hero who has been hailed as 'one of the iconic characters of this generation'.
Conspiracy of Ravens: The Shadow, Book Two (The Shadow #2)
by Lila Bowen'I don't care what else you've seen in the bookstore today. Read this one' - Kevin HearneFollowing the thrilling and critically acclaimed Wake of Vultures comes the next spellbinding novel in the Shadow series - a tale of the supernatural world hiding beneath the surface. Nettie Lonesome jumped off a cliff, not knowing what she'd become. She's still not sure, but the destiny of the Shadow is calling her to help someone she'd just as soon watch die. Her new sidekick, an annoying shifter named Earl, is hellbent on finding the Rangers. He's just escaped a railroad camp where monsters are held captive, their very bones used to fuel the tracks scarring Nettie's wild, beloved Durango. And he wants revenge. Nettie, now facing the truth of her own identity and going by Rhett, must decide whether to side with her friends and the badge on her chest or take off alone on the dangerous mission pulling her inexplicably toward the fight of her life.When it comes to monsters and men, the world isn't black and white. What good are two wings and a gun when your enemy can command a conspiracy of ravens?
Wake of Vultures: The Shadow, Book One (The Shadow #1)
by Lila Bowen'I don't care what else you've seen in the bookstore today. Read this one' - Kevin Hearne'I enjoyed the hell out of it' - Patrick RothfussNettie Lonesome lives in a land of hard people and hard ground dusted with sand. She's a half-breed who dresses like a boy, raised by folks who don't call her a slave but use her like one. She knows of nothing else. That is, until the day a stranger attacks her. When nothing, not even a sickle to the eye can stop him, Nettie stabs him through the heart with a chunk of wood and he turns to black sand. And just like that, Nettie can see. But her newfound sight is a blessing and a curse. Even if she doesn't understand what's under her own skin, she can sense what everyone else is hiding - at least physically. The world is full of evil, and now she knows the source of all the sand in the desert. Haunted by the spirits, Nettie has no choice but to set out on a quest that might lead her to find her true kin . . . if the monsters along the way don't kill her firstA rich, dark fantasy of destiny, death and the supernatural world hiding beneath the surface.