The story of the American West is one of the epics of mankind. This exhilarating account is at once a complete, anecdotal history and a compendium of western lore. It shows what life on the frontier was really like, and portrays the brave, unpredictable and sometimes violent men and women who explored, fought over and finally tamed a continent.Jon E. Lewis vividly depicts the pioneers, the onrush of the cattle barons, the coming of the lawmen and the tragic demise of the Plains Indians. Heroes and villains - including Sitting Bull, Doc Holliday, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Crazy Horse and Custer - are often revealed in a startling new light, and a host of minor characters are rescued from obscurity. The book pays full homage to the part played by women and African-Americans and includes a mass of intriguing and fascinating detail - from how Montana cowboys warmed their horses' bits to the words of the Navajo medicine chants. Read Less