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☆ ‘Son of the Old West’ Review: Cowboy and Chronicler
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Andrew R. Graybill | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Charlie Siringo (right) crosses the Rio Grande on horseback. Photo: Courtesy of Nathan WardA close friend of mine—a fellow historian and avid outdoorsman—likes to joke that while I merely write about the American West, he has actually lived it, crisscrossing the region’s hiking trails, bike paths and ski slopes. My pal might thus admire Charlie Siringo, who did both: He worked as a cowboy and as a detective for the Pinkerton Agency and then published books about his adventures. In “Son of the Old West,” writer Nathan Ward tracks Siringo from Texas to Idaho and seemingly everywhere in between while relating his encounters with an array of characters, some of them among the most famous of his day. As Mr. Ward explains, his book is as much a chronicle of the Old West as it is the study of a colorful, and ubiquitous, frontiersman.

Persons: Charlie Siringo, Nathan Ward, outdoorsman —, Ward Organizations: Pinkerton Agency Locations: Rio Grande, Siringo, Texas, Idaho

☆ ‘William F. Buckley Sr.’ Review: Conservatism’s Mexican Roots
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Andrew R. Graybill | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +2 min

But unlike Burke, who observed the happenings in France from the safety of England, Buckley was a participant in the drama that unfolded in Mexico, where he had moved in 1908. This is the subject of “William F. Buckley Sr.: Witness to the Mexican Revolution, 1908-1922,” a fascinating if uneven book by the independent historian John A. Adams Jr. Considering the Buckley family’s indelible association with New York City and its leafy environs, it may come as a surprise that Buckley père was raised in South Texas, where he was born in 1881. Will and his siblings grew up poor, “blessed with neither electricity, gas, telephone, running water, nor refrigeration,” as one of the children later recalled. But they were bilingual, perhaps of necessity, given that 90% of the 2,000 residents of San Diego, Texas, their hometown, were of Mexican descent.

☆ ‘The Last Campaign’ Review: The Battles of Sherman and Geronimo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Andrew R. Graybill | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

That, however, is considerably more overlap than between the protagonists featured in H.W. Brands’s latest book, “The Last Campaign: Sherman, Geronimo and the War for America.” Despite their twin billing, the general and the Apache leader do not cross paths in the book, and apparently never met. Moreover, while “Heat” remains original and taut (despite its nearly three-hour runtime), “The Last Campaign” is predictable and baggy, following an established path now beaten to dust by generations of professional and popular historians. At first blush, author and subject seem well matched. Mr. Brands is a talented storyteller, with a novelist’s feel for pacing and detail.

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