[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

"OUTLAW" by Warren Kiefer is the best western book.
It covers a New Mexico outlaw as a young man. He joins the Rough Riders and goes to Cuba. Starts a bank and gets cheated out of it by his friend.
He goes to Mexico and does oil exploration.
He retires to his New Mexico ranch and they try to take it away by eminent domain.

[dennisw]

Just reserved at my library -thanks!

[Billthedrill]

Concur completely on Outlaw. One of the best Westerns I ever read and a time capsule on the early and mid 20th century. Kind of hard to get aholt of these days - I got my copy used through Amazon. Very strongly recommended.

Other stuff I've read in the last couple of months:

1. Hammerjack by Marc Giller. Cyberpunk rides again - pretty much a straight ripoff of William Gibson and the last half is way overwritten but it's entertaining nonetheless.

2. Life At The Bottom and Our Culture, What's Left Of It both by Theodore Dalrymple. The first one's grittier, the second one a little more scholarly. Both are gripping reads and biting social criticism.

3. Marxism by Thomas Sowell. An older book pulled from the shelf - Sowell is truly a master of the subject as an ex-Marxist himself. Some really surprising stuff in there.

Merry Christmas, all!