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Jess Hardin is a man after my own heart.
A fine writer, a wonderful illustrator,
photographer, poet, musician, historian, hunter,
outdoorsman...Jess is a man who wears many hats, and wears each with aplomb. A Renaissance man in the truest sense of the word,
Jess is nevertheless a plain-spoken and down-to-Earth guy. He
has written four published books, along with hundreds of
articles in publications as diverse as Shoot! Magazine, Guns,
Gun Digest, International Militaria Collector, Gray's Journal,
Wilderness Way, and Mother Earth News. He lives in a
remote area of the mountainous Southwest, where he can live the
life of a true Mountain Man. He looks the part; he walks the
walk; and he has the ability as a writer, storyteller and
illustrator to take us on his adventures with him, and to truly
make history "come alive".
Some months ago, Jess sent me a copy of his
latest book, Old Guns and Whispering Ghosts: Tales and
Twists of the Old West, and he has since been waiting,
with varying degrees of patience, for me to complete my review
of it. He probably figured that I was a procrastinator (and he
would be correct in that assumption), or that I was just plain
lazy (Jeff would probably concur here), but while the preceding
may be true to some degree or another, the fact is that I just
can't stop reading this book. I have read it cover-to-cover
twice, and have referred to it many more times.
As wonderfully vast and diverse this book is as
a treasure trove of information, this is no sterile and stodgy
treatise; Jess Hardin's writing ability elevates the work to a
gripping read, one that is difficult to put down, and one that
transports the reader to another time.
To give you an idea of the wide-ranging subject
matter covered in this book, I will list the chapters:
I. .22 Dreams: The Blessings and Imaginings
of Childhood
II. Inconsolable: John Wesley Hardin and the
Shootist Archetype
III. The Story of Ol' '81: Army Ordnance,
Lever-Guns and the Apache Wars
IV. Indian Arms: Homelands, Lances &
Trains
V. Buffalo Guns: Ritual, Waste & Return
VI. Scatterguns: Smoothbores & Highwaymen
VII. Fallen Angels: Amorous & Armed
VIII. Hidden Thunder: Pocket Guns &
Hideaways
IX. The Feel: design, Balance, History &
Appearance
X. Straight Shots & Trick Shooters: Annie
Oakley, Buffalo Bill & Those Wild West Shows
XI. Ben Lilly: Bears, Blades & Bullets
XII: Teddy Roosevelt: Conservation, Guns
& Gumption
XIII: Pancho Villa: End of an Era
XIV: The Vintage Hunt: Ritual & History
XV: Scars: Nicks, Scratches &
Restorations
XVI: The Frisco War: The Grit & Guns of
One Elfego Baca
XVII: Vaya Con Dios: The Wild West Lives On
As you can see, there is something in this
book's pages that will appeal to every history buff,
outdoorsman and aficionado of fine guns. This is truly an
extraordinarily well-written book, and it imparts an
understanding not only of the firearms, the history and the
personalities covered, but it personalizes the stories and gives
us a glimpse into the heart of the writer, and by extension into
the hearts of us all.
The illustrations in this book are superb. As a
lifelong artist myself, and as one who used to ply the trade
professionally, I especially appreciate Jess Hardin's talent as an
illustrator. Jess not only has the ability to illustrate his
subjects with great technical skill, but he has the talent and
insight to use his illustrations to help tell the
stories. This
is not as easy as it might seem to the uninitiated, but Jess
pulls it off beautifully. The book is lavishly illustrated not
only with Jess' illustrations, but also with a great many
beautiful photographs of guns, artifacts and people, most taken
by Jess himself. There are also many photographs of historical
figures taken from various archives; there is a full-page photo
of a young Teddy Roosevelt with a custom Winchester
1876 rifle, fancy Bowie knife and buckskin clothing, courtesy of
the Harvard College Library, that alone is worth the price of
the book.
The whole presentation is beautifully packaged
by Shoot! Publications, and their efforts are also a
great reason why this book is so enjoyable. Rendered in
"coffee-table" quality, the pages are slick and
reproduced at a high resolution so that the beauty of the
paintings, drawings and photographs are not lost. Bound in
hardcover and beautifully typeset, the package is completed by a nicely-rendered, slick
dust jacket. As an avid reader and as one who appreciates fine
books, I applaud the folks at Shoot! Publications for giving
Jess Hardin's work the treatment it deserves.
As you may have guessed by now, I give this book
my highest recommendation as essential reading to anyone who
appreciates history, guns or just likes a fine book. Beyond
that, however, this book could prove to be an invaluable way of
introducing young adults into an appreciation of guns and the
history of the Old West. The style of writing, the beautiful
illustrations, and the compelling nature of the stories told
would serve very well to hold the attention of a young adult
where other, less entertaining, works may not - and this could
serve to increase the ranks of those of us who appreciate the
finer things in life.
If you are the kind of person who appreciates
who we are and from whence we came, or are interested in the
history of the American West, or are just "into" old
guns, then you owe it to yourself to buy this book. If you are
not, buy it anyway - you just might become "one of
us"!
The book is available directly from the author
at www.oldgunsbook.com.
Old Guns & Whispering Ghosts
Shoot! Publishing, 2006
11X14 Hardcover 246 pages 300+
color illustrations
ISBN# 0-9726383-2-6
Wholesale Orders: wholesale@shootmagazine.com
or call (208) 368-9920
Boge Quinn
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