"Vivid, Comprehensible . . . cuts through decades of mythmaking." —Texas MonthlyPopular culture transformed his memory into “Davy Crockett,” and Hollywood gave him a raccoon hat he hardly ever wore. In this surprising New York Times bestseller, historian Michael Wallis has cast a fresh look at the flesh-and-blood man behind one of the most celebrated figures in American history. More than a riveting story, Wallis’s David Crockett is a rev...

Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for ExcellenceFinalist for the Oklahoma Book AwardA Publishers Weekly Holiday Guide History Pick“A book so gripping it can scarcely be put down.... Superb.” —New York Times Book Review"WESTWARD HO! FOR OREGON AND CALIFORNIA!"In the eerily warm spring of 1846, George Donner placed this advertisement in a local newspaper as he and a restless caravan prep...

**WWHA Six-Shooter Award for Best Book of 2026In this definitive biography of the most infamous female outlaw of the nineteenth century, best-selling historian Michael Wallis challenges a notorious legacy.**In the annals of legendary Wild West desperadoes, Belle Starr is remembered to this day as the Bandit Queen. Shortly after her murder in 1889, a highly romanticized, sensational book titled Bella Starr ... The Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James was publishe...

“Countless books have been written about the infamous outlaw ... this is surely one of the best.”—Publishers Weekly, starred reviewIn this revisionist biography, award-winning historian Michael Wallis re-creates the rich anecdotal saga of Billy the Kid (1859–1881), a young man who became a legend in his time and remains an enigma to this day. In an extraordinary evocation of the legendary Old West, Wallis demonstrates why the Kid has remained one of our most popular folk h...

This rich, rousing gusher of a biography captures the life and times of an American hero and the birth of the modern oil empire he created.Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum, was one of the most prominent self-made business tycoons of the twentieth century. In Oil Man, Michael Wallis, a best-selling historian of the West, presents Phillips against a pageant of luminaries and outlaws that includes Will Rogers, Harry Truman, Edna Ferber, J. Paul Getty, and Pretty ...

For more than a third of a century, three old women, known by many names over the millennia, but most commonly referred to as the Fates, have had total power over mankind. They have been busy, fiendishly initiating conflict and misfortune. Such is the will of the all-seeing, all-knowing Fates. No simple undertaking can change the dismal state of affairs, and no ordinary people, either.At the heart of a defiant scheme to counter fate's trespasses is a special pair of siblings and a ...

To be sure, Oklahoma is a land of contrasts. Within the state one can find red necks and blue bloods, pickups and polo ponies, beer joints and country clubs, fiery preachers and pagans, rodeo and ballet. Oklahoma is the nation’s great mixing bowl.Yet all too often even native-born Oklahomans lose their sense of place and the land misplaces its sense of rhythm. Without rhythm, there can be no balance. In Oklahoma: A Sense of Place, best-selling author Michael Wallis reminds us that ...

A deeply sympathetic, colorful evocation of life on the American prairiesIn Way Down Yonder in the Indian Nation—a title inspired by the lyrics of Woody Guthrie—best-selling author Michael Wallis creates a brilliant tableau of America’s heartland.Featuring a new introduction by the author, this collection of sixteen essays reflects the finest examples of Wallis’s writing and harkens back to a time before fast food and malls replaced family-owned diners alo...

An autobiography from the first woman to elected to serve as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation and winner of the 1998 Presidential Medal of Honor."Wilma Mankiller is someone I feel I've known in this lifetime and many lifetimes before. I recognize in her the greatest beauty, dignity, and truthfulness." —Alice WalkerIn this spiritually moving autobiography, Wilma Mankiller, former chief of the Cherokee Nation, tells not only her persona...

In this definitive biography of the most infamous female outlaw of the nineteenth century, bestselling historian Michael Wallis challenges a notorious legacy.In the annals of legendary Wild West desperadoes, Belle Starr is remembered to this day as the Bandit Queen. Shortly after her murder in 1889, a highly romanticized, sensational book titled Bella Starr . . . The Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James was published—the first in a series of high-profil...

"This engaging biography exactly and vividly catches the tone of a region, a time, and a man."—Larry McMurtryFrom the best-selling author of Billy the Kid and Route 66, a true-life story of a notorious outlaw that magnificently re-creates the vanished, impoverished world of Dust Bowl America. Michael Wallis evokes the hard times of the era as he follows the life of Charles "Pretty Boy" Floyd from his coming of age, when there were no jobs and no f...

From the bestselling author of Route 66 comes this long-awaited biography of one of America's most legendary folk heroes.Award-winning historian Michael Wallis has spent several years re-creating the rich, anecdotal saga of Billy the Kid (1859-1881), a deeply mythologized young man who became a legend in his own time and yet remains an enigma to this day. With the Gilded Age in full swing and the Industrial Revolution reshaping the American landscape, "the Kid," who was gu...