El Paso Salt War comes to Las Cruces NM on April 18
Less than one month until the New Mexico-Arizona Joint History Conference in Las Cruces, April 18-20. I have the honor of being the opening plenary session speaker. The topic? New Mexico and Arizona Territories involvement in the El Paso Salt War of 1877. Murderous politicians, Gilded Age hustlers, Texas Rangers good and bad, Buffalo Soldiers, a sheriff’s posse of outlaw deputies, and an army of Tejano “minute men” fighting for their rights as American citizens. Link to the program, with registration and hotel information here:...
Read More2013 Arizona/New Mexico Joint History Conference
Borderlands historian Paul Cool will speak on the El Paso Salt War and New Mexico’s most notorious rustler, John Kinney, during the 2013 Arizona/New Mexico Joint History Conference in Las Cruces, NM, April 18-20.
Read MoreTombstone Territorial Rendezvous
Interested in the Old West? In meeting dozens of fellow Old West buffs? In learning what really happened (or didn’t) in the Gunfight at the OK Corral? In learning about Doc Holliday’s youth in Georgia? In day trips to locate ghost towns, long lost rustler ranches, sites of stagecoach holdups, or the spot where Wyatt Earp did (or didn’t) kill Curly Bill? Have a taste for Byronic Heroes of the Old West? Interested in how facts become legends, and legends myth? Would you like to ask the historians, biographers, and researchers who continue to dig out the facts just what they’re working on next? Talk it up with writers and fellow buffs of both genders and all ages over a beer or Bourbon at the original Crystal Palace Saloon? Come to the next Tombstone Territorial Rendezvous in historic Tombstone,...
Read MoreThinking about writing a history book?
THINKING OF WRITING YOUR FIRST HISTORY BOOK AND GETTING NEW YORK TO PUBLISH IT? I published my first unpaid article in 1998, my first book, published by a university press, in 2008. For the second book, I hope to land a New York publisher. I’ve not chosen the easiest path. Publishers prefer a trade-publishing record. I’ve been told, and I’ve no reason to doubt it, that a magazine article in your field yields more respect in New York than a university book. This is probably because of the earned reputation of academic historians writing inaccessible, thesis-driven history for one another, instead well-told, character-driven stories for the general public. For those budding grassroots historians looking to make the leap, it can be done. You only need a good story, the ability to tell it well, and a marketing “platform” to...
Read MoreA reading list for the well-read FBI G-man, 1936 (or so)
The early 20th century saw a rising tide of criticism against certain traditional methods used by police to catch killers and crooks, especially the too-easy reliance by unprofessional local law enforcers on unconstitutional and often barbaric third degree interrogations. In response, enlightened police administrators and policemen joined lawyers, scientists, and others in pushing for adoption of “scientific policing,” the contemporary term for what we now generically call CSI. FBI histories and biographies of J. Edgar Hoover uniformly credit the Bureau’s longtime Director with an early and sustained commitment to “scientific policing.” In 1924, he established a nationwide fingerprint clearinghouse (the Fingerprint Division) to assist state and local police catch criminals who ranged across jurisdictional lines. Eight years later, he authorized Charles A. Appel to set up the Bureau’s first criminal forensics laboratory. While scientific expertise and the responsibility for...
Read MoreFollow Me On The Web
Categories
Archives
Author Recommendations
