Western Sensibility

Greetings,

Once again, book publicist Stephanie Barko, has asked for this blog to be a stop on one of her authors virtual book tours. I'm glad to be able to highlight Joseph B. Fussell's work, UNBRIDLED COWBOY.

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Book Data
Title: UNBRIDLED COWBOY
Author: Joseph B. Fussell, Editor - E.R. Fussell
Publisher: Truman State University Press

Synopsis:
UNBRIDLED COWBOY is a riveting firsthand account of a defiant hell-raiser in the wild and tumultuous American Southwest in the late 1800's. At the age of fourteen, Joe Fussell hopped trains to escape from school and the authority he scorned. Joe became a roving cowpuncher across the Texas territory, tilling the land, wrangling cattle, and working in livery stables, moving on whenever his feet began to itch.
In a time and a place with no law, the young cowboy exacted revenge on those who trespassed against him or those who abused authority. Joe recounts tales of cowboy adventures, narrow escapes, and undercover work as a Texas Ranger. Even after marriage, a spark of his wild cowboy spirit remained during the rise of the railroads in the Southwest when he worked as a switchman and yardmaster.
Joe's unadorned prose is as exposed and simple as the wide open Texas plains. His unpretentious and unique voice embodies the spirit of the Wild West.

About the Author:
Joseph B. Fussell was born in Tyler, Texas in 1879, the son of a cowboy and buffalo hunter. At fourteen, Joe quit school and ran away from home after nearly killing the school bully.
Fussell treked across the Southwest working as a cowboy and livery stable operator. As a ranch hand in northern Mexico, he barely escaped the fate of his American friend who died at the bottom of a well.
At 27, he married and began a family. Ten years later, when Mexico was in the throes of civil war, Fussell took a perilous journey to Vera Cruz to check on the suitability of some land for oil drilling. After a stint as an undercover Texas Ranger, Joe began a new career in Arizona as Yardmaster and Librarian for the Santa Fe Railroad. During this time, he became politically active, writing compelling letters to politicians and newspapers. After retiring from the Santa Fe in 1945, Fussell moved to California to be near his daughter and family.
With little formal training, Fussell wrote this riveting memoir about real life in the West at the turn of the century. He died in 1957.

Selected Reviews:
"This book has charm and vitality due to the integrity and honesty of the voice. Future generations of readers will greatly benefit..." - Ron Hansen, THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD

"...richly detailed, entertaining memoir... good reading." - Dallas Morning News

"...an absorbing personal account of a violent and lawless era." - True West Magazine

"...writing... straight from a cowboy's mouth..." - American Cowboy Magazine

Regards,
Russell