Recollections of a Western Ranchman

Since its first limited American printing in 1928, Recollections of a Western Ranchman has been largely unavailable and, even when found, affordable only by collectors. Herein is Captain French’s original volume in a reader’s edition, the story of a man who lived through the wildest years of the New Mexico/Arizona border country to leave us a frontier memoir with a human voice. In the midst of the final astonishing stand of Geronimo and his renegades, French displays a perceptive and balanced admiration for both the soldiers and the Apache tribe. At the siege of Elfego Baca, the author deftly delineates the hero from the bullies. When the outlaw Black Jack steals his horses, the Captain delightedly steals them back. And nobody has written better of Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch than French. Finally, his descriptions of ranch life and the Southwest wilderness are those of a natural raconteur who still held to the facts. Never the hero, though often heroic, French saw it all, with balance, perception, and a droll British wit.