Despite creating an American icon, Levi Strauss himself has been a mystery. As company Historian for Levi Strauss & Co. for 25 years, I was able to do the research to uncover the life of this fascinating man.
As San Francisco recovered from the earthquake and fire of 1906, dust and ask filled the city’s stuffy factories, stores, and classrooms. Dr. Philip King Brown noticed rising tuberculosis rates among the women who worked there, and he knew there were few places where they could get affordable treatment.
The dude ranch is America’s original Western vacation, and in this book, I trace the history and cultural importance of this buckaroo getaway: food, clothing, movies, literature, and the role of women in ranching.
In celebration of the centennial of the Dude Ranchers’ Association in 2026, 100 Years of Dude Ranching explores modern and historic dude ranching at 26 ranches that were at the forefront of the industry, hosting dudes and dudines, and giving them a taste of the West.
Phoebe Kelley McFarland is a restless war widow and writer living in 1952 San Francisco. She decides to quit her job and spend six months on her in-laws’ dude ranch in Tribulation, Arizona, called the H Double Bar.
Sequel to the award-winning Dudes Rush In.
It’s 1954, and San Francisco writer Phoebe Kelley is enjoying the success of her first novel, Lady in the Desert. When her sister-in-law asks her to return to Tribulation, Arizona to help run the H Double Bar dude ranch, Phoebe doesn’t hesitate.
Discovered by Henry Wickenburg in 1863, the Vulture Mine was one of the greatest gold strikes in Western history. This book brings to life the mine and its wild town, Vulture City, through stories of fantastic ore strikes, murderous bandits, the struggle for water, and the people who came from as far away as Mexico and China to find their fortunes.
Wickenburg: Images of America Once known as the Dude Ranch Capital of the World, Wickenburg, Arizona has had many lives since its founding during the Civil War years. I tell this story through vintage photographs, advertising, postcards, and artifacts from the Desert Caballeros Western Museum,…
Sonoma is one of America’s most picturesque and historic towns, and this book traces its evolution from rowdy frontier settlement to the paragon of sophisticated living it is today.