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.

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. In 1911, with the help of wealthy society women like Phoebe Apperson Hearst, and his accomplished wife Helen, Brown opened the Arequipa Sanatorium in Marin County. Together, Brown and his all-female staff gave new life to hundreds of working-class women suffering from tuberculosis in early 20th century California.

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.

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.

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.

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, and my own collection.