Orphans Preferred

The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express

By: Christopher Corbett

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Paperback | 14 September 2004 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

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288 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
20.4 x 13.4 x 1.6

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"WANTED. YOUNG, SKINNY, WIRY FELLOWS. NOT OVER 18. MUST BE EXPERT RIDERS. WILLING TO RISK DEATH DAILY. ORPHANS PREFERRED."
-California newspaper help-wanted ad, 1860

The Pony Express is one of the most celebrated and enduring chapters in the history of the United States, a story of the all-American traits of bravery, bravado, and entrepreneurial risk that are part of the very fabric of the Old West. No image of the American West in the mid-1800s is more familiar, more beloved, and more powerful than that of the lone rider galloping the mail across hostile Indian territory. No image is more revered. And none is less understood. Orphans Preferred is both a revisionist history of this magnificent and ill-fated adventure and an entertaining look at the often larger-than-life individuals who created and perpetuated the myth of "the Pony," as it is known along the Pony Express trail that runs from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California. The Pony Express is a story that exists in the annals of Americana where fact and fable collide, a story as heroic as the journey of Lewis and Clark, as complex and revealing as the legacy of Custer's Last Stand, and as muddled and freighted with yarns as Paul Revere's midnight ride. Orphans Preferred is a fresh and exuberant reexamination of this great American story.

Industry Reviews

"A lively and conversational probe that lays out the real facts about this stirring slice of Americana."-Albuquerque Journal

"A rollicking tale of frontiersmen, showmen, hustlers, hucksters, and frauds."
-CNN

"It's the West in microcosm, and Corbett's breezy writing turns what we thought we knew into a compelling search for fact . . . It's a romantic story that won't die."
-Denver Post

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Military History American Civil War Regional & National History History of the Americas Fiction Modern & Contemporary Fiction Biographies & True Stories Biographies Historical, Political and Military Biographies

Map	p. xii
Prologue: How the Story Goes, or What Do We Know?	p. 1
In the Days of the Pony	p. 11
"Capital Fellows"--Russell, Majors & Waddell	p. 13
"A Wild, Uninhabited Expanse"	p. 29
"The Greatest Enterprise of Modern Times!!"	p. 45
Pyramid Lake	p. 63
"Orphans Preferred" and "The Worst Imps of Satan"	p. 81
Captain Sir Richard Burton	p. 95
The Telegraph: "Our Little Friend the Pony is to Run No More"	p. 115
After the Pony	p. 129
Mark Twain ... "To the Territory Ahead"	p. 131
Billy Cody's Big Adventure	p. 147
Buffalo Bill's Wild West: "Wholly Free from Sham and Insincerity"	p. 161
The Colonel and His Thrilling and Truthful History	p. 173
Pony Bob Haslam: A True Rider of the Purple Sage	p. 187
"Memory at the Best is Treacherous": The Story of the Story of the Pony Express and How it Grew	p. 201
The Borderland of Fable	p. 219
Broncho Charlie Miller, "The Last of the Pony Express Riders"	p. 231
Epilogue: The Girl Who Remembered Johnny Frey	p. 247
Bibliography	p. 257
Acknowledgments	p. 265
Illustration Credits	p. 269
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Orphans Preferred

The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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