Joseph G. Rosa Books

Focusing on the legendary figure of Wild Bill Hickok, this companion volume showcases nearly all known portraits of him, alongside photographs of his family, friends, foes, and significant locations from his life. It serves as a visual tribute to Hickok's enduring legacy in Old West history and popular culture, complementing Joseph Rosa's detailed biography, "They Called Him Wild Bill." The book offers a rich collection of imagery that captures the essence of Hickok's life and times.

Complemented by more than two hundred vintage and color photographs, the chronological story of the opening and settling of the West includes the success of the Lewis & Clark survey, the fur trade, the gold rush, the Pony Express, the railroads, and more.

Wild Bill Hickok embodies the quintessential gunfighter, merging myth with reality during a time when traditional dueling faded. His gunfights were often marked by a sense of fairness, contrasting with the more chaotic violence driven by passion or intoxication. Serving primarily as a lawman, Hickok's encounters reflect a complex character navigating the law and morality in the Wild West, showcasing the unique dynamics of conflict in an era shaped by easy access to firearms and gambling.

A collection of three books about the American West, looking at the lives of Native Americans, the age of the gunfighter and the people of the frontier including pioneers, trappers, miners, buffalo hunters, cowboys and lawmen.

This large-size volume introduces gunfighters from the West, with many color and B&W illustrations of rifles, pistols, and artifacts.

Set against the backdrop of a tumultuous era marked by civil war and territorial conflicts, this narrative follows a gunfighter who navigates a world where violence is the norm. Engaging in lethal confrontations across Texas, the Kansas-Missouri border, and cattle trails, he embodies the lawlessness of the time. His actions leave a lasting impact, with the black powder smoke of his guns haunting the cow towns and mining camps of the Far West, illustrating the brutal reality of settling disputes through gunplay.

His contemporaries called him Wild Bill, and newspapermen and others made him a legend in his own time. Among western characters only General George Armstrong Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody are as readily recognized by the general public. In writing this biography, Joseph G. Rosa has expressed the hope that "Hickok emerges as a man and not a legend."For this comprehensive revision of his earlier biography of Wild Bill the author was allowed to work from newly available materials in the possession of the Hickok family. He also discovered new material pertaining to Wild Bill’s Civil War exploits and his service as a marshal and found the pardon file of his murderer, John McCall. Additional, rare photographs of Wild Bill are published here for the first time. The results of Rosa’s additional research make this second edition the best biography of Wild Bill likely to be written for years to come.