The Cowboy Girl

John Clayton's book, a narrative biography of the novelist, journalist, publisher, and rancher Caroline Lockhart (1871-1962), has been named a finalist for the High Plains Book Award.

Lockhart was a fascinating woman: she broke ground as stunt-girl reporter for the Boston Post and Philadelphia Bulletin; traveled to New Mexico, Montana, Europe, Newfoundland, and Spanish Honduras; moved to the newly-founded town of Cody, Wyoming, in 1904, where she knew Buffalo Bill; wrote seven bestselling novels, including three that were made into films; and spent five years as editor/publisher of the Cody Enterprise.

She was probably the first woman to float the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho, and may have been the first woman over Swiftcurrent Pass in what is now Glacier National Park.

But through all that, Lockhart's lifelong quest was to be a "cowboy girl" -- to re-create the magic of the Old West despite the progress of the 20th Century. John's book tells the story of that quest.

"The Cowboy Girl: The Life of Caroline Lockhart," is published by the University of Nebraska Press. Nebraska, publisher of the Bison Books imprint, is one of the world's premier publishers of books on the American West. Nebraska publishes a much wider range of books than most university presses, including many titles that are well researched and thoroughly documented, but targeted at popular rather than academic audiences.

ISBN: 978-0-8032-5590-4

On this site you can learn more about the book:

• Read an overview (below)

• Check out reviews and endorsements

• Probe discussion questions for your book club

• Get suggested reading and full source notes

• Read the first chapter

• Learn more about author John Clayton

• Follow John's blog

• Check the calendar of John's upcoming events

• Get John to speak to your group

• Download a pdf press kit

• Order from various sources

Overview:

In 1901, Philadelphia's celebrity female journalist stepped off a train in Blackfoot, Montana, and into a world of living legends. The miners and frontiersmen, Indians and trappers Caroline Lockhart met there inspired this beautiful, single, strong-willed woman to live a life she'd only dreamed about in what remained of the Wild West.

This is the true story of a woman whose work and life teetered between realism and romanticism, who wrote novels "like a man" yet ran her businesses and love affairs like a liberated feminist. Politely educated (she attended the Moravian Seminary for girls) and well-traveled (her assignments took her throughout Europe), she chose to live out her passions in a time when to bare one's ankle could ruin a girl for life.

As a Cody, Wyoming, newspaper publisher, she founded the town's still-thriving Stampede rodeo, received critical praise from the demanding H.L. Mencken, and saw three of her seven novels turned into films. Yet she also infuriated neighbors and admirers with her cantankerous crusades (she referred to novelist Zane Grey, for instance, as "that tooth-pulling ass!"), and indomitable will. In this all-encompassing portrait, the Cowboy Girl, Caroline Lockhart, emerges as a woman who remade the fantasy of the West, in life and in words, and who keeps us spellbound to this day.

John's other activities

John also writes articles and gives speeches on his Lockhart research. Published works include:

"When Cowboys Became Capitalists and the West Became New," is due out in the forthcoming Drumlummon Views.

"Caroline Lockhart on the Dryhead: Happily-ever-aftering on a Montana Cattle Ranch," was published in summer 2006 in Montana: The Western History Magazine.

When Lockhart's The Lady Doc was chosen by Cody, Wyoming for its "One Town, One Book" series, John spoke on a panel about the book, in October 2006.

"The Lady Writer and the Lady Doc," was the topic of John's talk at the Western Literature Association meeting in Boise, Idaho, in October 2006.
"The Trials of John L. Smith," was published in fall 2004 in Montana: The Western History Magazine.

"A Profile of Caroline Lockhart" was published in the spring 2005 issue of Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers.

Keeping in touch

Got a question for the author? Email info@johnclaytonbooks.com