Roy Bean and his brothers rode Manifest Destiny as far as it’d take them.
Order here. Roy Bean was an American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Texas, who called himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos." He and his three brothers set out from Kentucky in the mid 1840s, heading into the American frontier to find their fortunes. Their lifetimes of triumphs, tragedies, laurels and scandals will play out on the battlefields of Mexico, in shady dealings in California city halls, inside eccentric saloon courtrooms of Texas, and along the blood-soaked Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to Mexico. They will kill and murder will likewise stalk them.
The Beans chase their American dreams as the nation reinvents itself as a coast-to-coast powerhouse, only to be tested by the Civil War. During their saga, the brothers become soldiers, judges, husbands, guerillas, lawmen, entrepreneurs, refugees, fathers, politicians, pioneers and – in Judge Roy Bean’s case – one of the Old West’s best known but least understood scoundrels.
“Fans of the Wild West...will applaud Pappalardo’s dismantling of Roy Bean’s mostly self-made myth."
- Kirkus
"A fast-paced journey around the West during the transformative years of the mid-19th century"
- Wall Street Journal
Red Sky Morning
The Epic True Story of Texas Ranger Company F
(Order here)
Red Sky Morning paints a never before seen picture of law enforcement in the Old West by detailing the investigations and numerous shootouts of the Frontier Battalion’s Company F in 1886 and 1887. During that time, the Texas Rangers ranged across a rapidly changing state, using a mix of bravado and guile to hunt an array of different criminals. But they might have met their match in the Conners, an East Texas family of master hunters wanted for their part in a bloody feud. Equally threatening to two of the Rangers are the federal murder charges filed against them after their attempt to disarm a cowboy ended in his shooting death.
Red Sky Morning is an epic story of manhunts, jail breaks, courtroom drama, dubious informants, undercover lawmen and multiple gunfights, all told during a period of pivotal transformation for the Texas Rangers. Along the trail readers will meet a cornucopia of largely unknown lawmen and outlaws whose duels shaped Texas.
“Lively tale of a pioneering band of Texas Rangers and their adventures in a decidedly wild West…Fast-paced and full of local politics and old-fashioned gunfights—a pleasure for fans of true crime and oaters alike.” - Kirkus
Spaceport Earth
The Reinvention of Spaceflight
Award-winning aerospace journalist Joe Pappalardo has witnessed rocket launches around the world. In his comprehensive book Spaceport Earth, Pappalardo describes the rise of a plethora of private companies in the United States, and how they are reshaping the way the world is using orbit for industry and science.
This new paradigm is creating or reinvigorating spaceports, including the reborn Cape Canaveral, a remote jungle launch site in South America, secretive test facilities in Texas, and military bases where dominating space is part of national security. Space fanatics and newcomers alike will appreciate stories about the industrial titans, engineers, billionaires, airmen, schemers and public officials who are redefining what it means for humans to be a spacefaring species.
“Private companies and rich people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have taken over the exploration of space. Pappalardo explores this new sort of spacefaring at the outer reaches of business and technology.”
- The New York Times ("New and Noteworthy")
“Pappalardo embarks on a journey across America ― and to select launchpads around the world ― to chronicle how commercial players are turning spaceflight into an even more exciting enterprise . . . [Spaceport Earth] shows that the United States did not stop innovating after the space shuttle program.”
- Space.com
“It might seem like there's a rocket launch every day now, but in the not-so-distant future the tempo of blastoffs could increase even more. In Spaceport Earth, Joe Pappalardo takes us to future launchpads around the world, showing us how spaceports are being built to launch us into the stars.”
- Popular Science
Inferno
The True Story of a B-17 Gunner's Heroism and the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History
There’s no higher accolade in the U.S. military than the Medal of Honor, and 472 people received it for their action during World War II. But only one was demoted right after: Maynard Harrison Smith.
Smith is one of the most unlikely heroes of the war, where he served in B-17s during the early days of the bombing of France and Germany from England. From his juvenile delinquent past in Michigan, through the war and during the decades after, Smith’s life seemed to be a series of very public missteps. The other airmen took to calling the 5-foot, 5-inch airman “Snuffy” after an unappealing movie character.
This is also the man who, on a tragically mishandled mission over France on May 1, 1943, single-handedly saved the crewmen in his stricken B-17. With every other gunner injured or bailed out, Smith stood alone in the fuselage of a shattered, nameless bomber and fought fires, treated wounded crew and fought off fighters. His ordeal is part of a forgotten mission that aircrews came to call the May Day Massacre.
“Joe Pappalardo tells the story of B-17s over German-occupied Europe before long-range escort fighters could help them survive. His major character—and what a character!—is an over-aged juvenile delinquent, a 31-year-old among teenagers who as a little guy gets the ball turret. Mr. Pappalardo, a veteran journalist, has a nice way with words. The mission itself, targeting German submarine pens in France, is brilliantly described...a wonderful yarn."
- Wall Street Journal
