Whatever happens, we have got The Maxim Gun — and they have not… — Hilaire Belloc On October 25, 1893, a huge impi of the Matabele Nation attacked a small British South Africa Company paramilitary force in what would become Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Under the auspices of British tycoon and imperialist Cecil Rhodes, settlers had moved … [Read more...]
Yet Another Wyatt Earp Tale
Grumpy Bastard rant follows... By now you’re familiar with my lament: Why do TV docos on the “Wild West” tell the same damn stories over and over and over again? Billy the Kid, Custer, Wyatt Fucking Earp. Hey, I got an Al Sieber I could sell ya! Travis Fimmel, of Ragnar Lothbrok fame from History’s Vikings, is set to executive produce and … [Read more...]
New ‘Z‘ Trailer
Man does this look fine... “The Lost City of Z” hits theaters in April. I am all over this... From National Geographic: Writer/director James Gray’s adventure epic, The Lost City of Z, follows British explorer Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam) through his many voyages into the unknown jungles of the Amazon in the first part of the 20th … [Read more...]
85 Pounds Of Badass
If you’re looking for examples of utter badassery from the distaff side, look no farther than war photographer Catherine Leroy. All of five feet tall and 85 pounds, she put herself in the thick of some of the nastiest fighting in the Vietnam War and elsewhere on our strife-torn globe to capture the face of battle. She kept up on jungle patrols, and … [Read more...]
Modder En Bloed — Frontier Partisan Rugby
Ran across an intriguing 2016 South African movie dealing with the Boer War. Modder En Bloed “Mud and Blood,” (released with English subs as “Blood and Glory”). Set in 1901, this period epic follows Willem Morkel - a Boer and family man whose wife and son are murdered during the Anglo-Boer War. Captured as a prisoner of war, Willem must survive … [Read more...]
Celebrating Black Cowboys
Paul McNamee scouted out a Harlem photo exhibit celebrating the legacy of black cowboys. Love the photographs — especially this one by Brad Trent, “Ellis ‘Mountain Man’ Harris.” An ongoing photography exhibition at the Studio Museum in Harlem celebrates the legacy of the “Black Cowboy” while chronicling the unlikely places around the country … [Read more...]
Red Dead Redemption: All-Time Great Western?
One of the wonders of the modern age is the wide variety of media that serve the noble and age-old purpose of storytelling. Cable TV is turning out some truly outstanding tales and has largely supplanted the Big Screen in terms of quality, character-driven storytelling. And, so I hear, the world of video games is offering up Story with a capital … [Read more...]
A Last Song For Tom Horn
November 20, 1903 — Cheyenne, Wyoming His gaze had once drunk in the vastness of the deserts of the Arizona-Mexico borderlands. For nearly the past two years, his horizons had shrunk down to a dismal jailhouse in the city of Cheyenne, Wyoming. Range detective and assassin Tom Horn had been convicted of the ambush killing of 14-year-old … [Read more...]
Life And Death Among The Somalis
Frontier Partisan Traven Torsvan offered up a lengthy quote from Gerald Hanley on the Rule .303 and ‘The Crimes of SEAL Team 6’ post. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the thoughtful contributions y’all make on this blog. I also cannot tell you how many times y’all have blown my reading plans and book budget sky high. Anyway, this deserves … [Read more...]
‘I Drink To His Shade’
It’s Robert E. Howard’s birthday. I owe the Bard of Cross Plains, Texas, a lot. As longtime readers of Frontier Partisans know, it was my youthful reading of Howard that sparked a desire to paint vivid scenes of adventure in the hinterlands with the pen. I likely would have found this path regardless — writing seems to be my calling — but REH … [Read more...]
