Deadwood

by Douglas Hirt

Unprepared for the savagery of the frontier, newspaper reporter Nathaniel Jones, a special correspondent to General George Custer's military expedition, becomes a witness to the conquest of the West and finds adventure beyond his wildest dreams

394 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Douglas Hirt was born in Illinois, but heeding Horace Greeley's admonition to "Go west, young man", he headed to New Mexico at eighteen. Doug earned a Bachelor's degree from the College of Santa Fe and a Masters of Science degree from Eastern New Mexico University. During this time he spent several summers living in a tent in the desert near Carlsbad, New Mexico, conducting biological baseline surveys for the Department of Energy.

Doug drew heavily from this "desert life" when writing his first novel, DEVIL'S WIND. In 1991 Doug's novel, A PASSAGE OF SEASONS, won the Colorado Authors' League Top Hand Award. His 1998 book, BRANDISH, and 1999 DEADWOOD, were finalists for the SPUR award given by the Western Writers of America.

A short story writer, and the author of twenty-nine novels and one book of non fiction, Doug now makes his home in Colorado Springs with his wife Kathy and their two children, Rebecca and Derick. When not writing or traveling to research his novels, Doug enjoys collecting and restoring old English sports cars.

Douglas Hirt is a "fabricator of armchair adventures" who also writes as Jason Elder and Doug Hawkins.

Reviews

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea. Couldn't finish...

[Benjamin Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Douglas Hirt isn't a super well-known writer but he does have a fair number of novels published. The is the second of his "Boomtown" novels, the first being Cripple Creek and as far as I know these are the only two in the set. I went into this thinking "Western" novel but it really reads more like a traditional historical novel; i.e. the typical western sterotype characters, diction, plotlines, etc. are not really there. Rather, it is much more of an historical account from one man's perspective, a newspaperman who struggles with carving out a life in the early days of the Black Hills gold rush. There is a pretty involved plot here, especially when it comes to depicting the tensions between the Sioux (Lakota) and the White men, and along the way we encounter many of the historical figures of the time including Custer, Crazy Horse, Wild Bill Hickok, and several mountain men and other folks that figured prominantly in Deadwood's founding.

All in all a nice tale and an entertaining read, especially if you have any interest in boom towns or historical America.