Background
James was born on June 6, 1892, in Saint-Nazaire-d'Acton, Canada, the second son and second of six children of Jean and Josephine Dufault, both French-speaking natives of Quebec Province.
(This collection of 16 cowboy tales includes stories of co...)
This collection of 16 cowboy tales includes stories of cowboys growing up, learning the ropes, proving their mettle, and even falling in love.
https://www.amazon.com/Sun-Up-Tales-Camps-Tumbleweed/dp/0878423656?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0878423656
(ANNOTATION: Fourteen short stories capture the quirky and...)
ANNOTATION: Fourteen short stories capture the quirky and peculiar behavior of horses, both good and ornery. You'll meet buckers, tricksters, and trusted partners: Bearcat is not just a plain crazy hardheaded bucker...but a wise, coolheaded cross between a whirlwind and a ton of brick, Joker is full of old nick and plenty of snorts, and Little Eagle is the seeing eye for a blind cowboy. First published in 1940, Horses I've Known contains some of Will James' most acclaimed short stories.
https://www.amazon.com/Horses-Known-Tumbleweed-Will-James/dp/0878424946?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0878424946
(i>The American Cowboy spans three generations of cowboys ...)
i>The American Cowboy spans three generations of cowboys in the American West, from the young trail boss of the very first cattle drive from Texas north to the railroads, to his grandson, born after the open range had been fenced in. Discover the danger and thrill of life on the frontier as the history of the cowboy unfolds through the expansion of the cattle business, the growth of the railroads, and the coming of the farmer. Will James brings to life the spirit of the American cowboy.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Cowboy-Tumbleweed-Paperback/dp/0878425020?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0878425020
(Smoky knows only one way of life: freedom. Living on the ...)
Smoky knows only one way of life: freedom. Living on the open range, he is free to go where he wants and to do what he wants. And he knows what he has to do to survive. He can beat any enemy, whether it be a rattlesnake or a hungry wolf. He is as much a part of the Wild West as it is of him, and Smoky can't imagine anything else. But then he comes across a new enemy, one that walks on two legs and makes funny sounds. Smoky can't beat this enemy the way he has all the others. But does he really want to? Or could giving up some of his freedom mean getting something in return that's even more valuable?
https://www.amazon.com/Smoky-Cowhorse-Will-James/dp/1416949410?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1416949410
(First published in 1925, the seven stories collected here...)
First published in 1925, the seven stories collected here revolve around the adventures of a lanky cowboy named Bill whose drifting takes him throughout the West as he lives the hard life of a working cowboy.
https://www.amazon.com/Drifting-Cowboy-Tumbleweed-Paperback/dp/0878423265?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0878423265
(Ten-year-old Kip and his older sister Scootie spend a sum...)
Ten-year-old Kip and his older sister Scootie spend a summer at the Five Barb Ranch, where the old cowboy known as Uncle Bill teaches them to ride and rope and take care of themselves wherever they are in cow country
https://www.amazon.com/Uncle-Bill-Tale-Cowboy-Tumbleweed/dp/087842380X?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=087842380X
James was born on June 6, 1892, in Saint-Nazaire-d'Acton, Canada, the second son and second of six children of Jean and Josephine Dufault, both French-speaking natives of Quebec Province.
Shortly after his birth, the Jameses moved to Montreal, where his father ran a small hotel and the boy attended a Catholic primary school. At the hotel James met old trappers whose stories probably suggested details which would later help form his sham autobiography, Lone Cowboy. In 1921 he received a scholarship to the Yale Art School, but soon dropped out.
James lived in Montreal until 1907, reading all he could find about the American West. He spent the next three years in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, learning English and the life of a cowhand. At eighteen he seems to have been arrested in connection with the fatal wounding of a drunken sheepherder. Shortly afterward he changed his name to C. W. Jackson, and then to W. R. or Will James. Now a wandering bronco rider, he drifted from Canada through Montana to southern Idaho, where he rounded up wild horses in 1911 and 1912. After moving to Nevada, he was convicted of cattle rustling and sentenced to the Nevada State Prison, where he served for nearly a year before winning parole in April 1916. After a brief interim as a stunt man in Western movies for the Thomas Ince Studios in Los Angeles he resumed his drifting life until May 1918, when he was inducted into the army. He served as a private for nine months. James had been sketching Western subjects since early youth, and he now sought to become an artist in the style of Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. After recovering from a serious accident, when his bronco threw him headfirst against a railroad track, he briefly attended the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco in 1919. The routine bored him, however, as did the artists' colony in Sausalito, where he lived for a time; and on the advice of the artist Maynard Dixon he gave up academic training to concentrate on developing his natural style. His first published sketch appeared in Sunset Magazine (January 1920), which began taking others each month. Feeling confident in his new career, he returned to Nevada. He continued to sell occasional sketches while working as a stock watcher near Kingman, Arizona, and as a cowhand on the Springer CS Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. His real success began when he tried writing and illustrating his own material. Scribner's Magazine published his first article, "Bucking Horses and Bucking-Horse Riders" (March 1923), and paid him $300. Stories and articles for Scribner's, the Saturday Evening Post, Sunset, and Redbook followed, and calendar companies and pulp magazines solicited his drawings. With savings from such work he bought a small parcel of land at Frankton, Nevada, in Washoe Valley, where the Conradts built him a cabin. Under the guidance of Maxwell Perkins, editor at Charles Scribner's Sons, James began to publish books in 1924. Cowboys, North and South, a collection of illustrated articles and probably his best nonfiction work, was followed by The Drifting Cowboy (1925), a series of short stories. In 1926 appeared his first and best novel, Smoky, the story of a cowboy and his horse. It enjoyed several printings, was translated into seven languages, and won the Newbery Award. Now a successful popular writer, James sold his Nevada property in 1927 and bought or leased 8, 000 acres near Pryor, Montana, to form the Rocking R Ranch. Here, or from his winter quarters in San Francisco or Hollywood, he continued to turn out popular Western stories. His apocryphal autobiography, Lone Cowboy (1930), fooled even his wife and went unexposed until 1967; a choice of the Book-of-the-Month Club, it boosted James to the apex of his career. From this point on he suffered a steady personal decline, precipitated by success, guilt over his concealed past, and a loss of inspiration. He drank too much and began to have trouble with his wife. His later work became melodramatic and merely rehashed or elaborated upon former plots. At its best, James's writing rang with authenticity in the Western idiom and reflected his own restlessness and nostalgic love of the rough, open West. At its worst, it was still pleasant reading. In 1934 James was committed to the Kimball Sanitarium in La Crescenta, California, for alcoholism. He died from "alcoholic complications" at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in 1942. His remains were cremated and his ashes scattered over his Montana ranch.
(i>The American Cowboy spans three generations of cowboys ...)
(Ten-year-old Kip and his older sister Scootie spend a sum...)
(First published in 1925, the seven stories collected here...)
(This collection of 16 cowboy tales includes stories of co...)
(ANNOTATION: Fourteen short stories capture the quirky and...)
(Smoky knows only one way of life: freedom. Living on the ...)
book
Though born a Catholic, James had never regarded himself as a religious man.
James married Alice Conradt, the sister of a close friend, on July 7, 1920. Alice ended their childless marriage with a legal separation in 1935, but they were never divorced.