By and about the greatest celebrities of the Wild West, these are the stories of their adventures told in their own words through excerpts from autobiographies, articles they wrote, newspaper interviews, private journals, personal letters, and court testimony. These glimpses into the worlds of these legendary figures as they describe their own personal experiences, impressions, what life in the Wild West was like, reveal the roles they played in notable events in American history.

The Gold Rush era was an amazing time in our country's history. California had just been occupied during the Mexican-American War and wasn't officially a U.S. territory yet when gold was discovered in 1848. Suddenly the whole world was electrified by the news and tales of men digging vast amounts of wealth out of the ground, even finding gold nuggets just lying around. Within five years, 250,000 miners dug up more than $200 million in gold--about $600 billion in today's dollars."Gold "offers a feel for what it was like to live through the heady days of the discovery and exploitation of gold in California in the mid-1800s through firsthand accounts, short stories, and tall tales written by the people who were there. These eyewitness accounts offer an immediacy that brings the events to life.

Mark Twain's Hawaii: A Humorous Romp through Paradise, combines Twain's own writings on Hawaii with personal reminiscences by others who met him at that time, and traces Twain's journey through the region just as he experienced it in 1866. The heavily illustrated book highlights Twain's humor, travel in the 19th century, history, social commentary, and the exotic locale. Mark Twain's wit and wisdom is timeless-his observations on Hawaii, some of which formed part of the classic Roughing It are collected here in an authoritative and entertaining volume for Twain fans and Hawaii enthusiasts.