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"A GROUNDBREAKING WORK," hails True West: The #1 New York Times bestselling coauthor of American Sniper brings the Pony Express to life in this rich and rollicking new history"One can hear horse hooves pounding across the prairie and sense the fear and courage and excitement." - Tom Clavin, author of Dodge CityOn the eve of the Civil War, three American businessmen launched an audacious plan to create a financial empire by transforming communications across the hostile territory between the nation's two coasts. In the process, they created one of the most enduring icons of the American West: the Pony Express. Daring young men with colorful names like "Bronco Charlie" and "Sawed-Off Jim" galloped at speed over a vast and unforgiving landscape, etching an irresistible tale that passed into myth almost instantly. Equally an improbable success and a business disaster, the Pony Express came and went in just eighteen months, but not before uniting and captivating a nation on the brink of being torn apart. Jim DeFelice's brilliantly entertaining West Like Lightning is the first major history of the Pony Express to put its birth, life, and legacy into the full context of the American story.The Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company - or "Pony Express," as it came to be known - was part of a plan by William Russell, Alexander Majors, and William Waddell to create the next American Express, a transportation and financial juggernaut that already dominated commerce back east. All that stood in their way were almost two thousand miles of uninhabited desert, ice-capped mountains, oceanic plains roamed by Indian tribes, whitewater-choked rivers, and harsh, unsettled wilderness.The Pony used a relay system of courageous horseback riders to ferry mail halfway across a continent in just ten days. The challenges the riders faced were enormous, yet the Pony Express succeeded, delivering thousands of letters at record speed. The service instantly became the most direct means of communication between the eastern United States and its far western territories, helping to firmly connect them to the Union.Populated with cast of characters including Abraham Lincoln (news of whose electoral victory the Express delivered to California) , Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody (who fed the legend of the Express in his Wild West Show) , and Mark Twain (who celebrated the riders in Roughing It) , West Like Lightning masterfully traces the development of the Pony Express and follows it from its start in St. Joseph, Missouri - the edge of the civilized world - west to Sacramento, the capital of California, then booming from the gold rush. Jim DeFelice, who traveled the Pony's route in his research, plumbs the legends, myths, and surprising truth of the service, exploring its lasting relevance today as a symbol of American enterprise, audacity, and daring.
About the Author
In honor of the 75th Anniversary of the D-Day, I am deeply honored to have worked with WWII Army Staff Sergeant Ray Lambert, a highly decorated combat medic working at the front lines, who risked his own life to save the heroes of Omaha Beach. His first-hand account is called EVERY MAN A HERO, from HarperCollins, which just made the New York Times Bestseller List. His story was briefly narrated by actor Sam Elliot at the PBS special airing of the 30th Annual Memorial Day Concert in Washington, DC. and he was honored by President Trump at the Commemoration speech on D-Day in Normandy. Ray's dedication to saving and tending the wounded and dying throughout his Army career is a story that affected me deeply, and which Americans will be very proud to read.Here's an excerpt: A five A.M. on June 6, 1944, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Ray Lambert worked his way through a throng of nervous soldiers to the windswept deck of a troopship off the coast of Normandy, France. A familiar voice cut through the wind and rumble of the ships engines. "Ray!" called his brother Bill. Ray, head of a medical team for the First Division's famed 16th Infantry Regiment, had already won a Silver Star in 1943 for running through German lines to save trapped men, one of countless rescues he'd made in North Africa and Sicily. "This is going to be the worst yet," Ray told his brother, who served alongside him throughout the war. "If I don't make it," said Bill, "take care of my family.""I will," said Ray. He thought about his wife and son-- a boy he had yet to see. "Same for me." The words were barely out of Ray's mouth when a shout came from below.To the landing craft!The brother's parted. Their destinies lay ten miles away, on the bloodiest shore of Normandy, a plot of Omaha Beach ironically code-named "Easy Red."I've written two other books about World War II heroes that I greatly admired: US RANGERS AT DIEPPE and OMAR BRADLEY:GENERAL AT WAR. This book was new for me, because I learned so much about medics, their training, new advances in medicine that came from Army experience on and off the battle fields. Most remarkably were the stories of the dedicated medics themselves, whose resolve to remain visible always to their troops to reassure them that help would be nearby made them prime targets of the Nazi enemy. Their selflessness, their compassion, and their cool heads in the chaos of war are exemplified by Ray Lambert's memoir, which gives voice to those who were lost to war on that horrific, yet successful day.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------A master storyteller, NY Times Bestselling author Jim DeFelice (American Sniper) is known for his vivid, raw, and powerful portrayals of modern American military heroes. Now he resurrects the heroes of the Old West in WEST LIKE LIGHTNING: THE BRIEF, LEGENDARY RIDE OF
