John Boessenecker ( John Edward Boessenecker; born 27 February 1953) is an American historian and author, and a lawyer specializing in trust and estate litigation. He is based in
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
.
Fascinated by frontier history, he published his first article at the age of fifteen. After earning a history degree in college, he worked as a police officer for eight years before going to law school. He has published numerous articles about the West. Since 1988 he has also published eleven books about the frontier West and the lawmen, vigilantes and outlaws of the period. His 2016 biography of
Texas Ranger Frank Hamer
Francis Augustus Hamer (March 17, 1884 – July 10, 1955) was an American lawman and Texas Ranger who led the 1934 posse that tracked down and killed criminals Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. Renowned for his toughness, marksmanship, and ...
made the ''New York Times'' bestseller list.
Life
Boessenecker was born in San Francisco in 1953 and grew up in
Mill Valley, California. He became interested in frontier history at an early age. At age fifteen, he sold his first article to a western magazine. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. degree in history in 1975.
He worked as a police officer in Mill Valley and
San Mateo, California, from 1974 to 1982. He studied for a
J.D. degree at University of California’s
Hastings College of the Law
The University of California, Hastings College of the Law (UC Hastings) is a public law school in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1878 by Serranus Clinton Hastings, UC Hastings was the first law school of the University of California ...
in San Francisco and was admitted to the California state bar in 1985.
Career
Boessenecker has published dozens of articles on frontier crime and law enforcement in such publications as ''True West'', ''Wild West'', the ''Journal of Arizona History'', and the ''Southern California Quarterly''. He is the author of several nonfiction books.
In 2011 and 2013, ''True West'' magazine ranked Boessenecker as the Best Nonfiction Writer of the year. He received a prestigious Spur award from
Western Writers of America
Western Writers of America (WWA), founded 1953, promotes literature, both fictional and nonfictional, pertaining to the American West. Although its founders wrote traditional Western fiction, the more than 600 current members also include histori ...
and the Best Book award from Westerners International. His book ''Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer'' was a New York Times best seller in 2016. Boessenecker has appeared frequently as a historical commentator on PBS, The History Channel, A&E, and other media.
Books
* ''Badge and Buckshot: Lawlessness in Old California'' (1988)
* ''The Grey Fox: The True Story of Bill Miner, Last of the Old Time Bandits'' (1992)
* ''Lawman: The Life and Times of Harry Morse, 1835-1912'' (1998)
* ''Against the Vigilantes: The Recollections of Dutch Charley Duane'' (1999)
* ''Gold Dust and Gunsmoke: Tales of Gold Rush Outlaws, Gunfighters, Lawmen, and Vigilantes'' (1999)
* ''Bandido: The Life and Times of Tiburcio Vasquez'' (2010)
* ''When Law Was in the Holster: The Frontier Life of Bob Paul'' (2012)
* ; (e-book); .
* ''Shotguns and Stagecoaches: The Brave Men Who Rode for Wells Fargo in the Wild West'' (2018)
* ''Ride the Devil's Herd: Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang'' (2020)
* ''Wildcat: The Untold Story of Pearl Hart, the Wild West's Most Notorious Woman Bandit'' (2021)
References
External links
* MacMillan.co
* California State Ba
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boessenecker, John
21st-century American historians
21st-century American male writers
20th-century American historians
American male non-fiction writers
Writers from California
Living people
1953 births
20th-century American male writers