How the West Was Written by Ron Scheer

 

Honey-Cooler—an extraordinary person or thing. “It’s a honey-cooler. You will fall dead when you see it.” Frederic Remington, John Ermine of the Yellowstone

This non-fiction dictionary of Western words arrived on my doorstep as a gift from, Spur-Award Winning author and all ‘round Good Man, Richard Prosch.

The volume is clearly a labor of love. A compendium of unusual words or phrases as found in early Western literature.

What distinguishes this book from many similar volumes is Mr. Scheer’s focus on the words offered being captured in the habitat of Western fiction and not in historical tomes.

Will Blevins excellent Dictionary of the American West handles the historical side of word affairs more than ably.

But we must not assume that Scheer’s volume being focused on the fictional side is any less informative. Not at all.

The author offers the word, the definition, the novel where it can be found as well as the sentence and then provides the historical origin of the word-if any.

Overall, a magnificent piece of work.

I read it just as I did Mr. Blevins’ aforementioned work, top-to-bottom as one would read a novel.

Should find a home on the shelf any Western writer, historian, or lover of Frontier wordplay.

Excellent volume.

Thanks, Rich, it’s a real honey-cooler!