Western Writers of America Spur Awards Finalist, Best Western
Historical Nonfiction
"A GROUNDBREAKING WORK. ... The first comprehensive history of the
legendary transcontinental experiment in mail delivery in sixty years."
--True West
"This rollicking account of the daring enterprise known as the Pony
Express brings its era and its legendary characters to life." --San
Francisco Chronicle
The new definitive history of the Pony Express by the #1 bestselling
coauthor of American Sniper, illustrated with 50 images *
*
On 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.
