Good evening.

Do you enjo reading about American history?

Do you like Western novels?

Are you interested in the War Between the States?

Do you appreciate historical fiction?

If any of these noted genres are of interest, I believe I have som great recommendations for you.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

Bass Reeves was a runaway slave, gunfighter, farmer, scout, tracker railroad agent, and Deputy U.S.

Marshal.

He was a father to ten children with his wife Jenny, who he met on the plantation where he grew up as a slave in Arkansas.

He spoke and understoo five civilized tribal languages, including Cherokee, Choctaw Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek.

Reeves was one of the first African American deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi River, based in Fort Smith, Arkansas, but mostly workin in the deadly Indian Territory.

The region was saturated with horse thieves, cattle rustlers, gunslingers, bandits, bootleggers, swindlers, and murderers.

Reeves made some 4000 arrests in his lifetime, only killing 20 men in the line of duty.

Reeves was born in July of 1838, and he died on January 12th, 1910, at the age of 61.

Reeves was famous for his sharpshooting skills, his use of costumes to make his arrests, and his cleverness and goodness as a human being.

Sadly, I was not aware of Mr. Reeves until one day I was reading an alumni publicatio from Texas Christian University, where Sidney Thompson serves as a consultant in the Writing Center and an instructional staff member who teaches English and Masters of Liberal Arts courses.

Thompson is the author of The Bass Reeves Trilogy, an acclaimed historical fictio series that chronicles the life and accomplishments of this long unsung American hero.

Thompson was spurred to action after watching a 2010 CNN interview with actor Morgan Freeman, who described the law man's accomplishments and lamented the lack of attention paid to him.

Freeman said, Thompson decided he wanted to rectify this situation.

The first book of the trilogy was Follow the Angels, Follow the Doves, which chronicles Reeves life as a person enslaved by two different white men.

The book was picked up in 2018 by the University of Nebraska Press Bison Books imprint, which specializes in Western literature.

This book was published in March of 2020.

The second book, Hell on the Border, was released in April 2021.

It is set 20 years after the Civil War, when Reeves at the peak of his law career, makes a tragic error and is arrested for murder.

The third segment of the trilogy is The Forsaken and the Dead, which came out in October of 2023.

The book follows Reeves as he strives to restore his reputation by tracking down his own son, Bennie, who is on the lam from a murder charge.

This book also includes some of the best writing I have ever experienced, regarding what it is like to be black in a white world.

One small sample, ‘He would be a boy fo the rest of his life on earth.

Never a man or a father who could love his babies or darling wife or aging mama.

I really enjoyed these books and learning about this amazing individual, and I am please to bring them to your attention.

I would suggest that the books should be available from the Nebraska Press.

Use your local independent bookstore or you might get lucky at a used bookstore.

That's our show.

We have featured the Bass Reeves trilogy by Sidney Thompson.

Good night, and I look forward to our next discussion here on your home for Seriously Good TV.