62 books like John Ringo

By Jack Burrows,

Here are 62 books that John Ringo fans have personally recommended if you like John Ringo. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of And Die in the West: The Story of the O.K. Corral Gunfight

David Grassé Author Of The Bisbee Massacre: Robbery, Murder and Retribution in the Arizona Territory, 1883-1884

From my list on Arizona territorial history.

Why am I passionate about this?

There is nothing I detest more than what I have dubbed the “John Wayne Mythos” – the idea the West was populated with righteous gunslingers going about “taming” the West by killing anyone who was not abiding by or submitting to white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant standards and morality. The West, of which Arizona was an integral part, was much more complex than this, and the heroes of legend were oft-times the real-life villains. I consider myself to be a historian of the “New Western History” school, which recast the study of American frontier history by focusing on race, class, gender, and environment in the trans-Mississippi West.

David's book list on Arizona territorial history

David Grassé Why did David love this book?

The true story of the misdemeanor arrest in Tombstone gone terribly wrong that has resounded for almost a century and a half. There are literally dozens of books on this subject, but this is by far the best. Ms. Marks accurately, and without hyperbole, researched the motivations of the men involved in the Earp-Cowboy feud and precisely documents the conflicts which arose between them. As one reads her book, one realizes that the Earp mythos which has been and continues to be touted by other authors and the film industry is erroneous. There were really no good guys or bad guys, just regular men whose political and social ambitions led to bloodshed.

By Paula Mitchel Marks,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked And Die in the West as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The gunfight at the OK Corral has excited the imaginations of Western enthusiasts ever since that chilly October afternoon in 1881 when Doc Holliday and the three fighting Earps strode along a Tombstone, Arizona, street to confront the Clanton and McLaury brothers. When they met, Billy Clanton and the two McLaurys were shot to death; the popular image of the Wild West was reinforced; and fuel was provided for countless arguments over the characters, motives and actions of those involved. "And Die in the West" presents an objective narrative of the celebrated gunfight, of the tensions leading up to it,…


Book cover of Arizona Territorial Officials I

David Grassé Author Of The Bisbee Massacre: Robbery, Murder and Retribution in the Arizona Territory, 1883-1884

From my list on Arizona territorial history.

Why am I passionate about this?

There is nothing I detest more than what I have dubbed the “John Wayne Mythos” – the idea the West was populated with righteous gunslingers going about “taming” the West by killing anyone who was not abiding by or submitting to white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant standards and morality. The West, of which Arizona was an integral part, was much more complex than this, and the heroes of legend were oft-times the real-life villains. I consider myself to be a historian of the “New Western History” school, which recast the study of American frontier history by focusing on race, class, gender, and environment in the trans-Mississippi West.

David's book list on Arizona territorial history

David Grassé Why did David love this book?

An indispensable resource for serious students of Arizona history. Includes biographical information on anyone and everyone who served during this era from the governors to the school superintendents. Goof was meticulous in his research of the lives of these people and condensed them down into concise character sketches. Though the stories of these people’s lives are interesting, this is probably not a collection one would sit down and read through for entertainment. However, if one is in the business of writing Arizona territorial history it is a “must-have” series. I keep it on my shelf near my desk for easy access.

Book cover of A Little War of Our Own: The Pleasant Valley Feud Revisited

David Grassé Author Of The Bisbee Massacre: Robbery, Murder and Retribution in the Arizona Territory, 1883-1884

From my list on Arizona territorial history.

Why am I passionate about this?

There is nothing I detest more than what I have dubbed the “John Wayne Mythos” – the idea the West was populated with righteous gunslingers going about “taming” the West by killing anyone who was not abiding by or submitting to white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant standards and morality. The West, of which Arizona was an integral part, was much more complex than this, and the heroes of legend were oft-times the real-life villains. I consider myself to be a historian of the “New Western History” school, which recast the study of American frontier history by focusing on race, class, gender, and environment in the trans-Mississippi West.

David's book list on Arizona territorial history

David Grassé Why did David love this book?

Most meticulously researched book on the worst blood feud in U. S. History, but, being Mr. Dedera was a news journalist and columnist with The Arizona Republican, it is very readable. Prior to the publication of this manuscript, books about the feud between the Tewksbury and Graham families tended to be biased, sympathizing with the latter while condemning the former (in part because the Tewksburys were half Native American). Dedera was one who discovered the document which proved it conclusively was the Graham who had turned on the Tewksburys. Still, Dedera does not take sides, and he does not pull his punches. He lays out the facts before the reader, and when he does draw conclusions, they are based on the evidence presented. Highly recommended.

By Don Dedera,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Little War of Our Own as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The history of the American West is punctuated by range wars, and the Pleasant Valley feud was among the most famous. Waged largely in northeastern Arizona, it had all of the classic elements: cattle and horse rustling, massacres, and dramatic courtroom confrontations. A LITTLE WAR OF OUR OWN incorporates more than thirty years of research by the author, including material from recently opened archival sources, and his journalistic vision, which penetrates to the heart of the story.


Book cover of Shadows at Dawn: An Apache Massacre and the Violence of History

David Grassé Author Of The Bisbee Massacre: Robbery, Murder and Retribution in the Arizona Territory, 1883-1884

From my list on Arizona territorial history.

Why am I passionate about this?

There is nothing I detest more than what I have dubbed the “John Wayne Mythos” – the idea the West was populated with righteous gunslingers going about “taming” the West by killing anyone who was not abiding by or submitting to white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant standards and morality. The West, of which Arizona was an integral part, was much more complex than this, and the heroes of legend were oft-times the real-life villains. I consider myself to be a historian of the “New Western History” school, which recast the study of American frontier history by focusing on race, class, gender, and environment in the trans-Mississippi West.

David's book list on Arizona territorial history

David Grassé Why did David love this book?

The Arizona territory was an intersection for people from many different cultures, and they sometimes did horrible things to one another. This is the story of the brutal Camp Grant Massacre of 1871, one of the pivotal events in the war on the aboriginal tribes in the Arizona Territory. This is a difficult book to read as it lays bare the inherent racism of the so-called settlers of the territory, and uncompromisingly addresses their genocidal inclinations. Worse, it shows how the policies of the U.S. Government encouraged such acts of mass murder. Though one hundred of the participants, including a number of upstanding citizens from Pima County, were indicted for 108 counts of murders, and tried, not one was found guilty. A shameful, but important history.

By Karl Jacoby,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Shadows at Dawn as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A masterful reconstruction of one of the worst Indian massacres in American history

In April 1871, a group of Americans, Mexicans, and Tohono O?odham Indians surrounded an Apache village at dawn and murdered nearly 150 men, women, and children in their sleep. In the past century the attack, which came to be known as the Camp Grant Massacre, has largely faded from memory. Now, drawing on oral histories, contemporary newspaper reports, and the participants? own accounts, prize-winning author Karl Jacoby brings this perplexing incident and tumultuous era to life to paint a sweeping panorama of the American Southwest?a world far…


Book cover of A Desert Harvest: New and Selected Essays

Tom Zoellner Author Of Rim to River: Looking into the Heart of Arizona

From my list on books about Southern Arizona.

Why am I passionate about this?

I'm a fifth-generation Arizonan, a former staff writer for the Arizona Republic, and a lifelong student of the Grand Canyon State. One of my very favorite things to do is travel the backroads of this amazing state and talk with the astonishing people who live there. Along the way, I wrote eight nonfiction books, including Island on Fire, which won the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award. My day job is at Chapman University, where I am an English professor. 

Tom's book list on books about Southern Arizona

Tom Zoellner Why did Tom love this book?

We take our sunsets seriously in Arizona, enough that we put a variation of one on our state flag. But Bruce Berger's book made me rethink how I look at the smeared colors in the evening sky.

Look not west, he says, but to the mountains in the east: the “decreasing wavelengths and cooling colors–vermillion to salmon to plum” on the slopes that provide a lightbox to the garish display at your back.

This is only the start. In finely wrought prose befitting the author’s other career as a pianist, he renders the harsh beauty of the Southwest in a set of twenty essays that draw a portrait of landscape and memory.

By Bruce Berger,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Desert Harvest as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.


Book cover of These Is My Words

Nicole Castroman Author Of Blackhearts

From my list on historical fiction that gets me in the feels.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always loved history, which is why I love to read historical fiction. I’m fascinated by it. Historical fiction has a ability to make connections between the past and the present. It’s almost like bringing people out of history and setting them at a table beside you. Even after we know some facts of history, we feel moved by what happened if we read another account of it. 

Nicole's book list on historical fiction that gets me in the feels

Nicole Castroman Why did Nicole love this book?

This book has amazing characterization. Also, the voice of the narration is spectacular. And the chemistry between the love interests is palpable. They are tough characters. Loving and smart and honest. You want to keep them around. Please read it. I can’t say enough good things about it.

By Nancy E. Turner,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked These Is My Words as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Sarah Agnes Prine begins her diary in 1881 when her father decides to move the whole family - and their horse ranch - from Arizona Territory to Texas, where life will be easier. Sarah, at seventeen, is a tomboy: though she longs to be educated, gracious and beautiful like other women. But when the family sets out on the wagon trail and disasters strike in rapid succession, Sarah turns out to be the only thing that keeps them from certain death.

Sarah stays brave, strong and determined through everything that befalls her. But she longs to be loved, like any…


Book cover of Loving Chloe

Melissa Yi Author Of Code Blues

From my list on smart women who kick ass.

Why am I passionate about this?

I love to read and write about strong women. I don't necessarily mean gunning down aliens while wearing tight pants. Those books can be good too, but let's be honest, tight pants encourage yeast infections. I prefer books where women handle anything from murder to wayward cats with intelligence and compassion, while wearing whatever they want. The women, I mean. Cats already figured out to skip the pants.

Melissa's book list on smart women who kick ass

Melissa Yi Why did Melissa love this book?

Everything about this book steals my heart, from Chloe's tenderness with horses to the Diné (Navajo) children who don't have enough books at their school.

But let me back up and tell you that Chloe is pregnant with Hank's child. She shouldn't be riding horses at all, but the call is too strong. Hank's a good guy who can't find professor work in Arizona, ends up teaching the Diné children, and finds he loves them more than working at a university.

It should be a happy ending between Hank and Chloe and the upcoming baby, except the horse belongs to an artist named Junior Whitebear, who returns to town and forms an instant, overpowering connection with Chloe. Mapson writes so well that she makes me ache.

By Jo-Ann Mapson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Loving Chloe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

When 34-year-old Chloe Morgan appears on Hank Oliver's doorstep in Cameron, Arizona, she arrives with more than her old white German shepherd, Hannah, and a rambunctious horse in tow. Chloe is pregnant with Hank's child, and she's as tough-talking and vulnerable, skittish and tender as when last we saw her, in Jo-Ann Mapson's acclaimed first novel Hank & Chloe.

Loving Chloe takes up where the earlier novel leaves off. As Chloe and Hank settle somewhat uneasily into domesticity in his grandmother's cabin, a local Navajo legend named Junior Whitebear, an artist whose work has been praised by the eastern commercial…


Book cover of The Cactus League

R. Scott Mackey Author Of Courage Matters

From my list on baseball about flawed people trying their best.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve played the game of baseball, rooted for its teams, and even written a book about baseball (and the protagonist in my novels is a baseball nut), so I’m more than a casual observer of the sport. I’ve read more than two hundred baseball books–fiction and non-fiction–in my life. As such it was nearly impossible to come up with my top five books on the sport. I’m recommending these five because they transcend the subject of baseball, exploring universal themes with exemplary writing that evokes deep feelings within the reader. Whether you like baseball or not, if you love fine writing you can’t go wrong with any of these works. 

R. Scott's book list on baseball about flawed people trying their best

R. Scott Mackey Why did R. Scott love this book?

This novel is told in several standalone chapters that Nemens neatly ties together at the end. This is equally a book about baseball and the human condition told in one spring training season in Arizona. The author fell in love with the sport while attending games with her dad. You can feel this shared affection for the game and its unique ability to bond people of all stripes in every page of the book.

By Emily Nemens,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Cactus League as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Named a Best Book of 2020 by NPR and Lit Hub. A Los Angeles Times Bestseller. A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"In The Cactus League [Emily Nemens] provides her readers with what amounts to a miniature, self-enclosed world that is funny and poignant and lovingly observed." --Charles McGrath, The New York Times Book Review

An explosive, character-driven odyssey through the world of baseball

Jason Goodyear is the star outfielder for the Los Angeles Lions, stationed with the rest of his team in the punishingly hot Arizona desert for their annual spring training. Handsome, famous, and talented, Goodyear…


Book cover of Animal Dreams

Alexia Casale Author Of The Best Way to Bury Your Husband

From my list on a historic crime driving the current story.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve always loved books where something in the past of the main storyline surges into its present, demanding that an old wrong be righted or an old mystery solved. It’s why my first degree was in Social and Political Sciences (Psychology major) instead of English Literature or Creative Writing: I knew that learning how to write would be useless if I didn’t understand the things I wanted to write about. The role of the past in shaping our present – our behaviours, sense of self, relationships – is endlessly fascinating, and stories that unpick this are often the ones that surprise me the most with their insight into the human condition.

Alexia's book list on a historic crime driving the current story

Alexia Casale Why did Alexia love this book?

The ‘crime’ in Animal Dreams is a legal technicality, and this is a literary contemporary novel rather than a crime one, but its narrative drive comes from the same need to untangle the past to set the characters free (or as free as they can be) in the present.

The writing is glorious – rich, deep, surprising, layered – reaching levels of technical mastery that few other writers even glimpse. There are several point-of-view characters and, unlike most books with this structure, Kingsolver wrings every last drop of drama and interest from the nuances this offers.

Instead of longing to get back to a preferred perspective, the reader revels in how vivid, how real, each character feels in turn. If you love LP Hartley’s The Go-Between, you’ll probably adore this.

By Barbara Kingsolver,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Animal Dreams as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Set in the southwestern mining town of Grace, Arizona, this novel revolves around Codi, her sister Hallie and their severe and distant father, Doc Homer. The author has previously written "The Bean Trees" and "Homeland", the latter a collection of short stories.


Book cover of You and a Bike and a Road

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Author Of Diana: My Graphic Obsession

From my list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been passionate about making, reading, and studying comics for my whole life. When I first encountered autobiographical comics, they were all by women who I looked up to for their ability to tackle their lives with both words and images. This is a small list and biased towards the cartoonists I first encountered in the world of female autobiographical comics. There is so much more out there. I love how the flexibility and history of the comic form have allowed for so much blending of genres and styles. 

Sivan's book list on graphic nonfiction that focuses on women

Sivan Piatigorsky-Roth Why did Sivan love this book?

This book is Eleanor Davis’s gorgeous travel documentary of her 2016 cross-country bike tour. Her lines are so vivid and alive, and her day-by-day recounting of the details of her body, her bike, and the country changing around her is both simple and intricate. All of her work is amazing, but this one is definitely a standout. 

By Eleanor Davis,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked You and a Bike and a Road as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A two-wheeled journey across the landscape of America, and through the heart and mind of an artist.

Eleanor Davis’s bike tour from Tucson, Arizona to Athens, Georgia is a quest of epic proportions ― not just geographically, which it surely is, but inwardly as well. While facing off formidable headwinds, drivers with reckless abandon, and screaming knee pain, the author confronts an even greater challenge ― her own mind. Life on two wheels teaches her many lessons, and she narrates them with keen observation and self-deprecating candor through a series of funny, touching vignettes. Companionship from fellow travelers and the…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Arizona, sheriffs, and the Grand Canyon?

Arizona 68 books
Sheriffs 42 books
The Grand Canyon 16 books