Ahh, men.  What would we do without them?   Probably clean a lot less.  But, we can't write a romance without them.  This month, I celebrate the man's man.  The take-no-prisoners kind of guy.  The man every man loves to hate, and every woman loves to love.  Here's to the men in history that have stirred our hearts and imagination (with special emphasis on the man of the American West, my favorite):  the Alpha-male. 

A Cowboy Detective, Charles A. Siringo, reprinted by University of Nebraska Press, 1988.   ISBN 0-8032-9189-2.  An autobiography of the author's 22 years as a detective for the Pinkerton Detective Agency.  Some excellent and entertaining stories, written in a matter-of-fact manner.

The Texas Rangers, Walter Prescott Webb, Univ. of Texas Press, 1989.  ISBN 0-292-78110-5 (paperback).  "A man standing alone between a society and its enemies. The Ranger [is] essentially a fighting man,"  is how the author describes the men who lived their lives in the pursuit of outlaws, desperadoes and the like in the daily task of maintaining law, restoring order and promoting peace.

American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era, E. Anthony Rotundo, BasicBooks (div of HarperCollins), 1993.  ISBN 0-465-01409-7.   Traces shifts in the meaning of masculinity that have occurred over the past two centuries.  Discusses the perception and definition of manhood from colonial times and the beginning of the nineteenth century through the present.

Knights of the Green Cloth: The Saga of the Frontier Gamblers, Robert K. DeArment, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 1982.  ISBN 0-8061-2245-5.  A history of those who made their living at the tables, between 1850 and 1910; the good guys, ladies, bad guys and men who made it big. 

Cowboy Life:  Reconstructing An American Myth,  ed. by William W. Savage, Jr., Univ. Press of Colorado, 1993.  ISBN 0-87081-293-9.  An anthology of  stories by men who "punched cows"