Rating: 
Summary: The Pony Express
Review: Ah, the innocent times of yesteryear, when a company could actually try something in its busines line without worrying about the government interfering with it, or solving all kinds of "red tape" regulations! The Pony Express was a privately-run business that delivered the mail over miles and miles of trackless country, from Missouri to California, for 18 glorious months in 1860 and 1861. Soon, however, the telegraph took away its business, and it went under, quite quickly. Now all we know are the legends built up by countless dime novels and Hollywood pictures, and what we get is quite a distance from the truth. This book strives to give us what realy happened, and along the way we learn a lot about the Express, its founders, some of its riders, and then the legends that built up over the years. There are many interesting and unusual characters in this story, from Wild Bill Hickock, Buffalo Bill Cody and others, to Broncho Charlie Miller. The writing keeps our interest, and the pace of the story never flags, nor did the horses and riders of this venerable institution of so long ago.
Rating: 
Summary: Be Forewarned - Facts Are Appropriately Limited
Review: At the outset, the author establishes the major truth about the Pony Express and its 18 month run across the west- we do not know much about it for sure. Little of this book is devoted to facts about the Express. That is appropriate, because as Mr. Corbett proves beyond doubt, there are not that many facts to be known. There is, however, legend and buncum.Mr. Corbett devotes most of the book to the buncum (a word he aptly uses often) and the legends. He then debunks them with proofs that have been well-researched. He also gives interesting profiles of the "journalists" and dime novel writers who both made up stories out of whole cloth and created legends out of men such as Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickock. Some of the writer/character profiles are priceless. They could be characters in spoof novels. So are the men who attempted to establish their bona fides as riders for the Express - often getting years and places absolutely incorrect. The most hilarious was a man named Murphy touted by no less than the NY Times as the last of the Pony Express riders when he died in the late 20th century. Mr. Corbett does a very good job at giving all that is known and can be proven to be true about the Pony Express. He then also does an excellent job tracing the inaccuracies as presented in histories of the Express. Lastly, he traces the origins of the legends that grew long after the Express had ridden its last ride. An entertaining and informative book about an interesting topic.
Rating:
Summary: Be Forewarned - Facts Are Appropriately Limited
Review: At the outset, the author establishes the major truth about the Pony Express and its 18 month run across the west- we do not know much about it for sure. Little of this book is devoted to facts about the Express. That is appropriate, because as Mr. Corbett proves beyond doubt, there are not that many facts to be known. There is, however, legend and buncum. Mr. Corbett devotes most of the book to the buncum (a word he aptly uses often) and the legends. He then debunks them with proofs that have been well-researched. He also gives interesting profiles of the "journalists" and dime novel writers who both made up stories out of whole cloth and created legends out of men such as Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickock. Some of the writer/character profiles are priceless. They could be characters in spoof novels. So are the men who attempted to establish their bona fides as riders for the Express - often getting years and places absolutely incorrect. The most hilarious was a man named Murphy touted by no less than the NY Times as the last of the Pony Express riders when he died in the late 20th century. Mr. Corbett does a very good job at giving all that is known and can be proven to be true about the Pony Express. He then also does an excellent job tracing the inaccuracies as presented in histories of the Express. Lastly, he traces the origins of the legends that grew long after the Express had ridden its last ride. An entertaining and informative book about an interesting topic.
Rating:
Summary: The Truth, but the Truth is Legendary
Review: Chances are you never heard of the great nineteenth century freight-hauling firm of Russell, Majors & Waddell. You never heard the official name of the firm's most famous effort, the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company. You have certainly heard of the popular name of the endeavor: the Pony Express. You know the Pony Express, because from its beginning, it was the stuff of legend, and the legend has never stopped growing. That is the main point of _Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express_ (Broadway Books) by Christopher Corbett. Corbett has given as good a history as can be written about the Pony Express because he has shown what difficulties there are in digging up such history. "We know that much to be true" becomes a frequent refrain in his work to emphasize how little we really know of the truth. It isn't important. The legends about the Pony Express may not be literally true, but they are real and they mean something, and Corbett's book is about them as much as it is about plain facts. Take the title of the book, for a start. An ad that supposedly ran in newspapers all through California in 1860 sought "Young, skinny, wiry fellows, not over eighteen. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred." The ad has been reproduced many times as part of the Pony Express's history, in such journals as _The New York Times_, but there is no documentation of any original. Such a title for the book is thus perfectly emblematic of its contents, and also ensures that the undocumented quotation will continue to be attached to the Pony Express. Such are the risks of writing fact about legend. Russell, Majors, & Waddell instituted the Pony Express in 1860 as a commercial gamble that mail could get in days from the western edge of civilization (St. Joseph, Missouri) to the western edge of the country (Sacramento, California), almost two thousand miles. The most surprising thing about _Orphans Preferred_ is that almost exactly halfway through the book, the Pony Express is disbanded. This reflects its short life; it ran for only eighteen months, overtaken by the first transcontinental telegraph. So much legend was based on such an ephemeral institution that the second half of the book examines the making and continuance of the legend. One name looms largest: Buffalo Bill Cody, who had a Pony Express performance at every show. Buffalo Bill's representation may well have been heroic, but it must have been realistic, too. That is much more than can be said for the Pony Express in novels, and especially in movies. Corbett lists various movies through which the Pony Express rides, and could never have actually ridden due to its northern route or restricted months of operation. _The Pony Express_, made in 1953 and staring Charlton Heston, is "the best bad movie" about the service, and is "a spectacular fraud," containing "virtually no facts in its entire 101 minutes." But it is wrong to let facts get in the way of a legend; Buffalo Bill never did, and because of him, everyone still knows about the Pony Express. Corbett's entertaining book is certainly not a debunking of the myths as much as an appreciation of them.
Rating:
Summary: This much we know to be true
Review: Christopher Corbett has done a wonderful job in "Orphans Preferred," a unique look at not only the Pony Express but also the men and women who created the image of the mail service that has become a legend. Engaging bios on Buffalo Bill Cody, Mark Twain, and others show how fact and fiction were entwined, recreated, and hopelessly tangled together until one was indistinguishable from the other. Corbett's wit and dry humor will make you chuckle. An informative, engaging read.
Rating:
Summary: This much we know to be true
Review: Christopher Corbett has done a wonderful job in "Orphans Preferred," a unique look at not only the Pony Express but also the men and women who created the image of the mail service that has become a legend. Engaging bios on Buffalo Bill Cody, Mark Twain, and others show how fact and fiction were entwined, recreated, and hopelessly tangled together until one was indistinguishable from the other. Corbett's wit and dry humor will make you chuckle. An informative, engaging read.
Rating:
Summary: Authentic History of the Pony Express
Review: Few American institutions have been as heavily mythologized as the Pony Express. The real Pony Express existed for only 18 months, but Hollywood has made it appear to be a long lasting agency. The company itself left very few records, making it difficult for the serious historian to write about it. Christopher Corbett's Orphans Preferred is the best book thus far to tackle the Pony Express. The first part is the most thorough history of the ill-fated company ever written. It makes the most use of the scanty records available. The second part is a look at how such a marginal enterprise that lasted for less time than many television shows today do made such an impact on American mythology. This is an excellent book on a subject that had previously defied the efforts of many good historians before Corbett came along.
Rating:
Summary: Authentic History of the Pony Express
Review: Few American institutions have been as heavily mythologized as the Pony Express. The real Pony Express existed for only 18 months, but Hollywood has made it appear to be a long lasting agency. The company itself left very few records, making it difficult for the serious historian to write about it. Christopher Corbett's Orphans Preferred is the best book thus far to tackle the Pony Express. The first part is the most thorough history of the ill-fated company ever written. It makes the most use of the scanty records available. The second part is a look at how such a marginal enterprise that lasted for less time than many television shows today do made such an impact on American mythology. This is an excellent book on a subject that had previously defied the efforts of many good historians before Corbett came along.
Rating:
Summary: 'Orphans' Leads to Happy Trails
Review: If dry wit and historical musings are your cup of tea, this book is for you. Christopher Corbett mixes facts, hearsay, and humor to provide an engaging and amusing tale of the Pony Express, its creators, riders, and historians. What little is known of the Pony comes from decades of oral history and embellishments, leaving the truth to toss around like a tumbleweed in the wind, but Corbett leaves no trail untrod as he explores facts and tall tales of the famous mail delivery service. No one can unravel all the twists of the poorly documented, short lived Express, but Corbett's exploration into the past will give you some answers and quite a few chuckles.
Rating:
Summary: Corbett is a gifted non-fictionist
Review: Not only do I thoroughly enjoy the provocative "Orphans Preferred," but I was fortunate enough to have Chris Corbett as my advisor, journalism professor, and mentor in college. He is a brilliant, hilarious, talented writer and journalist who weaves an intricate web of fact and detail. His specialty is anecdote. "Orphans Preferred" takes an almost forgotten subject and re-invigorates it. Never boring.
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