Hellraisers & Trailblazers Gives Western Women Their Due

Quick: Name the woman who saved some 3,000 Chinese girls from slavery and prostitution.

Ok, try this one: Whose ego was so big she called herself “a bulldog running long the feet of Jesus, barking at what he doesn’t like.”

Or maybe you know: What Apache warrior was known as the “Joan of Arc” of her people?

Don’t feel bad, Western history is at best skimpy and at worst, non-existent in telling the stories of women of the Wild West.

But here comes a new book by Jana Bommersbach and Bob Boze Bell—HELLRAISERS AND TRAILBLAZERS: THE REAL WOMEN OF THE WILD WEST.

It tells the story of gutsy women, fearless women, smart women, stubborn women, inspiring women—many unknown and unheralded until now. Bob Boze Bell’s artistic talents are shown in more than 60 original drawings for the book.

Bob and Jana, both of True West magazine, have focused the last three years on bringing this book to life. It’s been a dream of Bob’s for 30 years; Jana has been researching Western women for two decades.

HELLRAISERS & TRAILBLAZERS: THE REAL WOMEN OF THE WILD WEST can be purchased at shopcowgirl.com and on Amazon.

And it wouldn’t be kind to leave anyone hanging, so the answers to the opening questions are Donaldina Cameron, Carry A Nation, and Lozen.