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Biography as High Adventure: Life-Writers Speak on Their Art is a collection of essays that explores the art and craft of biographical writing. Edited by acclaimed historian and biographer Stephen B. Oates this volume features contributions from prominent life-writers and historians who discuss their experiences, methods, and philosophies regarding the biographical form.

Through essays and reflections from accomplished biographers and historians, this collection examines biography as both an art form and a scholarly discipline, exploring what draws writers to biographical subjects and how they navigate the intersection of historical accuracy and narrative storytelling. What culminates is a diverse perspective on how face down the challenges of historical research and achieve the creative and intellectual dimensions of writing lives.

Another Confederate cavalry raid impends. You hear the snort of an impatient horse, the leathery squeaking of saddles, the low-voiced commands of officers, the muffled cluck of guns cocked in preparation—then the sudden rush of motion, the din of another attack.

This classic story seeks to illuminate a little-known theater of the Civil War—the cavalry battles of the Trans-Mississippi West, a region that included Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, the Indian Territory, and part of Louisiana. Stephen B. Oates traces the successes and defeats of the cavalry; its brief reinvigoration under John S. "Rip" Ford, who fought and won the last battle of the war at Palmetto Ranch; and finally, the disintegration of this once-proud fighting force.

The Republic of Texas was still in its first exultation over independence when John Salmon "Rip" Ford arrived from South Carolina in June of 1836. Ford stayed to participate in virtually every major event in Texas history during the next sixty years. Doctor, lawyer, surveyor, newspaper reporter, elected representative, and above all, soldier and Indian fighter, Ford sat down in his old age to record the events of the turbulent years through which he had lived. Stephen Oates has edited Ford's memoirs to produce a clear and vigorous personal history of Texas.