Rooster
Brett CogburnCelebrated in Charles Portis’s classic novel and three hit films, the real “Rooster” Cogburn was as bold, brash, and bigger-than-life as the American West itself. Now, in this page-turning account, Cogburn’s great-great-grandson reveals the truth behind the fiction—and the man behind the myth . . .
He was born in 1866 in Fancy Hill, Arkansas, the descendant of pioneers and moonshiners. Six foot three, dark eyed, and a dead shot with a rifle, Franklin “Rooster” Cogburn was as hard as the rocky mountain ground his family settled. The only authority the Cogburn clan recognized was God and a gun. And though he never packed a badge, Rooster meted out his own justice—taking on a posse of US deputy marshals in a blazing showdown. Now a wanted man, with a $500 reward on his head, Rooster—proud, stubborn, fearless, and ornery to the bitter end—rode into legend.