Rooster: The Life and Time of the Real Rooster Cogburn, the Man Who Inspired True Grit
Contrary to the book’s subtitle, author Cogburn makes clear early on that the lead character in Charles Portis’ True Grit was not based on his great-grandfather John Franklin Cogburn. Portis’ Rooster Cogburn “bears some resemblance” to the author’s ancestor, but so do other Arkansas mountain men named Cogburn. Rather than waste our time with a lot of tenuous connections between the real man and the fictional fella with the same nickname, the author instead amazes and astounds us with the true-life story of his great-grandfather, a mountain man and moonshiner whose blood feud with a deputy U.S. marshal led to Cogburn being arrested for murder. There’s also a rather sweet romantic story line—Can an outlaw find true love in the Wild West?—and plenty of history about the time in which Cogburn lived. Written in a fast-paced, novelistic style (the author’s first western novel is coming out in November), the book is sure to appeal to fans of Wild West history and to readers who would like to believe that True Grit has real-life connections (no matter how thin). --David Pitt