The Notorious Life of Ned Buntline

Julia Bricklin’s well-written biography reintroduces readers to Edward Zane Carroll Judson, popularly known by the pen name “Ned Buntline.” This lively narrative details the life and exploits of a bigamist, an imbibing temperance speaker, a rioter, a politician, and a famed raconteur who popularized legendary western heroes like Buffalo Bill through his sensational dime novels. Bricklin reveals that in many cases, Ned Buntline led a life that no dime novelist could fictionalize.

Jeremy M. Johnston, Tate Endowed Chair of Western History, Buffalo Bill Center of the West

Julia Bricklin is the author of a forthcoming biography of female sharpshooter Lillian Frances Smith (University of Oklahoma Press: April 2017). She has authored a dozen articles in well–respected commercial and academic journals, such as Civil War Times, Financial History, Wild West, True West and California History, and spent several years contributing to Forbes.com. Bricklin grew up in southern California, obtained a journalism degree at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and worked in the TV/film industry for fifteen years before obtaining her Master’s degree in history at Cal State Northridge. In addition to serving as associate editor of California History, the publication of the California Historical Society, she is a professor of history at Glendale Community College. Bricklin’s interest in historical figures of the American West stems from her extensive collection of books, and from decades of watching spaghetti Westerns with her father.