In 1936, America was in the throes of the Great Depression. Time magazine sends a young reporter west to interview Will Hamilton, the last living rider of the Pony Express on its 75th anniversary. The story the reporter uncovers turns out to be more than one man's story, but that of an American West full of adventure, romance and colorful characters-just the thing to make a struggling America proud again and to give it a reason to smile. The Pony Express as an enterprise lasted only eighteen months, but the end of the Pony Express is just the beginning of the story for Will Hamilton. He goes on to find adventure and love in an American West undergoing changes as monumental as those shaping the country as a whole. Most of this book is fiction-most of it. The Last Rider includes real people, some instantly recognizable: Mark Twain, a young Bill Cody, John Sutter. And some well known in their time: Will Hamilton, credited with being the first Pony Express rider to complete the journey from Sacramento; John Heenan, a boxer who held the first unofficial title of World Champion; Hermann the Great, a magician who traveled the American West performing his conjuring feats; Timothy O'Sullivan, a photographer famous for his images of a land that most people of his time would never see in person. All were documented to have been in the areas at the time Will Hamilton comes in contact with them. We can't say for sure the events of The Last Rider took place. But then again, we can't say they didn't.