com/hunter/. Why I don't know, but he seems to enjoy it. My appreciation.
I should mention also that the prison work songs are taken from the Alan Lomax collections?'Prison Songs I and II,' recorded by the great Mr.
Lomax at Parchman in 1948?and are available from Rounder Records.
In the gun world, I was able to spend a morning on the range with Jerry Miculek, the world's greatest revolver shooter and the heir to Ed Mcgivern. Jerry, and his wife Kay Clark-Miculek, are fabulous people, and I had to pinch myself several times to remember that I was hanging out with someone at the level of Joe Dimaggio, who was nevertheless decent, approachable, helpful and whose insights on the care, feeding and fast manipulation of a revolver were of great help.
Jerry came into my life through the good offices of Ken Jorgenson of Smith & Wesson, and Michael Banes of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, who convened a writers' play-day at the Fairfax County Rod and Gun club. And to Ken, thanks so much for other considerations.
My good friend John Bainbridge spent a wet, cold, muddy week with me in Mississippi, most of it perched in tree stands on Steve Mckenna's ranch, waiting for the legendary Mississippi white tails to appear. If you spend time in a deer camp, you're a lucky man ACKNOWLEDGMENTS if you have a buddy as congenial, decent and amusing as John Bainbridge.
Professionally, those two legends, Michael Korda and David Rosenthal, editor in chief and publisher, respectively, of Simon & Schuster, were steady hands, true believers and highly accomplished facilitators; they made this book as good as it could be. And of course my agent Esther Newberg was always around to say gently, 'Stop whining and get back to work.'
I was particularly emboldened when I explained to my daughter Amy what I wanted to do in this book and she said, 'Dad, works for me.'
And of course the great Jean Marbella, one of the funniest, smartest, most beautiful women who ever lived, was supportive from the first and until the last.
And I should say finally that while some readers may recognize the real life antecedents of my six old gunmen, there is no evidence at all, and this book was not meant to suggest, that they ever took part in such an enterprise as I've invented, technically illegal no matter how morally upstanding.
And also to them?my heroes in the '50s?I have to say, 'Gents, I'd ride the river with you anytime.'
