Ralph Moody schreef zeventien romans en autobiografieën die het Amerikaanse Westen beschrijven, met een focus op thema's als veerkracht, hard werken en familie ondanks tegenspoed. Zijn verhalen vangen levendig de geest van de frontier, met aandacht voor de vindingrijkheid en vastberadenheid die nodig zijn om een leven op te bouwen in een uitdagend landschap. Hoewel zijn formele opleiding beperkt was, bracht Moody's levenslange toewijding aan zelfstudie en zijn directe, onversneden proza de ontwikkeling van het Westen tot leven voor talloze lezers. Zijn werken, geprezen om hun authenticiteit en blijvende aantrekkingskracht, zijn sinds hun ontstaan continu in druk.
Fortified with Yankee ingenuity and western can-do energy, the Moody family, transplanted from New England, builds a new life on a Colorado ranch early in the twentieth century. Father has died and Little Britches shoulders the responsibilities of a man at age eleven. Man of the Family continues true pioneering adventures as unforgettable as those in Little Britches and The Fields of Home, also available as Bison Books.
The protagonist, Mary Emma Moody, widowed mother of six, has taken her family east in 1912 to begin a new life. Her son, Ralph, then thirteen, recalls how the Moodys survive that first bleak winter in a Massachusetts town. Money and prospects are lacking, but not so faith and resourcefulness. "Mother" in Little Britches and Man of the Family , Mary Emma emerges fully as a character in this book, and Ralph, no longer called "Little Britches," comes into his own. The family’s run-ins with authority and with broken furnaces in winter are evocative of a full and warm family life. Mary Emma & Company continues the Moody saga that started in Colorado with Little Britches and runs through Man of the Family and The Home Ranch . All these titles have been reprinted as Bison Books, as has The Fields of Home , in which Ralph leaves the Massachusetts town for his grandfather's farm in Maine.
A biography of the Apache Indian chief who led one of the last great Indian uprisings in the 19th century.
Set in Colorado, this narrative continues Ralph Moody's childhood recollections, focusing on his twelfth year. It serves as a companion piece to his earlier works, Little Britches and Man of the Family, while offering new stories and experiences. The book delves into themes of family, resilience, and the adventures of youth, providing a heartfelt glimpse into Moody's formative years without repeating the earlier tales.