Last month, WORLD published a couple of horse stories by John R. Erickson that first appeared in Western Horseman magazine in 2012 and 2013. We offer a second installment, with permission, below.

When frustrated by election results, it’s useful to remember why it’s hard to live with politicians but even harder to live without them. Bruce K. Chapman’s Politicians: The Worst Kind of People to Run the Government, Except for All the Others offers warm wit seasoned with some sharp-edged anecdotes. He reminds us that “a good political life, in the spirit of the Constitution, aims at a ‘more perfect union,’ not a perfect one.” Below, we offer more, courtesy of Discovery Institute.

The ideologically provoked mass shootings earlier this year that devastated scores of lives and shocked our country remind me of an era I would rather forget. It was a time of virulent and violent racism, when homegrown terrorists committed acts of cold-blooded barbarism out of the misguided belief they were rescuing America from racial, ethnic, and social trends that were destroying the country.

I was one of them.

With 25 books under his belt, Marvin Olasky could take up golf or shuffleboard.

He’s already an accomplished pioneer in the modern conservative movement. He has researched how conservatives can fight poverty better than big government liberals, giving George W. Bush an idea that helped him win a close 2000 presidential race. Olasky also has been the primary historian of the pro-life movement. And he has done unique research on the important place of Christian faith in American journalism history.

The children’s version of the Cherokee Trail of Tears is black-and-white about red-and-white: Evil Andrew Jackson and other leaders railroaded noble Native Americans, except that in the absence of railroads thousands without adequate clothing or food had to walk. The reality that John Sedgwick’s Blood Moon explores in his eloquent work is far more complicated.

My friend John R. Erickson, author of great Hank the Cowdog books, relays a story told by famous cowboy Baxter Black: “A young boy walked up to him and said, ‘Mr. Black, are you a real cowboy?’ Baxter laid a hand on his shoulder and said, “It depends on who’s listening.”

Abdi Nor Iftin’s Call Me American is the inspiring autobiography of a Somali refugee who loved Western dance moves and became known as “Abdi American.” After many tribulations, his desire to work hard and willingness to take risks eventually bore fruit with him obtaining a visa to live in the United States. Here’s an excerpt, courtesy of Vintage, chronicling Iftin’s first encounter with Americans in the flesh. Call Me American made WORLD’s short list for 2018 Book of the Year in the Understanding America category. —Marvin Olasky