This is the story of the settlement of western Wyoming’s Hoback Basin, told through fascinating tales and unusual characters: ordinary people who did extraordinary things, and who, with courage and determination, shaped history.

“Hard and Noble Lives is a very impressive combination of regional history, personal memoir, and up-to-the-moment sociology. After a career in the upper levels of American politics, Paul Jensen reinvented himself as a professional cowboy, and he has earned the right to tell the story of his part of the West. This book is a valuable addition to the chronicles of America’s expansion into the frontier, and the dreams and dramas that made it possible.” —James Fallows, National Correspondent for Atlantic Monthly, nationally-acclaimed author

“Local history at its best— the stories of ordinary people who gave life and color to a small part of the American West. But stories, too, that find counterparts in other areas of the West. A solid, readable history of both local and regional significance.”—Robert M. Utley, award-winning author, historian of the American West, and former Chief Historian of the National Park Service

For signed copies direct from the author

email: pjensen@wyoming.com