John Boessenecker


John Boessenecker is an American historian and author, and a lawyer specializing in trust and estate litigation. He is based in San Francisco, California.
Fascinated by frontier history, he published his first article at the age of fifteen. After earning a history degree in college, he worked as a police officer for eight years before going to law school. He has published numerous articles about the West. Since 1988 he has also published several books about the frontier West and the lawmen, vigilantes and outlaws of the period. His 2016 biography of Texas Ranger Frank Hamer made the New York Times bestseller list.

Life

Boessenecker was born in San Francisco in 1953 and grew up in Mill Valley, California. He became interested in frontier history at an early age. At age fifteen, he sold his first article to a western magazine. He graduated from San Francisco State University with a B.A. degree in history in 1975.
He worked as a police officer in Mill Valley and San Mateo, California, from 1974 to 1982. He studied for a J.D. degree at University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and was admitted to the California state bar in 1985.

Career

Boessenecker has published dozens of articles on frontier crime and law enforcement in such publications as True West, Wild West, the Journal of Arizona History, and the Southern California Quarterly. He is the author of several nonfiction books.
In 2011 and 2013, True West magazine ranked Boessenecker as the Best Nonfiction Writer of the year. He received a prestigious Spur award from Western Writers of America and the Best Book award from Westerners International. His book Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer was a New York Times best seller in 2016. Boessenecker has appeared frequently as a historical commentator on PBS, The History Channel, A&E, and other media.

Books