James Pattie's West: The Dream and the Reality

Published in hardcover as American Ecclesiastes: The Stories of James Pattie, this book delves into the historical truths and untruths in the Western classic The Personal Narrative of James O. Pattie, an account of Pattie's travels and life in the Southwest in the 1820s. Batman, a teacher at San Francisco State College, makes the reader see Pattie not as a liar but as a person unable to tell someone else's story without including himself and embellishing his own role. PW wrote that Batman proves himself ""an adroit historical sleuth.'' (April)