I'da Danced at His Hanging

About the Book

Ida Danced At His Hanging

A novel By Joe Neil Steward

 Copyright 1992-1999

Ida danced At His hanging is timely because of recent activities by political leaders and their blatant disregard for traditional values.  It will appeal to women and men alike, which is unusual for a book that at first glance could be dismissed as-just a western.  I have asked several people to read it, their response could be summed up by one womans statement, I dont read westerns, but this is about people, I loved it!  It is not just a western, it is a character study of real people who love, hate, forgive, get it all, lose it all, and regret that they have passed over a relationship for one that promised security, only to have security ripped from them and have to start over as shop worn goods.  It is an example that the foulest of men can cloak vileness in the most appealing and respected of pretenses, and God can change that man, and make him finally, what he pretended to be.

Ida Danced At His Hanging would appeal to the Christian audience, but also to the same extensive audience Lonesome Dove captured.

                               Ida Danced at His Hanging summery:

A shirttail outfit made up of men and boys, who each have compelling reasons for leaving Texas, have built a small ranch near Kalispell, in western Montana.

Asked if he wants to go along with a posse, Ron Neil casually answers, Why not?  Small things like that change lives.  The friend who asked him is shot protecting him, and Ron kills three men.

Life has made Ron Neil the kind of man a friend once described this way,  Ron, what ever youve been given to do, its got donemaybe not always right, but it got done.

The county sheriff, Lon Daton, takes Ron on as a deputy.  Marith Campbell, the girl Ron has tried to court, becomes engaged Christmas eve, his first night on duty.  With his mind preoccupied about losing her, Ron is shot in the neck.  It takes several months for him to regain the use of his limbs.  When he does, he has changed from a man who never believed in God, because his Daddy didntalthough that was the only thing they agreed onto a man who not only believes in God, he believes in a personal God who died in his place-- Jesus Christ.

When this kind of a man confronts a man of wealth, position, and pseudo Christianity-- hes a deacon-- who uses his religious pretensions to hide his more deadly practices, what do you think will happen?  You can find out by reading Ida Danced At His Hanging.

About the Author

Joe Neil Steward was born on the coldest day of 1942—his dad’s car radiator froze. He grew up on a farm outside of Anna, Illinois, and attended a one-room country school for all eight grades. He attended high school in Anna—riding a horse to the highway to catch the school bus. In 1962 he represented Southern Illinois University at the National Drama Festival at Laurence, Kansas, and won best actor. He was a theatre trained actor for twenty years and retired from acting after a disfiguring accident and drove a charter coach as a ski shuttle between the Town of Whitefish, Montana and the Big Mountain ski resort. He has recently moved to the Knoxville, TN area to take advantage of programs at the University of Tennessee.