Born in Iowa (1946) and raised on Route 66, Bob Boze Bell knows a thing or two about tourists and telling the truth (you can guess which local imparted which of the two). Raised in Kingman, Arizona Boze got his nickname from running the bases backwards in a high school baseball game with arch-rival Needles. The coach called him "Bozo," and cruel teammates shortened it to "Boze."

    In 1965 Boze graduated from Mohave County Union High School with the valedictorian of his class. And after five lackluster years at the University of Arizona he left with no degree and very little social or job skills.

    From 1972 to 1976 Boze and a graduate of NAU, Daniel Harshberger published a humor magazine called the Razz Revue. "That was my real college education," Boze quipped in hindsight. "I learned the ins and outs of printing, publishing and more importantly, what makes people want to read something_"

    After the Razz experience, Bell worked at the Phonnix New Times for a decade (1978-1988) where he won the prestigious editorial cartoonist of the year Press Club award in 1983.

    He also spent a decade in morning drive radio, first at KSLX (100.7 FM in Scottsale) and then on KBUCK Country and KXAM (a talk radio show).

    In 1999 he and two friends bought True West magazine and brought it to Cave Creek, Arizona where it has been ever since. The 52-year-old national magazine got its start in Austin, Texas in 1953, later moved to Wisconsin, then Oklahoma, which is where the magazine was when Bell and Co. bought it.

    In addition to being the executive editor of the magazine, Boze is the author of four comic books on his cartoon creation Honkytonk Sue and five illustrated history books on Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid, Bad Men and the recent Classic Gunfights, Volume I. He is working on the second installment in the series which will be out later this year.

Last Updated March 15, 2005
© Northern Arizona Book Festival 2004