Shane Dunning writes local history for the Powder River Examiner in Broadus, Montana, and for his personal website. After a long career in healthcare administration, he now specializes in the history of northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana. In 2022, the Western Writers of America awarded Shane the Spur Award for Best Short Non-Fiction for ''The Right Man to Do a Wrong Thing: Charlie Thex, the Bear Creek Sheep Raid and the Primacy of Fear.'' The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum awarded him the 2024 Wrangler Award for Best Magazine Article for ''The Geddes Murder Trials: Race, Gender and Murder-for-Hire in Eastern Montana’s Criminal Justice System.'' Both of these articles were published in Montana, the Magazine of Western History, the official journal of the Montana Historical Society. Shane has earned degrees from the University of Wyoming and the University of Oklahoma and currently resides in Birney, Montana. Big Skies and Bygone Days is thirty-five vignettes of Montana and Wyoming history. Award-winning author Shane Dunning relates the stories your grandparents whispered among themselves. Learn the powerful influence of the cattle barons, experience the fighting spirit of Native Americans, and feel the rugged example of homesteader families. From the Big Horns to the Black Hills, this collection tells the unvarnished truth.