“Brave Hearted: The Women of the American West,” by Katie Hickman (Spiegel and Grau) “Brave Hearted: The Women of the American West,” by Katie Hickman (Spiegel and Grau) A generation ago, publishers discovered that women (as well as men) went West — and as something more than whores and Madonnas. They found the women’s stories and journals were worth printing.