Some of Montana's first pioneers recorded these outrageous and often hilarious tales covering everything from a poker-playing magpie to the accepted cure for a greedy hunter. Between 1935 and 1942, the field workers for the Montana Writer's Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), conducted oral history interviews and researched folklore for a Montana folklore publication. The United States entered into World War II, and the WPA dissolved before Montana's efforts on folklore could be published. Now, finally putting the best of the Montana WPA folklore collection in print, An Ornery Bunch presents tales and anecdotes compiled from the immense archives of the Montana's Writers' Project.