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- This is a great history lesson on the old west
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The Old West Collection
Manufacturer: Topics Entertainment
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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ASIN: 1591502446 |
Book Description
The mythical legends and historical allure of the old west come galloping onward with The Old West Collection: Amazing Legends and Incredible Tales of the American West. This thundering 8-CD or cassette audio compendium celebrates the epic events of America's frontier, whether rediscovering the California gold rush at Sutter's Mill in '49 or recreating the outsize personalities of John Jacob Astor to Belle Starr and Billy the Kid. From racing on horseback for Oklahoma land in '89 to Dodge and Last Chance Gulch, The Old West Collection sits you around the campfire vividly recounting the saga and stories of a dusty, velvet-trimmed era.
Tape/CD 1: The Shining Mountains
Searching for beaver, the mountain men of the old west journeyed through a wild, feral land teeming with uncertainty, extreme weather conditions, and often hostile inhabitants.
Tape/CD 2: The Oregon Trail & The Days of '49
From the gold rush at Sutter's Mill to the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, the wagon trains of '49 were met with a volatile mix of fast fortune and insurmountable hardship.
Tape/CD 3: War Paths in the West
Bloody massacres and devastating battles - the tumultuous wars on the plains claimed masses, from Red Cloud's War and Wounded Knee, to the Bozeman Trail and Little Big Horn.
Tape/CD 4: Home on the Range
With the Oklahoma land runs and newly formed railways, the Range gave birth to the American cowboy, cattlemen, and ranches stretching hundreds of miles across the plains.
Tape/CD 5: Hands Up! The Outlaws
Meet the bad-boys of the western era, from Jesse James to Billy the Kid, who set the stage for bank robbery, corruption, and the Old West's infamous train hold-ups.
Tape/CD 6: The Men Who Wore the Star, The Lawmen
Restoring order to an outlaw-driven era, men like Doc Holliday, the Texas Rangers, Wild Bill Hickock, and the U.S. Marshal brought forth justice to the unruly west.
Tape/CD 7: Babylons on the Plains, The Towns
Through the gold boom towns loomed red light districts, saloons, and dance halls amidst the meat markets, carpenter shops, and opera houses.
Tape/CD 8: Six Guns & Hoop Skirts, The Women
Who tamed the wild west? The pioneering women who brought civilization to a harsh frontier from Belle Starr and Annie Oakley, to Baby Doe and Calamity Jane.
Customer Reviews:
This is a great history lesson on the old west.......2003-11-12
This fine collection of historical facts and stories is great. I was transported back to the old west as I drove 600 miles across Kansas visualizing things I was hearing. The stories made the trip quite effortless. I can use lots of what I learned as I entertain folks with my old west music programs.
Customer Reviews:
Excelent book.......2007-06-02
Nolan does a great job in describing the events of Billy the Kids life. One of the best historians out there. i would recommend this book for all who are interested in Billy The Kid. Unlike the book written by Jim Johnson this book is full of facts.
Fred Nolan is one of the best..........2006-06-28
Fred Nolan is one of the most recognized and popular historians of the old west, but where he makes many of his mistakes is by repeating too many things written by previous authors without sufficient evidence. I find most of his statements impossible to prove incorrect, but there are a few problems in his writing. Also, the editing of his book has a few flaws in that there are many glowing contradictions within the book. But, if you can figure out where the errors were made, the rest of the book is interesting and appears to be factual. In comparison to the other books currently on the market on Billy, this is one of the better ones, especially if like good pictures..
The real story of "Billy the Kid!".......2005-11-02
Frederick Nolan has established a book on "Billy the Kid," which out does most before and after it's initial publication in 1999. An easy to follow book for all readers that tells the true story based on documentation and "real" proof to the life and death of "Billy the Kid." Bye far the best out there on this subject matter. Purchase it!!!
Mike Koch, Author of "The Kimes Gang."
Almost perfect - probably the best........2005-10-28
What lacks in this describtion in the life og Billy the Kid, is a bit more detail in the last chapters. Clearly Frederick Nolan is most interestet in the Lincoln County War - thats why I give the book 4 stars and not 5.
Having said that I must hurry to make clear that this book probaly is the best biografy to read about Billy the Kid if you are just af normal human being knowning nothing first hand of the old west.
I am such a person, and when I started reading the book, Frederick Nolan unfolded the true old west before my eyes in a manner I have never imagined anyone would be able to. He writes in a nice easy-to-read way even for a guy like me who hasn't got english as my first language. He mannages to tell all the details of the story in such a way, that it is easy to understand what was going on, and why people were acting as the were - and that is a very big accevement as some subjekts in the book - for exampel the Lincoln County War - is af very complicated affair involving many different persons.
Frederik Nolans mission with this book is to show us the kid as he were in the old west as it was in the late 1870ties. And he succedes. He shows us a young man with a difficult childhood who has driftet from one bad area to another only to end up in the lions cave - Lincoln County - where a great cattle-war is about to break. And from their on his fate is seeled. Being the one he is with the past he has - he has no chance of avoiding bekomming a part of the war, and in the end one of the most feared - and wanted - outlaws in the territorry.
Best Billy the Kid Book Ever!!!.......2005-06-02
Upon arrival of this book, I could not put it down! The book is filled with factual information, tons of photos, and interesting facts all about Billy the Kid's life. I enjoyed the "newer" photos that the author took of Lincoln, Las Vegas, Blazer's Mill as they are seen today! I plan to read, and re-read this book several times! I highly recommend this book to any Billy the Kid fan!
Book Description
From the Booker Prize-winning author of The English Patient comes a visionary novel, a virtuoso synthesis of storytelling, history, and myth, about William Bonney, a.k.a. "Billy the Kid, " a bloodthirsty ogre and outlaw saint. "Ondaatje's language is clean and energetic, with the pop of bullets."--Annie Dillard.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book For the Non-serious BTK Fan!.......2006-06-28
The book is very fun to read, but is not for the serious Billy the Kid fans. It holds your interest well, as long as, you don't take it too serious. The author is good at what he does and this book is well written. But, don't look for any new, serious information on Billy because it is not there. My review is written strictly from a nonfiction point of view and should be read with that in mind. I read the complete book and enjoyed reading it, but there is nothing in it to really grasp as fact.
A Postmodern Western.......2005-06-01
"The Collected Works of Billy the Kid" creates a beautiful and visceral written collage about the legendary Billy the Kid. Written in a mixture of prose, poetry, clippings and interviews, the reader may not always be sure of whose voice they are hearing and whether the pictures being painted in their head are based on reality or fiction; or both. You can feel in your very skull the heat of the mid-day sun... This is the wonder that is Ondaatje's postmodern take on the Western.
It is a book to be experienced; read and re-read. Each time you return you will find something new to consider and move with. The language Ondaatje uses is among the most compelling that I have ever read. Best consumed with the suspended need for the linear and clear.
Oh, for yesteryear.......2004-07-29
There was a time, pre-English Patient, when the innovative work of Michael Ondaatje appeared assured of standing the test of time, as this slender, groundbreaking volume of poetry, prose, and prose-poetry, now some 35 years old, makes clear. It is, arguably, if not the best--that would be Coming Through Slaughter--then certainly the most felicitous work in Ondaatje's ouevre, and one would be hard pressed indeed to describe it as anything less than a work of sparkling genius.
That the author's more recent, utterly conventional efforts--first Patient, then Anil's Ghost--have, by comparison, evidenced such a precipitous decline, is only sad. But, if you want to read Ondaatje at the near-height of his powers, you could do far worse than Billy the Kid. (Or Slaughter. Or Running in the Family.)
Those were the days. And they were better days. And ballsier days. And brassier. Far better days indeed than Mr. Ondaatje's nowadays. It is the author's express lack of nerve, the lack of nerve expressed in his recent work, that one now deplores. But when Ondaatje was great, he wrote Billy the Kid, the great work of a once-great writer. And in those days, few, few indeed, were greater.
COULD'VE BEEN LESS PRETENTIOUS.......2003-06-12
The book is full of desultory excerpts from Billyýs diary: stories about certain people ý acquaintances, friends, foes, cops, outlaws (like the one he was) is told, which seem irrelevant until those people are referred to in some other part of the book, involved in a small incident involving Billy himself, or just Billy, shedding some more light on their persona. At times, it does feel that Ondaatje is being pretentious by making efforts to purposely disconnect fragments of the book and placing them hugger-mugger, just to make the book a little bit more outré, at other times, it is this annoying and deliberate effort by him, that adds color to this book, and forces the reader to read it more than once to get a grip of what is happening in the book; and with the book becoming more and more comestible with every subsequent reading, who could complain.
The poetry, as it seems to me, gets too vague to understand sometimes, and seems grossly out-of-context, though choice of words seem quite interesting. Moreover, it seems like one needs to know beforehand, the context of the poetry, and a brief know-how of Billyýs life, both of which could not be found in the book. This makes the understanding of certain poems, a bit too hard. The simplest poems of the book, is what give it high points: like the one about swatting a fly ý in all its simplicity, this detailed poetic- explanation of how Billy killed an innocuous fly, in addition to the people he had killed, hits the reader hard, with all its earthiness. Also worth highlighting is another poetry-of-sort, which describes the snoring, sleeping friend of Billy, and how his stertorous snoring made a funny whistling sound, when the air from his mouth was forced out of the gap in between his frontal pair of teeth: unassuming, touching and effective.
The book is rather funny, in the way the various killings and encounters are described. No detail is spared, and the gore is described, exactly the way it had happened: and all this, without an iota of emotion ý stoic and cold. Amongst the bits from Billyýs diary, about the people he knew, there is this interesting story about this mad-man, who used to raise ýfreakyý dogs; he cross-bred them, sub-Rosa, only to be brutally killed by them. Also, the excerpt about Paul Garrett, the ideal assassin and Sallie Chisum makes one feel there were really some colorful and adorable people in Billyýs life. Also, Billyýs ýexclusive jail interviewý is ýin-your-faceý, and at times, laughable.
All in all, the book is worth the money paid for it, though there are instances, where some material seem grossly out-of-context and leaves the reader lost: it couldýve been much better off without Ondaatjeýs pretentious effort to be weird.
Billy the Kid Speaks!.......2003-04-25
Michael Ondaatje's sprawling sequence of verse interspersed with poetic prose exposes the persona poem as one of poetry's surest paths to honesty. Through unsettlingly precise detail and unsentimental empathy, the character of Billy the Kid is recreated-and revisited-in all its brutality and splendor. Ondaatje's unflinching commitment to honesty yields a persona that is as vibrant and realized as possible, resulting in a series of confessions that range from disturbing to revelatory.
The image, consistently startling, graphic and discomforting, carries the speaker through the entire sequence. Whereas most imagery depends on the eye for effect, Ondaatje utilizes all five senses throughout the book. We taste wine "so fine/it was like drinking ether," we feel Pat Garret's "oiled rifle" against Maxwell's cheek and hear it fire beside his ear, "leaving a powder scar on Maxwell's face that stayed with him all his life." We smell the smoke in Garret's shirt and taste the nicotine in his mouth. At times, the stunned silence of Ondaatje's unremitting narrative conjures a hush so palpable that we can "listen to deep buried veins in our palms." It doesn't take long for The Collected Works of Billy the Kid to immerse the reader in its own unique world, accessible now only through words and photographs.
Most memorable, though, are the intensely graphic images that sprout from the page throughout the book. The chicken digging for a vein in the dying Gregory's neck, the warts in Billy the Kid's throat "breaking through veins like pieces of long glass tubing," the blood caked in Tom O'Folliard's "hair, arms, shoulders, everywhere." All these paint an unmistakable landscape of a bleak and desolate New Mexico in the 1880's, a scene so haunted that even "the sun turned into a pair of hands" and pulled out hairs from Billy the Kid's head which, we're told later, is "smaller than a rat." Not one potentially enlivening detail is overlooked; not one square inch of landscape or action escapes the reader's view.
Ondaatje's ambitious project demonstrates that the recipe for great writing is precise detail compounded by believable emotion, a recipe he follows to the letter. Ondaatje executes these two devices so effectively at times that a kind of piercing, revelatory insight emerges periodically. Magical disclosures such as the characterization of Pat Garrett as one who "became frightened of flowers because they grew so slowly he couldn't tell what they planned to do," help to fully realize both the character of Billy the Kid and the times in which he lived, and establish Ondaatje's book as perhaps one of the greatest attempts at persona poetry in the 20th century.
Book Description
Cowboy, army guide, farmer, peace officer, and character in his own right, John P. Meadows arrived in New Mexico from Texas as a young man. During his life in the Southwest, he knew or worked for many well-known characters including: William “Billy the Kid” Bonney, Sheriff Pat Garrett, John Selman, Hugh Beckwith, Charlie Siringo, and Pat Coghlan. Meadows helped investigate the disappearance of Colonel Albert Jennings Fountain, and later bought part of downtown Tularosa, New Mexico, where he served a term as mayor.
The recollections gathered here and edited by John P. Wilson are based on Meadows's interviews with a reporter for the Alamogordo News, a partial transcript of his reminiscences given at the Lincoln State Monument, and a talk he gave by invitation at Roswell, New Mexico, to refute inaccuracies in the 1930 MGM movie Billy the Kid. Meadows's lucid presentation appeared in the Roswell, New Mexico, Daily Record where he spoke about Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, and other experiences from the Southwest's frontier days.
“I am not going to leave the country, and I am not going to reform, neither am I going to be taken alive again.”—Billy the Kid to John P. Meadows, May 1, 1881
A collection of John P. Meadows's interviews originally given to refute inaccuracies in the 1930 movie Billy the Kid. Also includes Meadows's memories of the Southwest's frontier days and the characters he knew.
Customer Reviews:
Fulton's Lincoln County War.......2006-11-05
For those of you who are interested in a detailed (almost to a fault) and historic account of New Mexico's Lincoln County War (LCW), this book belongs in your library. It is one of the more accurate accounts of the events before, during, and after the LCW. Fulton clearly did his homework before attempting to provide a historical record. The author is fairly unbiased in his approach, although he distinguishes criminal activity at both the blue collar and white collar levels, siding mostly with the underdog, i.e., the have nots which are generally Mexicans. As with most wars, no one side is completely without guilt.
The extent to which the individual participants have been researched and presented is indeed impressive. The author has shown how minor characters such as cow hands, cattle rustlers, and store clerks played into the intricate design and manipulation of the major characters who capitalized on their political position and social status. The war was not so much a series of gun battles as it was an effort to win the hearts and minds of the New Mexico populace. It could also be viewed from a perspective of Mexican-American rights on the early frontier.
The book has a couple of shortcomings, however. Foremost is that the subtitle is "A Classic Account of Billy the Kid", but don't believe it. In this book, Billy the Kid is seldom mentioned in the great scheme of the War except toward the very end. This subtitle appears to be an attempt by the publisher to grab your attention and sell copies. Second, the author died before the book was finished and there are places where one can distinguish a loss of continuity in the final writing.
Nevertheless, the book has its merits and should be read by anyone interested in New Mexico history, the struggles of cattlemen and Mexican-Americans, the influence of the military in the Southwest, or white collar crime and corruption and the quagmire encountered by those who attempt to enter the legal and political arena in order to do something about it.
K.J. Schroeder
A thorough historical account.......2006-03-23
As someone who has long been interested in Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War, I purchased this book as a means of learning the details and history behind as well as the causes and effects of this notorious chapter of history in the American West. I was not disappointed. Through the use of original letters and first-hand accounts, Fulton is meticulous in his details and does an outstanding job of revealing the connections between each historical figure involved as well as elaborating on the personal motivations and interests of same. My only gripe would be that the book is a bit dense in some spots; however, what accurately researched comprehensive chronicle of history isn't?
If you are looking solely for a light read on the travails and exploits of Billy the Kid, this is not for you. If you are genuinely interested in the history surrounding the Kid's world (he was but one figure on a much larger stage) and the political corruption, violence, and relationships that shaped it, then Fulton's book is a true gem.
Great Read for Fan of the Old West.......2003-12-22
Living in New Mexico for a few years, I was always interesting in the Lincoln County War and the true story of Billy the Kid. This book starts from the beginning and does a great job of explain why things happen. It paints a overall picture of Billy the Kid. It is very objective and fact based. I would high recommend it to anyone interested in reading about how the old west really was-not some John Wayne Western.
Detailed look at the Lincoln County War.......2000-02-10
This book is a great description of the events surrounding the Lincoln County War, which is an absolutely fascinating case study of lawlessness in the American West. Although the author's bias is clear--and probably warranted--the entire series of events is well documented and the writing very accessible. To his credit, the author refuses to fall into the trap of making Billy the Kid--who was just a minor figure--the star of the show. Billy remains a background figure almost throughout and the real players in the drama are made memorable. This book does rely very heavily on excerpts from the self-serving letter writing campaign going on during the events.
Product Description
Having written about New Mexico history for more than forty years, explains the author, it was perhaps inevitable that in time I should publish a few articles on Billy the Kid. After all, he is the one figure from this states past whose name is known around the world. The Kids career, although astonishingly short, nonetheless, left an indelible mark in the annals of the Old West. And his name, William H. Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, seems locked forever into the consciousness of the starry-eyed public. Upon request, the author continues, I was able to assemble a collection of my varied writings pertaining to some of Billys real or imagined deeds. Each section opens a small window on an aspect of his tumultuous life, or casts light upon others whose fortunes intersected with his. In this book, I have stalked Billy in an erratic rather than a systematic way, taking pleasure merely in adding a few new and unusual fragments to his biography. I trust that readers who have a fascination with the history and legend of Billy the Kid will find in these pages something of interest and value. As Eugene Cunningham wrote more than seventy years ago, in our imagination the Kid still lives--the Kid still rides.
Average customer rating:
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The Real Billy The Kid (Southwest Heritage Series)
Miguel Antonio Otero
Manufacturer: Sunstone Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0865345473
Release Date: 2006-12-15 |
Product Description
Miguel Antonio Otero served as the first Hispanic governor of the U.S. Territory of New Mexico, from 1897 to 1906. He was appointed to the office by President William McKinley. Long after his retirement from politics, Governor Otero wrote and published his memoirs in three volumes, a major contribution to New Mexico history. But he also published a biography in 1936 titled The Real Billy the Kid. His aim in that book, he proclaimed, was to write the Kid s story "without embellishment, based entirely on actual fact." Otero had known the outlaw briefly and also had known the man who killed Billy in 1881, Sheriff Pat Garrett. The author recalled Garrett saying he regretted having to slay Billy. Or, as he bluntly put it, "it was simply the case of who got in the first shot. I happened to be the lucky one." By all accounts, Billy the Kid was much adored by New Mexico's Hispanic population. Otero asserts that the Kid was considerate of the old, the young and the poor. And he was loyal to his friends. Further, Martin Cháves of Santa Fe stated: "Billy was a perfect gentleman with a noble heart. He never killed a native citizen of New Mexico in all his career, and he had plenty of courage." Otero was especially admiring of Billy because as a boy in Silver City, "he had loved his mother devotedly." Such praise must be viewed in the context of the times. Other people, of course, saw Billy as an arch-villain.
Book Description
Did Billy the Kid escape to die in 1950 in Hico, Texas? W.C. Jameson analyzes the evidence, including use of new technology to produce a compelling case for Billy's survival.
Customer Reviews:
Great book full of truth.......2007-04-22
Jameson is one of the best writers of history I have read. The way he gathers all the facts together and puts them out there for the reader to analyze is great. The truth is great to hear even though is conflicts with most historians. I would recommend this book to all.
Very interesting book about a fictious old man........2006-06-28
Mr. Jameson is a very good author with the uncanny ability to sway your thoughts and beliefs. I bought a copy of this book when it first hit the market place, not because I believed Brushy was Billy, but just to find out if Mr. Jameson had anything new to say. Of course, I wasn't surprised to find the same old material being written with a little icing to make it more interesting. I have read every book and paper that was ever written about Brushy Bill, and I must admit, this book is one of the most interesting to read, but it is not all convincing. There is NO real proof to back up Mr. Jameson's case. In fact, there is just too much proof available to prove that Brushy Bill was an imposter, fake, and liar. So, if you do read the book, remember that it is pure fiction and should be taken that way.
Is History Incorrect?.......2006-04-05
"Billy the Kid: Beyond the Grave" by W.C. Jameson is fascinating reading. Whether or not you believe the conspiracy that Jameson alleges took place, the historical detail of a little known conflict (the Lincoln County War) and the many intriguing characters that participated, along with the rough American West, makes for quite a literary journey.
Jameson's story centers on Bill Roberts, a man who died at 90 in Texas, who claimed to be Billy the Kid. His story is that Pat Garrett passed off a buddy of his, who he shot by mistake, as the Kid in order to collect the bounty that was on the Kid's head and advance his own political career. Such a tactic would have been much easier in 1881, when very few people knew exactly what Billy the Kid looked like - - most went on legend or newspaper drawings.
Jameson presents a very detailed outline of why Roberts could have been the notorious outlaw - - as an earlier reviewer pointed out, there is no smoking gun here, no "a-ha!" solution, but there is some solid background.
Was Bill Roberts the Wild West gunslinger, who managed a narrow escape from the law? Or was he a confused, publicity seeking old man?
This book will probably not convince those devout historians who believe without a doubt that Pat Garrett sent Billy the Kid into the hereafter in 1881 in New Mexico. For those who may know little about the Kid, or who are open minded about a possible conspiracy, it will be an exciting read.
The book itself is not too long, just over 100 pages, and has a nice section of photographs.
Definitely recommended for history buffs!
Billy the Kid; 'Killed' in New Mexico---DIED in Texas .......2005-12-29
This book clearly shows why it is so important to do the exhumation of Brushy Bill Roberts of Hico, TX and Catherine Antrim of Silver City, NM (who was Billy's half-aunt, not his mother by the way). Mitochondrial DNA will finally prove once and for all which of the legends is correct. We do exhumations all the time for various reasons and with a lot less fan fare than this. "Billy the Kid; 'Killed' in New Mexico---DIED in Texas" is the title of a manuscript/book written by Dr. Jannay Valdez and Judge Bobby E Hefner- that pretty much sums it up- BOTH states should be able to come together like adults and share Billy the Kid no matter how this turns out!
Same old "Billy the Kid" Stuff!.......2005-11-02
It seems we have another book dealing with the possiblity of an outlaw dying much later than previously recorded in history. This time it is "Billy the Kid," who according to author W. C. Jameson, lived to be an old man until his death in Hico, Texas. Open-minded readers will appreciate and actually like this book, I did not. This is like all the other books claiming that a notorious bandit of the old west lived to a ripe old age and was not killed as previously noted in history. We have the Jesse James and Butch Cassidy controversies, and now once again we have "Billy the Kid." Enough with the stories that are told over and over, which have no real proof or documentation to prove or change what most people already believe happened in history. I gave this book a middle-of-the-road rating due to the facination people have with controversial historical subject matter. To me, however "Beyond the Grave" should remain buried!
Product Description
When Lincoln County Sheriff Pat Garrett ended Billy the Kid's life on the night of July 14, 1881 with a shot in the dark, he was catapulted at once into stardom in the annals of Western history. The killing occurred at old Fort Sumner, New Mexico on the Pecos River. Garrett by pure chance had encountered the Kid in a darkened room of the Pete Maxwell house. As the unsuspecting Billy entered, he was cut down without warning. But the Kid had his share of friends and many of them stepped forward to level some harsh criticism against the lawman. It soon became clear that while Pat Garrett was an instant celebrity, he had also come away, at least in some quarters, with a negative image. To address that problem, he began thinking about a book to give the public his side of the story. The editor of the "Santa Fe New Mexican," Charles Greene, offered to publish a Garrett volume if the sheriff could find someone to ghost write it for him. Pat enlisted his good friend Marshall Ashmun (Ash) Upson, a journalist, to do the job. Upson cranked out a manuscript and it was published in 1882 under the title "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid." Sunstone s edition is a facsimile of the 1927 edition.
Download Description
Subtitled: The Noted Desperado of the Southwest, Whose Deeds of Daring and Blood made His Name A Terror in New Mexico, Arizona and Northern Mexico-- By Pat Garrett--Sheriff of Lincoln Co., N.M., By Whom He Was Finally Hunted Down and Captured By Killing Him.
Customer Reviews:
An interesting book of sorts.......2006-02-20
This book starts out slow and dry. It didn't get exciting until Pat Garrett started to take over the story. This doesn't occur until about midway through the book. Don't expect this to be a screenplay for the movies Young Guns and Young Guns II. The book isn't that exciting but it does introduce you to an interesting character profile of Billy the Kid. Personally I feel that the first half of the book is fiction that is read for pure entertainment and the second half covers the real story of the Kid. I would recommend this book if you are interested in the Kids story and you want to read every angle of his story.
Could have used a ghostwriter here!!!.......2001-09-18
Some very interesting facts are in this book. However, the book is dry and boring. So much work went into putting this book together, that it's a shame there wasn't a ghostwriter working with Mr. Garrett to capture the emotions and the urgency in what could have been a fascinating book. I'm afraid I only got halfway through this book, before I gave up. I hate to walk away from a book without finishing it... but there was no way I could finish this story.
Sometimes the best history is written by those who make it........2000-10-08
This is quite a work. A quasi-biography, a documentary and an adventure tale all rolled into one is the best I can do to try and classify it as something. Essentially, Garrett's book is generic - an oddity which caan only ever be a `one off' due entirely to the nature of the writers' relation to their subject.
Garrett and, to a lesser degree, Upson, write as technicians of fact-conveyance rather than writers. I found that this actually served to whet my appetite to learn more as I read. When you're hearing about a legend straight from the mouth of the horse that was chasing him, the awe you feel overrides your contempt for shoddy writing style.
Having said that, the book is just the right length and so is nowhere near as boring as the claims I had heard here and elsewhere prior to my buying and reading it. The writing, although nonchalantly functional most of the time, is kept tight which is necessary. To have imbued it with imaginative streaks and cosmetic touch-ups would have certainly destroyed the flow of what is, you'll soon find if you pick it up, a fast river of intrigue. Anyway, Upson has done quite a good job at injecting artistry in his sections so there is no really terrible lack of good writing here.
Of course, Garrett's leaden, subdued delivery do deaden the thrills a little. It's interesting how he balances his attitude toward `The Kid' throughout the book. At times, he seems to speak admirably of him (allbeit apparently with a false tone sometimes); at others, he seems genuinely distanced from him, almost indifferent to whether or not their paths will actually cross.
Biased? Of course it is. What do you expect? Even so, `The Authentic Life of Billy, the Kid' is made the definitive work on the topic because it, like the legend it examines, is a product of the same time. The best way to read it is with an analytical mind. By all means, challenge Garrett on his words when you feel he's deviating from his function as a chronicler - that is the point of reading this book a hundred and twenty years later. Unlike more recent biographers who would do exhaustive research based on documents, wide-sweeping second-hand information and historical `givens', it's best to go straight to those `givens' yourself and get to grips with them. Sheriff Garrett's book is a remarkable fountain of first generation facts and factoids and it commands the respect of academics and casual readers alike because of its durability. After all, just how many accounts of book length from the Old West survive today, especially those that receive serious scrutiny from a variety of disciplines.
My only peeve lies in Garrett and Upson's ardent declarations regarding the aftermath of `The Kid's slaying. Why did they repeat themselves so many times that `The Kid' was dead and buried and `that was that'. It seems that Garrett was a little insecure in case he was challenged over the fate of his quarry. Whatever the case, the insecure tone he adopts in the last pages seems to somehow lend strength to the camp of `Flat Earthers' who claim that Billy the Kid survived into the next century....cue Brushy Bill Roberts......
A valuable book because of the relationship of the author.......2000-08-21
The introduction to this book by J.C. Dyke is good, and explains a lot; especially the last paragraph, wherein he says,"The reading (and study) of [this book] is essential to an understanding of that mythical hero, the Robin Hood of the Southwest, who was once just a bucktoothed, thieving, murderous little cowboy-gone-bad, Billy the Kid."
Of course, the author, Pat Garrett, was not an unprejudiced reporter of events, for it was he who ended the life of William Bonney, also known as William Antrim (his foster father's surname). It is also interesting I think, in passing, to mention that Billy the Kid was not a product of the West, but a transplanted New Yorker.
Elsewhere, you will read that Pat Garrett's writing effort is poor, and leaves much to be desired. He readily admits it. In his own words, he says, "I make no pretension to literary ability, but propose to give to the public in intelligible English, 'a round, unvarnished tale,' unadorned with superfluous verbiage."
Garrett is motivated, he says, by an "impulse to correct the thousand false statements which have appeared in the newspapers and in yellow-covered cheap novels."
And, there is no doubt at all that the stories of Billy's exploits were greatly exaggerated by an Eastern press eager for stories of gunplay and adventure on the Western frontier. Today's myth of Billy the Kid is largely descended from the pulp stories created by the inflamed minds of Eastern "journalists" and the latter-day Hollywood screen-writers who have made no attempt at all to portray the truth.
Pat Garrett claims to have known Billy throughout the period known as the "Lincoln County Wars," and having listened to Bonney's reminiscences around campfires and says he has interviewed many persons since Bonney's death. That much would seem to be undisputed.
Bonney was born in 1859, six years after the birth of another Southwestern hardcase, John Wesley Hardin. In fact, they were contemporaries and were raising hell at the same time. Bonney, however, died young at the age of 21, in 1881. Hardin died at the age of 42--twice Billy's age--in 1895. And, if the rumors are true, Hardin probably killed twice as many men. They both started young. Both are reputed to have had fearful tempers. Neither were killed in the face-to-face "quick draw" shootouts so dear to the hearts of Hollywood writers. Instead, both of their executioners used stealth to kill their quarries.
According to Garrett, in Pete Maxwell's darkened bedroom, where he shot Billy to death, Billy was holding a butcher knife in one hand and drawing his double-action Colt "Lightning" revolver ("self-cocker") with the other, while asking in Spanish, "Quien es? Quien es?" ("Who is it? Who is it?") They were, again according to Garrett, at point blank range. The only other witness was Pete Maxwell. There are other versions to the story, including one which insists that Bonney was unarmed except for the knife, which he had used to cut off a chunk of beef from a hanging carcass outside, because he was hungry.
My question is this: it is undisputed that he was holding the knife, and the reason for which he had it. So, where was the beef? It is unlikely that he ate it raw, or stuck it in a pocket. Probably he was holding it in his other hand, intending to cook it. In which case, if he had a revolver tucked in his waistband, he must have had to drop the beef to fetch his revolver.
It is probably of little importance; a Billy Bonney armed with a butcher knife, at close quarters, would still have needed killing. But, did he make the fatal mistake of coming to a gunfight armed only with a knife?
I think that this is an important book, if for no other reason than the relationship that existed between the author and William Bonney. I recommend it. My version is in the hard cover.
Joseph Pierre
A SHAME.........2000-02-24
A shame that Mr. Garrett had absolutely no writing talent at all, because the book could be good, dealing about one of the greatest legendsof all times.
Book Description
During the 1870s a group of merchants and their allies, known as "The House," gained control over the economy of Lincoln County, New Mexico. In 1877 this control was challenged by an English entrepreneur, John Tunstall. The House violently resisted the interloper, eventually killing him; Tunstall's employees and supporters, known as the Regulators, sought to take vengeance on the House by killing those responsible for Tunstall's death. Among the Regulators was a young man known as Billy the Kid.
This story of greed, violence, and death has entered American folklore through the mythologizing of the career of Billy the Kid and also through a tendency to see the Lincoln County War as an archetype of Western history. As are Dodge City, Boot Hill, and the OK Corral, the Lincoln County War is emblematic of frontier lawlessness.
The story has been often retold, and central to many of the accounts is the question of right and wrong, even of good and evil; was Billy the Kid merely a thug, a gun-for-hire, in an amoral turf battle between rival gangs? Or was the Kid actually a participant in a brave but doomed attempt to wrest control of a defenseless town from a corrupt and vicious band?
Basing his account on a careful reexamination of the evidence, particularly on expressions of public sentiment, court records, and the actions of Tunstall and the House, Jacobsen subjects traditional attitudes—both the "Billy as martyr" and the "war among thieves" explanations—to a searching reexamination, and finds that—as with most things in life—the truth lies somewhat between.
Customer Reviews:
Billy the Kid was one of the good guys.......2003-12-28
Jacobsen's account of the Lincoln County War amounts to a long overdue exposé of the political corruption of New Mexico's territorial Republican establishment, and that establishment's willingness to kill all manner of innocent persons to maintain the capital stakes of its respective players. I write this statement as a modern Republican activist. The viewpoint is necessary, however, to understand modern New Mexico politics, right down to the Anglo-Hispanic division that all too often still exists in that state.
From the murder of English entrepreneur John Henry Tunstall by a "posse" of outlaws sent with the blessing of Lincoln County Sheriff John Brady, one of the primary villains in the affair, to the cold-blooded murder of Tunstall's lawyer and surviving partner, Alexander McSween, with the help of another "posse" led by famed murderer and rapist John Kinney and his own army of bandits, the reader is shocked to see the misapplication of law to protect the guilty.
In this entire affair, William Henry Bonney, later known as "Billy the Kid", was simply a Tunstall hand and loyalist, and one of many Tunstall and McSween partisans to carry the fight to the perpetrators when the corrupt Sheriff Brady refused to have the murderers rounded up and tried. The Tunstall and McSween partisans, commissioned by the local justice of the peace to bring in the killers Brady would not, formed themselves into a semi-formalized group calling themselves "the Regulators". Here, Billy Bonney was one of the Regulators' crack shots, but the leaders were Dick Brewer and Frank McNab, both killed in the course of the war.
Against the regulators, the corrupt establishment brought to bear the weight of the established military outpost at Ft. Stanton, west of Lincoln. The commander, Col. Dudley, actively breached the posse comitatus act of 1878 to side with the forces of J.J. Dolan, Murphy, US attorneys Rynerson and Catron, and Governor Axtell. Thus, Dudley committed his men to the final siege of the regulators in Lincoln, which culminated in the shocking murder of Alexander McSween and two partisans as they attempted to surrender to Deputy Beckwith.
The story vindicates Billy Bonney to some extent. While the murders of Tunstall and McSween were never punished (the establishment never attempted to punish them), Bonney was the only one singled out for execution. The appearance, in fact, is that the territorial government of Lew Wallace chose him as the scapegoat for the general breakdown in public order.
Indeed, the author successfully demonstrates that the "Lincoln County War" resulted from the partisanship of successive territorial governors, and the federal officers in Santa Fe, in a matter having to do with two competing enterprises in Lincoln. In this sense, the Lincoln County War was a case of Republican monopolists bringing in armed paramilitary forces to get rid of their upstart English competitor, who was thriving on the patronage of the ancestral Hispanic community. The "Ludlow Massacre", which took place just across the New Mexico line in Colorado sometime later, represents a similar case, where the state powers intervened on behalf of established economic interests (there, the mining firms) against disgruntled miners and their families. In both instances, the "good guys" lost.
Jacobsen brings to his work a successful prosecuting attorney's clear eye for evidence and testimony, and a singular degree of industry in working through the vast amount of material available to him. He relies notably on the heretofore largely ignored investigative records of the US justice department's special agent Angel, sent to investigate the misdoings of US Attorney Catron (the boss of the Santa Fe Ring) and Gov. Axtell. He does not set out to vindicate Billy Bonney, but his narrative leads in that direction. Along the way, he writes real history, where what we have gotten up until now has basically been establishment history.
My own take from the books is that Billy Bonney was one of the good guys, an Anglo cowhand and crack shot who threw in his hand with the Englishman John Tunstall, and who remained loyal to his mentor after Tunstall's murder. An interesting note is that Bonney was a ladies' man, and that he had wide popular support, especially in Lincoln proper, and among the Hispanic cowhands of the region, who rode with him. He was fluent in Spanish (uncommon among Anglos at the time) and his last words were spoken in that tongue.
Several striking facts highlight the miscarriage of justice in Bonney's case: the subsequent success of the villains, including Catron, appointed as the first US Senator to the new state of New Mexico, the acquittal of Col. Dudley on his own testimony in the face of the sworn testimony of 21 witnesses so that he could retire with pay of a full general, the escape of the murderer Jesse Evans (one of Tunstall's shooters), and the failure of Gov. Lew Wallace (author of the novel Ben Hur) to grant Bonney a promised full pardon in return for Bonney's testimony against the killers of Sue McSween's lawyer, Chapman.
Too often, the forces of law in the western territories were forces of corruption and crime. Wyatt Earp and his brothers faced a similar situation in Tombstone, Arizona, where Sheriff Johnny Behan held power, but Earp was able to command better and more effective guns than "the Regulators". As a result, he was able to hunt down and kill those who had shot his two brothers, Virgil and Morgan. Consequently, the Earps, along with their partisan Doc Holladay, avoided Billy Bonney's fate and went down in history as upholders of law and order, and not as outlaws.
Jacobsen's book is so factually based and at the same time so well-narrated that it makes for a gripping read. I chopped through it in three days of sporadic concentration. The only other account of the Old West that can compare is the late Paul Wellman's A Dynasty of Western Outlaws, which details the rise and fall of the James-Younger Gang and its successors.
This book is pretty good.......2001-04-20
I can smell revisionist history and political correctness a mile away, but I must say, I didn't find any in this book. I'm a bit surprised that another reviewer felt that way. The probability that a shifty, shadowy 21 year old "kid" was not the mover and shaker in this sordid little war should surprise no one. I don't know Mr. Jacobsen's political leanings, but his writing is crisp, clear and a pleasure to read. This in spite of the fact that the Lincoln County War's causes were the rather mundane ones of protection of business and political interests that escalated out of control. Jacobsen has his opinions no question, but he still makes a good case and he is a very lucid writer. He doesn't preach an agenda. I found the book interesting and informative.
Another Revisionist Jealous of Billy the Kid.......2001-04-01
I must state that the author of the book seems to want to make a point that Billy the Kid wasn't much of a well-known outlaw. Maybe in the Lincoln County War, but what about after? The author really glosses over the events following the War and tries to "revise" Billy out of history. Just another revisionist taking the stance that nothing important or interesting happened in the Old West. Unfortuante. Further, the review by Canfield is clearly a shill's piece. No one who had read the Utley book on Billy the Kid would then classify the Kid as a "hanger-on who became famous overnight and was killed shortly thereafter." Canfield, like Jacobsen, appears to be jealous of Billy the Kid. Keep in mind that Jacobsen, as a government official, would have good cause to try to downplay the life of the Kid. Canfield is either a partner in crime, or another guy who hates Billy the Kid 'cause his girlfriend saw Young Guns and thought Emilio Extevez was cute. The book may be worth reading, but don't fall for the revisionist scam!
The first "must buy" since Utley's books for Billy buffs........1997-11-04
The most revealing, entertaining and well-written factual account of the Lincoln County (NM) wars since Utley's last book. No less a newspaper than The Washington Post calls this a "lively, lucid, compelling account of complex and confusing events about which scholars are still puzzling." The Post is correct (Kirkus is wrong). If you're a Billy the Kid junkie, first read Utley's "Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life." THEN, read this book by Jacobsen. From Utley, you'll get to know Billy. From Jacobsen, you'll discover that Bill Bonney was mostly a hanger-on who became an overnight celebrity and was killed shortly thereafter. The REAL players in this story are Tunstall and Murphy and Dolan and McSween and Catron and Brady -- so much so, that not until the final third of the book does the Kid REALLY come into play. If you like your history unvarnished, the sources impeccably reproduced, the background thorough -- this is the book for you. Whoever wrote the Kirkus review is wrong. This is not only entertaining, it is fascinating in its human portrayals of people out to make a buck and control county politics in the new territory of New Mexico. Trust the Chicago Tribune, which describes Jacobsen's book as "...a tonic to the hysterical and sensational accounts of the past."
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- The Scarlet Pimpernel: 100th Anniversary Edition (Signet Classics)
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- The Sweet Life: Reflections on Home and Garden
- The Talisman
- The Tell-Tale Heart (Bantam Classics)
- The Violin Maker: Finding a Centuries-Old Tradition in a Brooklyn Workshop
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