Customer Reviews

Classic Gunfights

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Bob Boze Bell is an entertaining character in his own right...if you've ever watched his interviews on TV or his vignettes portraying the gritty side of the Old West on the TV show "Cowboys," you know this book is going to keep your interest. The Classic Gunfights series is composed of three volumes, published in relatively small numbers in both paper back and hard back. The used book market prices of these books indicate that there is significant interest in the series (perhaps due to the fans in the Cowboy Action Shooting TM fraternity?). Bell's artistic interpretations and illustrations throughout the books are always stylized---sometimes dark and fatalistic...however, so is the topic. Some fans like Bell's style of presentation: lots of historical photos, illustrations, maps, and sidebar articles of short length placed on pages in mosaic style. The style allows one to pick up the book, look at pictures and their captions, read a little and put it back down for a while. One negative aspect is that Bell's ecclectic style often leaves a serious student of history a bit hungry for more substantive information...feeling like one has just read a series of tabloid articles. I personally like his extensive use of maps and historical photos of the period. Some argue that Bell misrepresents some historical events...I have yet to find a serious error in any of the Gunfights series...for another valuable set of heavily illustrated and footnoted books on the Wild West, check out the Authentic Wild West series by James Horan.