Customer Reviews

The Illustrated Life and Times of Wyatt Earp

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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The mystique surrounding Wyatt Earp,Doc Holiday, John Ringo, and the other "heros" of the town of Tombstone, Az.is as captivating now as ever before. The previous books about Wyatt ("Wyatt Earp,Frontier Marshall", "Tombstone", "I Married Wyatt Earp" etc.) were usually based on conjecture and subjectivity. The truth is that even though Wyatt Earp is an American idol of epic porportions, known to almost everybody, only small amounts of his life are varified by historical fact. This includes "The Gunfight At The OK Corral" With this book Mr. Bell not only gives you a sense of the times with many extraordinary photos and paintings but also tells us what is known for sure and what may or may not be the truth. He also discusses the movies (and there are a lot) about not only the gunfight and the people involved but also those on which Wyatt may have been a consultant. I have never read anything that left me with such a through understanding of the gunfight and the aftermath.Also, I have not until now ever really understood why Wyatt was famous in the first place. This is a great book to read first before you watch any of the movies or read any the other books. This along with "The Illustrated Life and Times of Doc Holliday" also by Bob Boze Bell form a solid and totally entertaining foundation from which to evaluate, understand, and enjoy the many, many versions available of the "Earp Legend".

I just got back from Tombstone, Arizona where they celebrated the 125th Anniversary of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
On Thursday afternoon, October 26th at about 2:20 p.m., "the walk" was recreated by men dressed as Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan Earp along with a Doc Holliday (there were four sets of them in Tombstone that week), covered by all the local media and hundreds of tourists' cameras from all over the world.
They marched from Allen Street down Fourth Street and made a left on Fremont to meet in the alley behind the O.K. Corral.

If you read Bob Boze Bell's books on the subject, you'll find out a lot of fascinating facts about the legends and myths of this and other stories of the American West.
Like Myth Number One: the gunfight at the O.K. Corral didn't happen in the O.K. Corral. As Mr. Bell points out, "'The gunfight in the alley behind the O.K. Corral' just doesn't has the same ring to it."

Chock full of old photographs and Mr. Bell's paintings (Arizonans have known what a great artist he's been for years), these books are great editions to anyone's library of Western history and literature (I can also rave about his books on Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid as well). Facts are presented--whenever possible--and usually with a sense of humor.

Mr. Bell has recently revived "True West" magazine as its Senior Editor and you might have seen his segments between films on the Western Channel. I got a chance to talk to him in Tombstone and thanked him for everything he's done to preserve Western history.

It's a rich and vibrant history and, thanks to these books, one that will endure for decades and centuries to come.

Bob Boze Bell has created a book that anyone would enjoy. Chock full of factual blurbs in chronological detail, Mr. Bell not only gives the reader a complete overview of the life of this incredible gunfighter, but also his place in the West's historical time-line. A visual feast for the eye as well; the book is loaded with photos and illustrations. The few minor facts I checked were accurate; his first marrriage and her subsequent death, for instance, although he attributes it to childbirth, and that has never been confirmed. All in all, this book is a keeper.

Good reading, and pictures. Showed Earp with all his faults and his historical impact. Once I started reading the book I found it hard to put down.

I'm one of those people probably like you, who knows they were born 150 years too late. I get my hands on as much history of the west where I have lived my entire life. There is alot of junk out there in the literary world. Alot of writers and artists shove their opionion in your face and expect you to digest it without doubt. I find myself buying very few books because of this, I usually go to the library and only buy or keep books that will educate, entertain and entice me to pick it up again a year down the rode.

This book is a keeper. I was given this book as a birthday present and I assumed it would be like most western genre books given to me, regurgitated photos and opionions from the old historical books I allready have. Much to my surprise I was in for a visual and factual treat. Each page is filled with real photos of Tombstone and amazing artwork that envokes the cowboys and Earps who roamed those dusty Arizona streets of long ago.

This book is 5 Stars, I am extremely pleased with the excerpts from the Newspapers from the time as well as the Journal entries. The Artwork is beautiful and will appease your longing for the west of old. So if you don't have this book in your collection order it today or for your favorite western fan, they will thank you for it.

Thanks Bob for signing my copy,

A fellow western enthusiast

I say this book is "unfortunately" the best book on Wyatt Earp because it's really a popular coffee table kind of thing and not a serious work of scholarship but at least it attempts to be objective, gets most of the facts right and is a lot of fun.