Review
Over the years, in the face of all the 'heifer dust' that has circulated concerning the brothers Laffite, in particular Jean, a number of historians have stated flatly that an accurate biography of Jean Laffite would be impossible. Jack Ramsay seems to have accomplished the impossible. --
The Tombstone EpitaphThe research that went into this biography is impressive: Ramsay's notes and bibliography take up 46 pages - nearly a quarter of the book. An appendix as interesting as the main text examines the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center in Liberty that most scholars, including Ramsay, believe to be fake. --
Mike Cox, former Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reporter
About the Author
Jack C. Ramsay, Jr., though born in Virginia was raised in Laredo, Texas, the border town in which his grandfather settled soon after the Civil War. For several years, he lived in Louisiana, where he first heard tales of the bayou country and legends of Gulf Coast pirates. In later years, he returned to the area and applied the techniques of a trained historian to the mystery of Jean Laffite. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where he received a Ph.D. for his work in historical research, Ramsay also studied at the University of Texas at Austin, Davidson College (North Carolina) and Union Seminary in Virginia. He and his wife now live in Denton, Texas, where he is concentrating on writing, traveling in the pursuit of historical research and speaking. They are the parents of a son and a daughter and have four grandchildren.
