Customer Reviews

John Wesley Hardin : Suppressed Memories

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My father was born in Fannin County, Texas in 1910, the birthplace of John Wesley Hardin. I grew up listening to stories of Hardin's exploits and was pleasantly surprised to run across Steppen Wirth's book, John Wesley Hardin: Suppressed Memories. Many of my father's stories of Hardin came to life and old memories resurfaced.

The various biographies about Wes Hardin are little more than a retelling of his autobiography. Some authors go on to vilify, and some glorify Hardin but none really gives any insight into Hardin's personality. There isn't any reason for anyone to write
another biography on Wes Hardin unless new information is uncovered and that is doubtful. That's why a book like Steppen Wirth's is refreshing. He is not limited to rehashing Hardin's autobiography. Like one Reviewer put it: "The line between what is real and what the author has crafted from imagination is difficult to see." In Steppen's book Hardin steps from the pages, you can feel him breathe. You can almost touch him. The softer side of Wes Hardin, his deep love for his wife and close bond with family and friends moved me. Just when I started to feel empathy for Hardin the author reminded me of Hardin's willingness to kill. I admit there are parts of this book I think are too graphic for my taste. I wonder about the necessity of such violent detail. I have never understood why men have to kill each other but I've never understood war either. Most women don't. I realize Hardin's world was a different world, a world where you had to stay alive during that horrible period after the Civil War. I know anti-Union sentiments were still strong in my father's youth.

This title is a welcome addition to the Hardin list of books. Steppen's prose is vivid and strong. I became so engrossed I read the whole thing in one sitting. I will read this book again and look forward to more books by Steppen Wirth.

John Wesley Hardin: Suppressed Memories. I ate it up with my eyes and my imagination. It evoked many exciting, intriguing, mysterious, envious, and violent fantasies. I enjoyed every moment of this book as the dark side of my self was stimulated. Wes was a complex man and his life appealed to my intellect and soul, as well as my inner anger and envy. In many ways, Hardin is a great and famous villian of the Old West, a gunslinger, killer, murderer, bully and a cruel man with little empathy for anyone he disliked. I believe that Hardin appeals to men as a bigger-than-life masculine hero who exhibited great bravery, skill and defied incredible odds with his daring and keen mind. And this is why Wes Hardin may be such a powerful and memorable figure, because he lived life as many of us fear to live our own lives.

This book tells the story of the meteoric rise of master gunfighter John Wesley Hardin, a legend by the age of eighteen, who dazzled outlaws and lawmen alike with his extreme daring and phenomenal skill with firearms. The author, Steppen Wirth manages cleverly to interweave crystalline paragraphs, reminiscences, letters, journals, and newspaper accounts to recreate this intensely human story. Eminently fascinating...a colorful, and inventive book, but not one for the queasy.

As a Hardin fan I read this book with great curiosity. In fact I read it four times and each time I found something else to like about it. Steppen Wirth effectively conveys the many sides of John Wesley Hardin's complex personality. It is truly a work of art. I highly recommend it.

This is one of the best books on John Wesley Hardin ever published. Steppen Wirth's writing style is terse, compact, and unadorned. He has an ear for simplicity in language, and for dialogue. This is not your typical "High Noon" Western. There is truth in the pessimism and despair of the times, and a pervading sense of tragedy. Hardin is both frightening and vulnerable. He comes alive! If you're into John Wesley Hardin, this should be in your collection.

In his own time, gunfighter John Wesley Hardin was one of the most feared men in Texas and the Southwest. Author Steppen Wirth has created an unusual yet enteraining book about Hardin by combining fiction with facts, eyewitness accounts, and old photographs from the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. The line between what is real and what the author has crafted from imagination is difficult to see. And that is a key factor in the charm of this work, now in its second printing. Mr. Wirth, a Texas native, lives and writes in Montana.

A fascinating and unusual account of one of Texas' most alluring outlaws. I was struck by its sheer intelligence. It transports you back to that dark period of Reconstruction Texas. Wirth deftly blends history and fiction so seamlessly that it's hard to tell what's real. It's wicked and witty. And, Wirth pulls it off so well that the reader really believes what he is reading. I feel that I've learned more about Wes Hardin in these pages than I did in his autobiography or any of the various biographies. Wirth's writing takes you inside the mind of Wes Hardin in a way that most don't. Check it out to learn about this largely overlooked western killer.

As a direct descendant of John Wesley Hardin (he was my grandmother's so-many-greats uncle) I read every book on him I can. This is my favorite of all, because I believe it is one of the view that gives a realistic, balanced view of the man he was.