Customer Reviews

The Outlaws: Accounts by Eyewitnesses and the Outlaws Themselves (The Authentic Wild West, Vol. 2)

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James D. Horan painstakingly documents happenings in the Old (and Yes...Wild) West in his Authentic Wild West Series. Footnotes and references are numerous. Photos and original documents, newspapers, personal accounts,and other texts bring history alive. Horan was one of the first of the historians to attempt to give a realistic and "unvarnished" opinion of America's Wild West during the late 19th century. His writing is easy-to-follow, and pages are filled with photos and copies of the documents from the day. Sometimes the accounts read directly from the original documents are as enlightening as the text...and Horan plans his style that way. Horan often debunks the heroists of the day and the traditions built upon portrayals by dime store novelists. Horan was a historical story teller decades ago before it made fashionable by Bob Boze Bell, Ambrose and McCullough. Armchair critics may argue one belabored point after another concerning the attributes of one outlaw or another, but this volume of the Wild West Series by Horan is a good addition to your library. Pick up a good copy of all three volumes (including The Gunfighters and The Lawmen, while you can find them.