Customer Reviews

Outlaws: The Illustrated History of the James-Younger Gang

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Marley Brant is an excellent author, if you want to know the truth about Jesse James, his brother Frank, and their partners in crime you must read this fabulous biography. Brant sticks to this colorful history of the Outlaws in an enormously entertaining writing style. The James and Younger boys are no longer just footmates in some dusty history books but still live in the minds. The real life adventures of these men were more amazing than the fictional accounts that abounded even during their lifetimes. Their exploits in life made them immortal in death ! Marley Brant perseveres in trying to reconcile all the accrued information and misinformation with the historical facts of the James-Younger saga. This book will make you want to travel to Missouri to visit the area as it was during the civil war until 1916. A must !

The lives of Jesse James and Cole Younger and their brothers are shrouded in myths created by Nineteenth Century journalists who celebrated their deeds and by themselves through the lies they told to cover their tracks and to excuse their crimes. Brant's book attempts to separate reality from legend, covering the James and Younger brothers from birth to death. Her book is not without sympathy for her subjects, but it is by no means an apologia for their manifold sins. Although Brant rightfully sees the origin of their criminal activities in Civil War guerilla warfare which carried over into the atmosphere of bitter reprisals following the war, she also chronicles their slide into simple greed and thrill-seeking. This volume is generous in its presentation of photographs of the outlaw gang, their associates, enemies, and victims, and of the places where they operated.