Customer Reviews

A Tenderfoot in Tombstone, the Private Journal of George Whitwell Parksons: The Turbulent Years, 1880-82 (Great West & Indians Series, Vol 65)

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For the novice to Tombstone history and the diaries of George Parsons, this is an informative book. There are many good illustrations, with good footnotes on some of the characters mentioned in the diaries. However, there are many mistakes as well, and the informed scholar would be made cautious to take everything at face value, and would be urged to further check any facts. For example, on the very first page it is mentioned that George had one brother, Sam, and two sisters, Alice and Strallus. "Strallus" was a nickname for Alice, thus Alice and Strallus are the same person. The other sister's name was Emeline. A very basic fact such as this should not have been missed and unfortunately makes much of what follows suspect to any scholars looking for pertinent information. The book also states that George began his diary in March of 1879, after arriving in San Francisco. This is also inaccurate - the diary was begun in June of 1869, following the death of his mother, which had a profound effect on George and was the impetus for the journal. Every year on the anniversary of his mother's death, George would note it in his diary, even a half-century later. There are also grammatical errors and misspelled words in those sections coming directly from the author, and poor editing is to blame rather than the author of this volume. It is unfortunate that small things can cast doubt upon an entire volume, but still, the vast majority is in good order and the book is a very good snapshot of Tombstone and the mining district during those years. For someone desiring such, it is chock full of information, although the diary isn't always clear itself on who George is talking about, as he often uses abbreviations when discussing people. There are other versions of the diary in print that eliminate the abbreviations and spell out who is being discussed, although they may lack the extra footnotes or illustrations. For serious scholars, this book is a good companion volume to others in print, while for the novice this book can stand alone as a good primer on the Tombstone mining era.

This quaint, but tremendously helpful work has added positively to my ever thirsty desire to understand the intimate details of the Tombstone saga. Many average entries that are personal to the author, but also many "nuggets" of valuable information leading me to a more complete understanding of just how events "went down" in Tombstone.

When I decided to make this purchase, it wasn't for a book; it was for this book. It was what I wanted, when I wanted it, and, at a price I could afford. GWP was somewhat of a prude by today's standards but in line with the morality of his times. Given that, the reader gets an inside view of what was happening in Tombstone in it's early days. An intelligent observer relating what was going on around him. I'm glad nobody got this book before I did.