Customer Reviews

Tombstone: An Iliad of the Southwest

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Walter Noble Burns looked up Wyatt Earp with a view toward writing a story about him, as he had about Billy the Kid. His Billy the Kid helped establish once and for all the legendary status of the Kid. Wyatt Earp reported Burn's first visit to his friend, movie star, Wm. S. Hart, saying he was happily convinced Wyatt would allow him to do his story.

Unfortunately, for both Burns and Earp, Wyatt's friend John H. Flood Jr. had just written Wyatt's story, which was being circulated to publishers with the help of Wm. S. Hart. More unfortunately was that Earp loyally declined Burn's offer out of regard for Flood. The rub there turned out to be that Flood obviously couldn't write for beans. (Ask me. I found, bought and published his work after historians had sought for years this rare document, all copies of which had dropped out of sight.) As one editor said of Flood's work, it was "stilted and florid and diffuse." That may have been an understatement.

In any case, shifty Burns, despite what others have more kindly said about the sequel, tricked Wyatt into thinking he would instead do a book on Wyatt's intimate, Doc Holliday. And under that pretext he got a lot out of Wyatt, and used it to do a book that Wyatt finally concluded, was more about him than Doc. In fact when it occurred to him that he'd been tricked out of what amounted to the most interesting part of his life story he considered suing Burns. His friend Hart encouraged him, and thought he'd probably win big time. But suits cost time and money just as they do today. Moreover, Wyatt was old and tired. So Burns got away with his trickery, and brought out one of the most interesting, and accurate, books on what had gone on during what could be called the Earp, Behan, Clanton, McLaury, Cowboy Gang Feud. Behan was the crooked sheriff in spades. Burns did not learn that beneath much of the violence at Tombstone lay the fact that Wyatt had swiped the sheriff's cute, young, gal, Josephine Sarah Marcus. (Who later became his third and last wife, at least by common-law.) SEE THE STORY OF HER LIFE WITH WYATT ON AMAZON: "I MARRIED WYATT EARP."

Burns success in portraying things as they were was based on the fact that he found many of the participants still living, just as he had in the case of Billy the Kid. Burns was, however, basically a tenderfoot. For example, while researching Wyatt, an idea for another book occurred to him to cover the shenanigans of the many colorful old timers out in Cochise County, and he proposed to have the father of my old friend Ben Sanders act as his oracle and guide in seeking out old scoundrels. Bill Sanders reaction was: "You must be joking. These people are my neighbors!" If the implication isn't obvious to law professors from back East and that sort, he meant he'd have to move out if he blew the whistle.

In any case, this is a book well worth reading. It's author ended a colorful career shortly after the book came out, by dying quite young. Pity.

There is less fiction here than modern writers, who are shot in the pants with debunking, would like us to believe. Burns knew the foremost guide to writing such books was "stick to the facts, till you run out of them, and only make up as much as you have to in order to eat regularly." Editorial ethics then and now were much the same. In any case, Burns was not "stilted and florid and diffuse."

Since Flood's Ms. was not saleable, when Stuart Lake came along a few years later he took it over and made it that way. And Lake's so-called biography of Wyatt is a lot more truth than fiction. Read it, too: WYATT EARP: FRONTIER MARSHAL.

Burns was the first of the big name writers that started Wyatt Earp on the trail to fame and eventualy six-shooter Sainthood. I have a notion Wyatt would have liked the money in it, but not necessarily the fuss and bother of meeting celebrity seekers.

I read somewhere that more movies have been made about Wyatt Earp than all the U.S. presidents combined! There's something about the gunfight at the O.K. Corral that touches the mainspring of American imagination. Tombstone is the book that made Wyatt Earp famous and shaped forever our perception of him. I read Tombstone first when I was in high school back in the 1950s and I've since dipped into it countless times. Some might object to the author's purple prose and made-up dialogue and newer scholarly studies of the Earps and Tombstone may be more accurate and balanced. But Burns drew his material from interviews with old-timers and Tombstone newspapers and I'm confident that he comes about as close to fact as you can get. This is a magical tale and nobody could tell it any better than Burns.

Smallchief

tombstone the Iliad of the Southwest was a very informative book that keep me entertained as well as learning about the history of the people that shaped the southwest.I was very impressed how the author was able to interview many of the characters or speak to people that lived through that era.The book being writted in 1927 really brought out alot of history that would otherwise be lost.

One of the editorial reviews above says that this book is "a mixture of fact and fiction." It seems to me that it is no more so than modern works on the topic and perhaps may be more accurate.

Written less than 50 years after the primary events that made the town famous, and while some of the people who participated in them were still alive, Burns crafts a portrait not just of those seminal events but a general history of the town from its inception to what had become of it in the 1920's.

Many other works about the Earps and their opponents tend either to lionize or demonize Wyatt Earp. Burns takes a more balanced view of both sides in the conflict, exploring their shortcomings and their qualities. Modern writers on the subject could take a lesson from him.

Great old book. Very informative and presents details, events and names of people that modern writers have overlooked or choose not to include in there condenced versions of the events that took place in Tombstone. Burns does invent a few details but if you have a good working knowledge of the Earp boys and Tombstone you will have no trouble spoting these few inacurate statements. I think everyone who is interested in the Tombstone legend should read this book!

I bought this book on a whim. I got an urge to do some research on the OK corral shootout, and this book has a snazzy cover and was well reviewed.

I wanted a scholarly type thing, that went into details about the personailties and dynamics of that event. I was delightfully surprized that style of this book is more like the pulp fiction
stories popular when it was first publish.

The period is covers in detail is sometime shortly after the civil war to the begining of the 1900's. It made me pause and reflect on the conditions of that time, and how a generation that survived our countrys bloodiest and most deadly war adjusted to civilian life. While PTSD has only recently been recongized, I suspect its effects where influencial in the lawlessness and genocide this period is known for.

Its not all about Wyatt Earp and Ike Clanton, although they are there, and does endorse this work, but the history of the entire region. It tell hows Tombstone was founded, the men who ran it, and lastly its decline into tourism. Its a story of shoot outs and desperados, boom towns and dance halls, lost treasure and broken dreams.

Sorry, I got caught up in it there...its really entertaining.

The only real issue I have is that the information is not referanced, so its hard to tell fact from fiction. The sources are readily, from newspaper accounts, court records and first person interviews, but its just not always clearly stated where the facts end and the speculation begins.

So yes, its a fun and informative. It kept my interest and I learned a little. Perfect for your commute on the bus or a day at the beach.

I enjoyed this book in its entirely. I was actually looking for a book that focused on just Wyatt Earp but on a whim, ended up buying this one. As far as Earp and the shooting at the OK coral go, the book does cover that incident. As far as a lot of information on Wyatt Earp, no it doesn't nor was the book ever intended to just focus in on Wyatt Earp. It does cover many of the colorful characters that interacted with Wyatt Earp but this is more of a general look at Tombstone in the late 1800's and what life was like there.

I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in get a taste for what life was really like in the Ol' West. You will be surprised!