Customer Reviews

The Truth About Wyatt Earp

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The "Truth About Wyatt Earp" is the definitive book about Wyatt Earp. I have read many books about Wyatt Earp and they can be separated between the myth makers and the bashers. Mr. Erwins book is simply the best in that it is factual, educational and enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the process of getting to the "truth" and solving the various mysteries about Wyatt Earp. I have not seen such a well researched book on Wyatt Earp since maybe Paula Mitchell Mark's famous "And Die In The West". Mr. Erwin considered the facts from all the known researchers before reaching his conclusions, rather than just three or four sources like most researchers. The author must have spent years researching all the material in this book. He endeavored to show Wyatt as a real man, with faults like everyone has. Wyatt was no hero with a halo, nor was he a braggart, liar, and murderer The "Truth About Wyatt Earp" explains that Wyatt was a flesh and blood human being, something that most authors forget in writing biographys.

I checked out Mr Erwin's book, (You can't tell a book by its cover!) and planned an evening of enjoyable reading.

I first want to thank Mr. Erwin for his great effort and research. Saying that ...

Richard E. Erwin has apparently set forth what he believes are the true facts. However unless you're a lawyer or one of those college professors whose writings are unreadable except to one of their own kind you will NOT enjoy this.

Without studying his book as you would one of your old history books just before a test, you likely will not be able to figure out what facts Mr. Erwin sees as true and false. They may be found within his book, but you better start a blank truth table as well as a flow chart and begin completing it as you read each sentence.

Perhaps, Mr Richare E. Erwin can pursuade someone such as Steven Ambrose or Kenneth Davis to put his trurh into their words.

Perhaps Mr. Erwin can do so himself without the lawyerese. I would likely enjoy such a book. And it would probably sell well at museums and tourist areas in the Western United States.

I looked forward to reading this book, and like one reviewer, looked forward to a pleasant evening of reading. This book is painfully researched and definitely not an enjoyable read. I have no doubt the author knows what he is writing about, but unless you are really an Earp fanatic, you will not enjoy a pleasant read about a colorful western persona. The book would have been much more enjoyable if the author had presented his version of the history of Wyatt Earp first. It was very distracting with the constant reporting of descrepancies he found in other texts in every chapter, and at least for novices, would have been appreciated at the end of the book as a summary of research.

Any bright High School kid could have compiled this book as Richard Erwin obviously did, by taking snippets of everything previously written on his subject (unless it didn't prove his pre-selected conclusions) and pasting them onto the page with his own, not too well-informed opinions, added. Nothing new. Much erroneous. A typographical nightmare of misspellings and erroneous words. Save your money.

Mr. Erwin's book becomes almost tedious when one tries to plow through all the documentation and disparities surrounding the many versions of the story. But, with patience and attention, the true story comes to light, blowing most of the others out of the water.

This is one of the best books on Earp that has been writen. It is easy to read and is hard to put down. The facts are there and are well documented.