Helldorado: Bringing the Law to the Mesquite (Paperback)

by William M. Breakenridge (Author), Richard Maxwell Brown (Editor, Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Helldorado offers cinematic images of wagon trains crossing the Great Plains, of Phoenix and Denver emerging from the dust and mud, of Tombstone blazing through a silver bonanza, and of the railroad joining East and West to change history. In his memoirs, originally published in 1928, William M. Breakenridge is shown doing about everything an enterprising and vigorous young man could do on the frontier. After leaving Wisconsin at the age of sixteen, he became a teamster, railroader; and lawman in Colorado, Arizona, and elsewhere. He took part in the Sand Creek Massacre, here described from his own point of view. Helldorado heats up in its evocation of early-day Tombstone, where, as deputy sheriff, Breakenridge encountered the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Luke Short, John Ringo, and Buckskin Frank Leslie.

About the Author

In his introduction Richard Maxwell Brown asserts that Breakenridge "flourished in the pioneer era of the gunfight and survived its dangers to grow old and successful in the modern West." Beekman Professor of Northwest and Pacific History at the University of Oregon, Brown is the author of No Duty to Retreat: Violence and Values in American History and Society.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0803261004
• ISBN-13: 978-0803261006
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #824,745 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This is a greatly Revised edition of the orginal work., June 5, 1999

By A Customer

Having read the orginal version of Helldorado 20 years ago, anticipation of again reading this first hand account of Tombstone days quickly lead to disappoint due to the blatant revisions in this book. For example, the chapter about John Ringo has been completely omitted and substitutions based on author Jack Burrows's derogatory comments from the Gunfighter Who Never Was have been substituted. Orignal photographs have also been omitted. Since William Breakenridge was actually acquainted with the people and times he wrote about, why should a modern revisionist feel compelled to correct his original observations and opinions and thus distort history? If an author has a different viewpoint, then let him/her write their own version, not use the title of another's work.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helldorado- Bringing the Law to the Mesquite, May 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Helldorado: Bringing the Law to the Mesquite (American Biography Series) (Library Binding)

If you would like to read about how the non Wyatt Earp supporters felt about "Tombstone" back then read this book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Breakenridge - A View From Within The Clanton Gang, October 31, 2006

By	F. Healy (Pinehurst, NC United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Please read this book with the understanding the nature of W.M. Breakenridge's relationship to the "cowboys" and Clanton faction. He, along with John Behan were openly aligned with the rustlers and criminal element. Consequently, his comments regarding Mr. Earp and the law in Tombstone are terribly biased and not to be taken as fact. Had Mr. Breakenridge been neutral, his words would have had significance. Mr. Breakenridge was little more than a tax collector, although he paints himself as a force in law. Reading his manuscript as fact would be similar to reading a biography of Adolph Hitler written by Joseph Goebbels and accepting it as pure fact.