Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City

by Robert Rebein

In Dragging Wyatt Earp essayist Robert Rebein explores what it means to grow up in, leave, and ultimately return to the iconic Western town of Dodge City, Kansas. In chapters ranging from memoir to reportage to revisionist history, Rebein contrasts his hometown’s Old West heritage with a New West reality that includes salvage yards, beefpacking plants, and bored teenagers cruising up and down Wyatt Earp Boulevard. Along the way, Rebein covers a vast expanse of place and time and revisits a number of Western myths, including those surrounding Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, the Cheyenne chief Black Kettle, George Armstrong Custer, and of course Wyatt Earp himself. Rebein rides a bronc in a rodeo, spends a day as a pen rider at a local feedlot, and attempts to “buck the tiger” at Dodge City’s new Boot Hill Casino and Resort. Funny and incisive, Dragging Wyatt Earp is an exciting new entry in what is sometimes called the nonfiction of place. It is a must- read for anyone interested in Western history, contemporary memoir, or the collision of Old and New West on the High Plains of Kansas.

Genres: Essays

236 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2013

Reviews

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dragging Wyatt Earp: A Personal History of Dodge City by Robert Rebein (Swallow Press 2013) (Biography) is a very interesting memoir. It’s a series of stories rather than a coherent narrative, but that’s ok because the author is a good storyteller, and he has good tales to tell. My rating: 6.5/10, finished 7/26/13.

[Craig Werner · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's nothing horribly wrong with this book; on a sentence by sentence basis, it's well written and there's some interesting information about the author's home town of Dodge City. My problem with it is really a problem with the memoir genre, which is all the proverbial rage in the publishing world these days. I'm simply not that interested in the details of personal experience unless they're tied to something more compelling. Dragging Wyatt Earp had that potential, but it would have required a much greater emphasis on the landscape and history and less on the author's family, which seemed pretty normal to me. (I don't like "monster family" memoirs any better, for what it's worth. Probably just time for me to put the whole genre on hold.

[Shanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up on a ranch outside of Dodge City and it was fun to read the author's take on the various places and experiences I remember as well.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In one of this author's earlier books, he proclaims that many of us find the open road, and its escape from our hometowns, appealing. But ultimately, we have to re-embrace our past. We may be happier far away but, especially if we are writers, we have to return or we choke off the headwaters that feed us.

Here, Rebein takes his own advice. Succumbing to nostalgia about the dusty landscape from which he came, he has now published his memoir, Dragging Wyatt Earp.

Rebein grew up as one of seven closely-packed boys in a Catholic family. His father was one of those handy sorts who had a hard time resisting major renovation projects on the house. He drew plans for new kitchens, or bricking the exterior, on some handy envelope and, before long, had the family camping in the basement, eating chicken noodle soup on rice for days on end.

For years, the father owned an auto salvage yard, providing a richly imaginative playground for the young Rob, not to mention a cast of hired help that limped and swore and came in late after sleeping one off.

In a later section, the author documents a pilgrimage into Kansas history and geography, but I liked the family tales best.

[Macy Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read. One particular essay "Feedlot Cowboy" stuck out to me because of it's connection to Scott City. It's always fun to see different perspectives on Western Kansas that consider the area in a broader context.

[Ellison · Rating 3 out of 5]

author shares his experiences growin' up in metro dodge city. he lives elsewhere, then returns and aspires to do some 'old west' type activities, visits areas where things happen, does rodeo and casino, not dance hall grls, after all, he is a married man, after all.

[Decker Wentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not every day you get to read a memoir about your girlfriend’s family!

[Michael Brockley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up watching cowboy shows on television. And I was, as a boy, a cowboy geek, dressed in my tattered straw cowboy hat with a set of six-shooters buckled around my waist, a plastic badge pinned somewhere on a black vest and a plastic knife tucked in the back of my gun belt. I learned about cowboys by watching the Lone Ranger, the Cisco Kid, Paladin, Maverick, Cheyenne, Sugarfoot and Texas John Slaughter. And Marshall Dillon and Wyatt Earp. Rebeim's Dragging Wyatt Earp is a nostalgic amusement park ride, part roller coaster and part bucking bronco. In his memoir, Rebeim shares the family ethic of hard work which he learned from stints on a farm, a salvage yard and a ranch, all the brainchildren of his industrious father. Interspersed throughout the memoir are revelations about historic Western personalities (Earp wasn't so much a great shot as he was a great brawler, despite being a short man) as well as Rebeim's Paper Lion-like experiences riding cattle in an AFO, participating as a bronc rider in a rodeo and placing a bet in a casino. Rebeim's love for his wife Alyssa and their two children is apparent. I suppose that explains why he doesn't have a chapter about his experiences with Miss Kitty. This is a tender but not sentimental memoir about our hometowns and the rich histories of those places where the nuns kept us in from recess, where we worked seven days a week to water crops with a faulty watering system and where we dragged Wyatt Earp Boulevard in muscle cars after Saturday chores were done. And where the elementary schoolboy I used to be practiced quick draws with cap guns after watching Matt Dillon save the good citizens of Dodge City from characters like Lee Van Cleef and Stother Martin.

[Bryan Furuness · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book of engaging essays, Rebein deftly weaves the personal with the historical. Along with getting a sense of what it's like to grow up on the Plains (and to leave, and feel the pull to return), I learned a lot of Real Stuff about Dodge City, horses, feedlots, and much more. None of the essays feel didactic, though. They're all smart without being ponderous, wondering but not wandering, and often funny but never fluffy. I loved this book, and hope to see another book of essays from this writer.

[Toni Mcintire · Rating 5 out of 5]

My brother is the one that recommended this book. I found it very interesting. I grew up within 100 miles of Dodge City so could relate to many of the locations the author spoke of. I was also afraid that it was going to be a boring and hard to keep reading book and was pleasantly surprised at how captivating the writer was. He keeps you interested all the way through. Teaches you some history of the area that most would not be familiar with. I would readily read more of Mr Rebein's books.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So enjoying this book so far. Robert is a former colleague; so good to see a friend's work getting wider attention. This is a delightful exploration of family, growing up, the West, dreams, and horses, written with grace and humor. And even if, like me, you're scared of horses, you can still find a million ways to enjoy these narratives.

[Claudia Mundell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read. Some parts were esp. interesting like the authors searching out Washita and Sand Creek battlefield...or murdering grounds. His taking on working a feedlot for a day and trying to ride a bronc in a rodeo were interesting. If you have a lover for the middle of Kansas and the history of Dodge City, you will like this read.

[Melissa Seitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Robert Rebein's perspective on growing up in Dodge City. His stories brought back lots of memories for me, and I also liked the historical information he included in his personal journey.

[Jay C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting memoirs of a Dodge City native, who chronicles some of the changes to the city along with his own personal experiences.

[Katherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Kansas/Missouri book. I really like this author's style of writing: humorous but in an elegant, literate way.

[Roxanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love Dodge City, I plan to go there again soon. Dodge City has so many historical things to see and do and that is why I checked out this book.