Four Against the West: The True Saga of a Frontier Family That Reshaped the Nation―and Created a Legend

by Joe Pappalardo

A thrilling true saga of legendary Texas figure Judge Roy Bean and his brothers― and their violent adventures in Wild West America. Roy Bean was an American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Texas, who called himself "The Only Law West of the Pecos". He and his three brothers set out from Kentucky in the mid 1840s, heading into the American frontier to find their fortunes. Their lifetimes of triumphs, tragedies, laurels and scandals will play out on the battlefields of Mexico, in shady dealings in California city halls, inside eccentric saloon courtrooms of Texas, and along the blood-soaked Santa Fe Trail from Missouri to New Mexico. They will kill men, and murder will likewise stalk them. The Beans chase their American dreams as the nation reinvents itself as a coast-to-coast powerhouse, only to be tested by the Civil War. During their saga, the brothers become soldiers, judges, husbands, guerillas, lawmen, entrepreneurs, refugees, fathers, politicians, pioneers and – in Judge Roy Bean’s case – one of the Old West’s best known but least understood scoundrels. Using new information gleaned from exhaustive research, Four Against the West is an unprecedented and vivid telling of the intertwined stories of all four Bean brothers, exploring for the first time how their relentless ambitions helped create a new America.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Westerns, Biography, American History

400 pages, Hardcover

Published November 26, 2024

About the author

JOE PAPPALARDO is the author of the critically acclaimed books Inferno: The True Story of a B 17 Gunner’s Heroism and the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History, Sunflowers: The Secret History and Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight . Pappalardo is a freelance journalist and former associate editor of Air & Space Smithsonian magazine, a writing contributor to National Geographic magazine, a contributor to Texas Monthly, and a former senior editor and current contributor to Popular Mechanics. He has appeared on C-Span, CNN, Fox News and television shows on the Science Channel and the History Channel.

Reviews

[Stacey (Bookalorian) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four Against the West by Joe Pappalardo

This book is the true saga of Texan Roy Bean and his brothers. He was a justice of the peace and wanted to create his fortune with the America dream. The stuff these brothers got up to… oh my goodness!

I’d never heard of them before but there is a lot of new info this author unearthed on all 4 brothers and I was hooked. The writing was great and I had a great time learning about America during the times of civil war!

4 stars

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable enough but lacks focus and narrative thrust due to all the extraneous historical information the author wanted to include. I struggled to stay interested and found myself skip-reading, wanting to know what happened but frustrated by the digressions.

I won this book in a goodreads giveaway so thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as part of a Goodreads Giveaway. I was interested in learning more about a family I had never heard of before. However, by the end of the book, the only person I really had a good sense for was Roy. The jumping from one family member to another did not bother me, but I think it did contribute to the feeling that none of the characters were explored very deeply.

[Jim Gallen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Four Against The West” is the tale of the Bean brothers, James, Samuel, Joshua and Roy, the same Judge Roy Bean, Law West of the Pecos, told in brief snippets of stories of their adventures. Each entry begins with the date, from March 1841 through December 1872, and the location: Louisville, Kentucky; Independence, and Jackson County, Missouri; Fort Mann, Big Racoon Creek, Pawnee Fork and Council Grove, Kansas; New Orleans, Louisiana; Birchville, San Augustin Springs, La Mesilla, Georgetown, Las Cruces and Santa Fe, New Mexico; San Gabriel, San Diego and Los Angeles, California; La Grange, Pecos County, San Antonio and Langtry, Texas; El Paso del Notre and Chihuahua, Rio Frio, Veracruz, Sacramento Pass, Brazito Creek and Mexico City, Mexico.

Through the tales of four brothers, this book documents the saga of a family and the development of the Southwest. It relates the legends of wagon companies and taverns, brawls and shootings, successes and failures, Civil War and the post war divisions it spawned. Thanks to literature and the silver screen, Roy, with his rail side saloon, boxing promotion, caged bear and novel judicial proceedings is the best known and most colorful of the brothers, but all have their stories to tell.

I recommend “Four Against The West” to readers with a hankering for the Old West and good yarns.

[Richard West · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're one of those people who knows anything about the American West in the late 1800's, you've no doubt heard of Judge Roy Bean "The Law West Of The Pecos." But did you know there were other Bean family members as well and some of them actually accomplished more than Roy - he was just the most - dare we say "notorious?" - of the clan.

This is the story of the entire Bean family, and if you think you knew anything about the more or less infamous Roy, you're probably wrong. He wasn't exactly the fun-loving codger portrayed by Edgar Buchanan on TV or Paul Newman in the movies. Let's put it this way, he never met a bottle of booze he didn't like. In today's world, he would surely be called an alcoholic and people would be begging him to attend AA meetings.

And, there's a good chance you didn't know a thing about his brothers, but after reading this book you will. Meticulously researched, this is their story. There will be times while reading that you're wondering what happened to the soon-to-be-famous Roy - he was probably off on a bender someplace, or hatching some sort of get rich quick scheme which never fully worked out.

Highly entertaining, it's 373 pages read fast and it's one of those books that when you're done, will have you saying "I didn't know that" which is what any good biography will have you saying. Highly recommended.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of on the history of the American West as shown through the eyes of 4 brothers, one of which will be very familiar to fans of western novels and movies, though his real exploits make his fictional stories seem tame.

America is a country where myth is better known than history. This offers a cleaner, clearer history, one that doesn't have to deal with questions that still haunt us. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend is a famous quote from a popular Western, and it is true. Truth can be ugly, and if one myth is proven wrong, well so can others. One doesn't like to think of the dirt, the disease, and the smells of the old west. As one person said in this book its amazing that men didn't realize how bad they smelled coming in from the trails. That's is what I like most of about the books that Joe Pappalardo writes about history. Pappalardo not only knows his subjects, but he is not afraid to discuss what the life and times of America was like. Setting west with hopes and dreams, with carts flooding, running out of food, water, or being ambushed. Armies sent to expand the states, but not equiped with rifles, or even clothes, with disease killing far more men than combat. Four Against the West: The True Saga of a Frontier Family That Reshaped the Nation—and Created a Legend is a story of America growing expanding in many ways, covering the adding to new states, a Civil War and what came after as seen through the life of 4 brothers, whose last name will quite familiar many.

Roy Bean has been written about in plenty of fiction, being a character in many a western, just as many radio shows, and even a few movies one of which had him played by Paul Newman. However much of this was fictional and dealt with his later life as a Judge in Texas. Roy Bean was born in Kentucky the youngest of 4 sons and a one daughter. The family was struggling, as was the nation with financial hardships, and Roy set out, at sixteen, to New Orleans as crew on a boat selling slaves. Soon his brothers James, Sam and Joshua would also try to make their way in the new west, setting up shops, becoming judges, teamsters on cattle trains. They would fight in wars, the Mexican-American War which gains America new territory, and served as a proving ground for men who would be generals in the Civil War. Joshua would be a mayor in San Diego, Sam and Roy would travel together, get in duels, and other battles. The would take different roles in the Civil War, and one would become famous, famous for things that might not have happened. All as the country around them grew, battled itself, and created a whole new mythology for itself.

I have read a few of Pappalardo dealing with the west and World War II and have enjoyed them quite a lot. I love the research that Pappalardo puts in, and the fact that he will print the ugly truth, even if the legend is known, and more accepted. This is an interesting way to look at a lot of events, thought the eyes and lives and these brothers. One gets a different views, from the law, to business, to politics. And the violence, which seemed to always be around. That said, there brothers are not sterling examples of great human beings. In fact they can kind of get on one's nerves. However they are paragons of their time. For people familiar with Roy Bean from the movies, this book is a bit of a revelation. Bean was a little bit weirder than portrayed in movies, and a whole lot more violent.

A very good history about what America was like, and told in four different voices. Fans of western history will enjoy this. This would make a perfect gift for those kind of readers for the holidays.

[Nicole Overmoyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up as the child of parents who liked to watch old Westerns and then growing into a passion with a passion for history, I had a vague idea of who Judge Roy Bean was when I saw this book available to request on NetGalley, and all those things combined to make it a book I wanted to read. Having known next to nothing about James, Sam, and Joshua Bean, the book became all the more intriguing.

And that's how it was. Each brother approached the American West a little bit differently and each set out to build a life in different parts of the West, which allowed the Bean family to, as Joe Pappalardo says in the title, reshape the nation.

Except for Joshua, they lived to be old men and their lives spanned and influenced the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, all of the Native tribe vs. white wars in between, and the fast rolling advent of industrialization that came just before the 20th century. Hollywood, of course, told a Hollywood-adapted story of Roy Bean and it is to Pappalardo's credit that he set out to tell the true story of Roy and his brothers.

And his method of doing so, telling their stories with embellishments only where there is no record to rely on and telling it in a conversational present tense really does succeed in bring the story alive. And I will always be in favor of bringing history alive.

--------

I received an advance copy of "Four Against the West" through NetGalley and St. Martin's Press in exchange for an honest and original review. All opinions are freely given.

[Sallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was not a quick read but a fascinating, fully documented account of the South West history from the lives of the 4 Bean brothers. I knew very little about the history of the South West from the period of the Civil War, Indian uprising, or the wildness of the part of our country and I feel that now I do. I highly recommend this book to readers interested in actual stories of some of those establishing towns in the South West. I learned more with every chapter and am highly impressed with the footnotes and all the details the author offered to substantiate his story. I knew a little about Judge Roy Bean from movies but feel I have a full insight into the entire family. It was a very readable story that could have been a history class but was one that really healed my attention and made me eager to return to reading each day.

I wish to thank Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book. I have voluntarily read and reviewed this advanced copy. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Jim Collett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would give this book a solid five stars for readability. The narrative flow is good, even with the jumping between brothers from chapter to chapter. The author does create slightly fictionalized (imagined) scenes that contain thoughts of individuals and how they felt, but these are always close enough to the facts to not be distracting. I rate it four stars based on the premise the author advances in his title--that these four "reshaped" the nation. I think they do exemplify the spirit of the times, especially manifest destiny, and did play important roles at times in their own communities. I would venture that most readers, like myself, knew only Roy Bean, who arguably became the most famous (a great deal through his own legend creating). I think that Pappalardo does a good job of proving that the others--James, Samuel, and Joshua--played a significant point in shaping Roy's life (he was the youngest) and success, often at their own expense. A fun read I recommend to anyone interested in Western American history.

[Red Book Review · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four Against the West was a true saga of a legendary Texas figure Judge Roy Bean and his brothers, but also about their violent adventures in the Wild West America. This was a captaviting read that had me turning pages until the very end. It was written really well and I look forward to reading more books from this author. The author did a great job with the research and it was an interesting way to look at the events through the eyes of these brothers. Overall, this was a great read and I am glad to learn about these brothers and the history. I would recommend this one to any reader who loves westerns or non fiction reads. Thank you to St Martin's Press for the book. Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins Press for this read in exchange of my honest review of Four Against the West by Joe Pappalardo.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first read the blurb for this book, I knew it was going to be an engaging read.

Oh, the antics of the Old West! One day you are running from the law, the next, you are the law. The Bean brothers sure made a dent in the west, although we don't hear much about them today. What a travesty. This colorful band of brothers took the west by storm, and had fun doing so.

This was one of the best books that I have read this year. I laughed several times through the book and learned about some very fascinating figures.

If you only read one book this year, you need to read this one. It will be one of the best books you will pick up.

[patrick Lorelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story that when I began I thought was just going to be about a figure I had heard about and seen a movie about when I was younger titled Judge Roy Bean. this book though goes into the lives of four brothers who leave Kentucky and travel out West each end up doing something different and yet in a way a couple of them still are on the wrong side of the law. One steals from his brother, but they each at times make a living for themselves. Judge Roy Bean though is shady and as much as people try to stand up to him they lose. A good story about the old West and all of the different people and personalities that went along with it to survive.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in the “real” old West, this is a detailed and fascinating book. The author has done an amazing amount of research. His footnotes are important and not at all dull. The myth of Judge Roy Bean is exposed as the author offers detailed recounts of Roy’s notorious life. His brothers are all distinct individuals and just as interesting. What a family!

You will also learn about how the Civil War played out in states not usually discussed. (The Beans are there.) The fate of Indians and Blacks is starkly presented.

The writing flows easily and is not at all “dry” or like a textbook. It is a well-written account of a ery important time in our country.

[Martin Mcginley · Rating 3 out of 5]

★★★☆☆ – Fascinating History, Uneven Delivery

Joe Pappalardo’s Four Against the West sheds new light on the legendary Bean brothers, especially Roy Bean, challenging popular myths with solid research and gritty detail. The frontier stories are compelling, and the historical backdrop is rich.

However, the book’s structure can feel disjointed, jumping between the brothers in a way that sometimes disrupts the flow. While the content is informative, it occasionally leans too heavily on historical context at the expense of narrative drive.

A solid read for frontier history buffs, but the pacing may not hook everyone.

[Caden Crum · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the first time I’ve ever heard of Judge Roy Bean and his band of brothers. Somehow, I had no idea that the “Judge Roy Scream” roller coaster as Six Flags was named after the legend. This story does a great job of weaving together 4 brothers’ separate yet seemingly intertwined journeys into the Wild West. Judge Roy Bean is hilarious but his story becomes much more deep and interesting in the context of his brothers. I really liked how this biography was written with chapters bounding around and solely revolving around each of the brothers chronologically. Pleasantly surprised I enjoyed this so much.

[Denice Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nonfiction look at the history of Judge Roy Bean and his three brothers as their journey to help settle the west. Many books and movies have been built around the infamous Judge Roy Bean but little was known about his brothers. I've read several books and articles by Joe Pappalardo. He has an uncanny knack of holding readers spellbound with the true actions and consequences found by some of the west's more famous personalities. If you're looking for a dry, boring book......you won't find it here. 5 easy stars from this fan of western lore, fiction and nonfiction alike.

[Rainelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not for sure of what I read. This book is not the normal book that I would read, but I read at the request of the author. I regret to say this, but I was not intrigued with the book. The true life events read as a narrative. I missed the inter actions be the characters and the dialogue. The book had non of these events. Therefore there was no exciting entertainment. There are more things that will need to be addressed.

[Lou Chodosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glad to have read this, but glaring historical mistakes: Here’s one: page 251: surrender was April 9, not May 9. There are others! Interesting to learn about the brothers , but someone needed to do some serious fact checking.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

(3 1/2 stars what I really wanted to give the book.) Incredibly well researched but hard to follow along. The author tries to tell the story of 4 brothers in the mid- to late- 1800's but I had trouble keeping track of their divergent tales. Never finished the book.

[Matt D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rounded up from 3 1/2.

[James Butler · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2