What do you think?
Rate this book
Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend
"Quite impressive. I doubt if there has been or will be a more deeply researched and convincing account." --Evan Connell, author Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn
"The book to end all Earp books--the most complete, and most meticulously researched." --Jack Burrows, author John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was
"The most thoughtful, well-researched, and comprehensive account that has been written about the development and career of an Old-West lawman." --The Tombstone Tumbleweed
"A great adventure story, and solid history." --Kirkus Reviews
"A major contribution to the history of the American West. It provides the first complete and accurate look at Wyatt Earp's colorful career, and places into context the important role that he and his brothers played in crime and politics in the Arizona territory. This important book rises above the realm of Western biography and shows the development of the Earp story in history and myth, and its effect on American culture." --John Boessenecker, author Gold Dust and Gunsmoke
"The ultimate Wyatt Earp book." --Professor Richard Brown University of Oregon
"The book to end all Earp books--the most complete, and most meticulously researched." --Jack Burrows, author John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was
"The most thoughtful, well-researched, and comprehensive account that has been written about the development and career of an Old-West lawman." --The Tombstone Tumbleweed
"A great adventure story, and solid history." --Kirkus Reviews
"A major contribution to the history of the American West. It provides the first complete and accurate look at Wyatt Earp's colorful career, and places into context the important role that he and his brothers played in crime and politics in the Arizona territory. This important book rises above the realm of Western biography and shows the development of the Earp story in history and myth, and its effect on American culture." --John Boessenecker, author Gold Dust and Gunsmoke
"The ultimate Wyatt Earp book." --Professor Richard Brown University of Oregon
403 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1997
139 people are currently reading
1165 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
January 3, 2016
First, some criticisms:
Tefertiller is not as good a writer as Gary L. Roberts; in particular, his paragraph structure and organization are dreadful. And I could do without the occasional sententiousness. He also does not seem to be as good a historian as Roberts. Particularly in discussing Wyatt Earp's life in Kansas (i.e., pre-Tombstone), Tefertiller has a tendency to accept the truthfulness of stories for which there is sketchy evidence at best. It's not, to be clear, the inclusion of those stories I object to; it's Tefertiller's decision, having admitted the sketchiness of the evidence, to proceed as if there was certainty they occurred. It also irritates me that Tefertiller lines up the Earp boys--Newton, James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, Warren--but does not even mention the existence of Earp girls until, around the time Wyatt was leaving Arizona in a hurry, Tefertiller records him deeding some of his property to his sister. (And, of course, the myth about Ike Clanton marrying "Jessie Earp.") I assume, because Tefertiller does not tell me that this bit about the property deed is false, that it is true; therefore, either he should have mentioned the existence of sister(s?) previously (Chekhov's gun holds for nonfiction as well as fiction) or he needs to signal clearly that there is no sister and this property deed story is (a.) Wyatt executing some sort of legal shenanigan or (b.) another untrue piece of the legend.
In a nutshell, then, my criticism of Tefertiller is that he does not organize his facts and his fictions as well as he could, and he is sometimes unclear about the difference between them.
On the other hand, there are a lot of things about this biography which I like. Although Tefertiller is partisan to Wyatt (and clearly has no use for Josephine Sarah Marcus, for which I can't say I blame him), this is the natural condition of the biographer*, and Tefertiller is doing his honest best to present a balanced picture. He digs into the disreputable parts of Wyatt's life and attempts (in his rather clumsy prose) to explain the Vendetta without trying to excuse it. He does an excellent job of explaining the background of the infamous gunfight: why the Cow-Boys were a very serious problem (they were coming close to inciting a war with Mexico, that's why), why people on various sides reacted the way they did, why it came to seem necessary to Wyatt Earp that he take the law into his own hands (Tefertiller doesn't have much use for Johnny Behan, either). And although he's bad about letting possible fiction stand for fact in relation to Dodge City and Wichita, he's very good about tracking the misinformation that Tombstone exudes like a skunk exudes stink: who started which lie, when and (if possible, which frequently it isn't) why.
One of the most interesting, and saddest, parts of the book is the end of Wyatt's life, living mostly hand-to-mouth in Los Angeles (according to Tefertiller, Sadie Marcus was a compulsive gambler, hence their poverty), going out for ice cream sodas** with a friend and the friend's 9-year-old granddaughter, and going up to Hollywood, where he met actors like John Wayne (still at that time Marion Morrison), Tom Mix . . . and Charlie Chaplin. I have to quote director Raoul Walsh's account of the meeting because it makes me itch for a time machine and a video camera. It needs a little set-up: it's 1915, and Wyatt has wandered up to Hollywood with Jack London (yes, that Jack London, whom he knew in Alaska), and they're talking with Welsh (who is digging hard for stories, although "neither wanted to talk about himself") when Chaplin comes over:
When I introduced my guests, he viewed Earp with evident awe. "You're the bloke from Arizona, aren't you? Tamed the baddies, huh?" He looked at London and nodded. "I know you, too. You almost made me go to Alaska and dig for gold." He sat down and related some of his experiences "when I was a snot-nosed brat in Cheapside." (Tefertiller 318, quoting Raoul Welsh, Each Man In His Time (1974))
There's something there--something about the fact that Wyatt Earp met Charlie Chaplin--that just fills me with wonder and delight.
Although I still don't like Wyatt Earp very much, I like him better than I did before reading this biography. (Tefertiller's thesis is that it wasn't Wyatt telling the self-serving lies that so incensed me when I was reading Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend, it was Sadie. And each and every one of Wyatt's co-authors and interviewers. Wyatt was trying to tell the truth. I'm a little skeptical, but I'll go along.) He was a man convinced of his own rectitude, which I never find appealing, but Tefertiller shows that he was also a man doing his best, flawed though that best might be. And even if I don't like him, I sympathize with him and I understand why he thought he had to do what he did.
Which shows that this is a good biography.
---
*Except in extraordinary cases such as the Earl of Oxford (Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford).
**One of my most favorite details in the book is that in Tombstone, Wyatt never touched hard liquor, but went almost daily for ice cream at a parlor on Fourth Street (101).
Tefertiller is not as good a writer as Gary L. Roberts; in particular, his paragraph structure and organization are dreadful. And I could do without the occasional sententiousness. He also does not seem to be as good a historian as Roberts. Particularly in discussing Wyatt Earp's life in Kansas (i.e., pre-Tombstone), Tefertiller has a tendency to accept the truthfulness of stories for which there is sketchy evidence at best. It's not, to be clear, the inclusion of those stories I object to; it's Tefertiller's decision, having admitted the sketchiness of the evidence, to proceed as if there was certainty they occurred. It also irritates me that Tefertiller lines up the Earp boys--Newton, James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, Warren--but does not even mention the existence of Earp girls until, around the time Wyatt was leaving Arizona in a hurry, Tefertiller records him deeding some of his property to his sister. (And, of course, the myth about Ike Clanton marrying "Jessie Earp.") I assume, because Tefertiller does not tell me that this bit about the property deed is false, that it is true; therefore, either he should have mentioned the existence of sister(s?) previously (Chekhov's gun holds for nonfiction as well as fiction) or he needs to signal clearly that there is no sister and this property deed story is (a.) Wyatt executing some sort of legal shenanigan or (b.) another untrue piece of the legend.
In a nutshell, then, my criticism of Tefertiller is that he does not organize his facts and his fictions as well as he could, and he is sometimes unclear about the difference between them.
On the other hand, there are a lot of things about this biography which I like. Although Tefertiller is partisan to Wyatt (and clearly has no use for Josephine Sarah Marcus, for which I can't say I blame him), this is the natural condition of the biographer*, and Tefertiller is doing his honest best to present a balanced picture. He digs into the disreputable parts of Wyatt's life and attempts (in his rather clumsy prose) to explain the Vendetta without trying to excuse it. He does an excellent job of explaining the background of the infamous gunfight: why the Cow-Boys were a very serious problem (they were coming close to inciting a war with Mexico, that's why), why people on various sides reacted the way they did, why it came to seem necessary to Wyatt Earp that he take the law into his own hands (Tefertiller doesn't have much use for Johnny Behan, either). And although he's bad about letting possible fiction stand for fact in relation to Dodge City and Wichita, he's very good about tracking the misinformation that Tombstone exudes like a skunk exudes stink: who started which lie, when and (if possible, which frequently it isn't) why.
One of the most interesting, and saddest, parts of the book is the end of Wyatt's life, living mostly hand-to-mouth in Los Angeles (according to Tefertiller, Sadie Marcus was a compulsive gambler, hence their poverty), going out for ice cream sodas** with a friend and the friend's 9-year-old granddaughter, and going up to Hollywood, where he met actors like John Wayne (still at that time Marion Morrison), Tom Mix . . . and Charlie Chaplin. I have to quote director Raoul Walsh's account of the meeting because it makes me itch for a time machine and a video camera. It needs a little set-up: it's 1915, and Wyatt has wandered up to Hollywood with Jack London (yes, that Jack London, whom he knew in Alaska), and they're talking with Welsh (who is digging hard for stories, although "neither wanted to talk about himself") when Chaplin comes over:
When I introduced my guests, he viewed Earp with evident awe. "You're the bloke from Arizona, aren't you? Tamed the baddies, huh?" He looked at London and nodded. "I know you, too. You almost made me go to Alaska and dig for gold." He sat down and related some of his experiences "when I was a snot-nosed brat in Cheapside." (Tefertiller 318, quoting Raoul Welsh, Each Man In His Time (1974))
There's something there--something about the fact that Wyatt Earp met Charlie Chaplin--that just fills me with wonder and delight.
Although I still don't like Wyatt Earp very much, I like him better than I did before reading this biography. (Tefertiller's thesis is that it wasn't Wyatt telling the self-serving lies that so incensed me when I was reading Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend, it was Sadie. And each and every one of Wyatt's co-authors and interviewers. Wyatt was trying to tell the truth. I'm a little skeptical, but I'll go along.) He was a man convinced of his own rectitude, which I never find appealing, but Tefertiller shows that he was also a man doing his best, flawed though that best might be. And even if I don't like him, I sympathize with him and I understand why he thought he had to do what he did.
Which shows that this is a good biography.
---
*Except in extraordinary cases such as the Earl of Oxford (Monstrous Adversary: The Life of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford).
**One of my most favorite details in the book is that in Tombstone, Wyatt never touched hard liquor, but went almost daily for ice cream at a parlor on Fourth Street (101).
August 13, 2009
After seeing Tombstone and Wyatt Earp, and liking/despising aspects of both films, I decided to give a qualified historian a chance to tell me the story. I know there are several “serious” non-fiction works about Wyatt Earp, but this is the one I happened on. I really enjoyed it.
Tefertiller is generally frank and objective, clearly not carried away by the mythologized portrait of Mr. Earp. As best I can tell, in real life the Gun Fight at the O.K. Corral was a gang fight. It’s just that one of the gangs wore badges and was on better terms with the local judge.
Because of the excessive romanticization done in the above mentioned movies, the work of any serious biography of Wyatt Earp is to de-romanticize a story that shouldn't be romanticized. This biography does that, while striving to give a balanced portrayal of the real humans who played out a tragically unfortunate event in the old West.
Tefertiller is generally frank and objective, clearly not carried away by the mythologized portrait of Mr. Earp. As best I can tell, in real life the Gun Fight at the O.K. Corral was a gang fight. It’s just that one of the gangs wore badges and was on better terms with the local judge.
Because of the excessive romanticization done in the above mentioned movies, the work of any serious biography of Wyatt Earp is to de-romanticize a story that shouldn't be romanticized. This biography does that, while striving to give a balanced portrayal of the real humans who played out a tragically unfortunate event in the old West.
July 24, 2012
This was just too hard to read. It is full of interesting facts, but I think I could only read it as a reference book, not straight through. I really wanted to see how much of the book "Doc" was true to life, but this book barely touched on Dodge and moved right to Tombstone. Maybe someday I will try it again, but after I gave up, I skimmed through to find exciting parts and was disappointed. The life of Wyatt Earp was exciting, but the book didn't excite me.
June 17, 2013
If you're interested in good Western history, Tombstone, Wyatt Ear, Bat Masterson, "cowboys" and Western crime then this is this superb bio of Wyatt Earp is for you.
It is also a confusing book at places, but then Wyatt's life was "confusing." Much of it is undocumented (even the "well known" parts such as the "shootout at the OK Corral are subject to multiple reports and interpretations,) Author Tefertiller had a tremendous task untangling myth from realty, and I think he did as good a job as possible. The bottom line is that some events, such as the shootout, will never been absolutely documented or clear. If the participants couldn't exactly tell what happened how can anyone else?
Interestingly, Wyatt say himself more of a gambler than a lawman. Though he had a long and more-or-less steady job as a lawman, he ran faro, gambled, mined, and invested. In one San Francisco US census, he lisgted his profession as capitalist."
Though the book takes us through Wyatt's life and beyond, the core of the story is the famous shootout, which has been re-created (wrongly) in pulp fiction and film. I had no idea of the repercussions--Wyatt being charged with murder, the preliminary hearing that exonerated him (in a way), and triggered a bloody vendetta between The Earps, Ike Clanton, and other cowboys. The term cowboy--or cow-boy--itself was a disparaging term for cattle rustlers thieves, and killers.
Along the way we meet the Clanton, Curly Joe Brocious, Luke Short, Doc Holliday, Johnny Behan and so many more, and learn a lot about frontier culture--not to mention Wyatt's his woman problems. Who knew that Tombstone had bowling allies and ice cream parlors? Who knew that the entire Earp-Clanton affair were rooted in politics and newspaper wars?
I found the last part of the book particularly fascinating. Earp in middle age. His mining exploits in Alaska, gambling in LA and SF, referring a controversial world championship boxing match, and his impoverished death in a one-room flat in downtown LA. Most fascinating, though, are his friendships with Bill Hart, Tom Mix and other Hollywood folks. What I'd give to have sat in on a movie lot conversation amongst Wyatt, Bill Hart, Charlie Chaplin, and Raoul Walsh! Wowza! The young John Ford and John Wayne met Wyatt while working in props, and John Wayne said he based his western characters on the Wyatt he had met in person and his stories at the time.
Ultimately, Wyatt Earp is a study in what happens when class American justice hits the fan when no justice can be found. Tefertiller massively documents his book, and I can't imagine a better bio coming out, though I think he could have had a better editor.
It is also a confusing book at places, but then Wyatt's life was "confusing." Much of it is undocumented (even the "well known" parts such as the "shootout at the OK Corral are subject to multiple reports and interpretations,) Author Tefertiller had a tremendous task untangling myth from realty, and I think he did as good a job as possible. The bottom line is that some events, such as the shootout, will never been absolutely documented or clear. If the participants couldn't exactly tell what happened how can anyone else?
Interestingly, Wyatt say himself more of a gambler than a lawman. Though he had a long and more-or-less steady job as a lawman, he ran faro, gambled, mined, and invested. In one San Francisco US census, he lisgted his profession as capitalist."
Though the book takes us through Wyatt's life and beyond, the core of the story is the famous shootout, which has been re-created (wrongly) in pulp fiction and film. I had no idea of the repercussions--Wyatt being charged with murder, the preliminary hearing that exonerated him (in a way), and triggered a bloody vendetta between The Earps, Ike Clanton, and other cowboys. The term cowboy--or cow-boy--itself was a disparaging term for cattle rustlers thieves, and killers.
Along the way we meet the Clanton, Curly Joe Brocious, Luke Short, Doc Holliday, Johnny Behan and so many more, and learn a lot about frontier culture--not to mention Wyatt's his woman problems. Who knew that Tombstone had bowling allies and ice cream parlors? Who knew that the entire Earp-Clanton affair were rooted in politics and newspaper wars?
I found the last part of the book particularly fascinating. Earp in middle age. His mining exploits in Alaska, gambling in LA and SF, referring a controversial world championship boxing match, and his impoverished death in a one-room flat in downtown LA. Most fascinating, though, are his friendships with Bill Hart, Tom Mix and other Hollywood folks. What I'd give to have sat in on a movie lot conversation amongst Wyatt, Bill Hart, Charlie Chaplin, and Raoul Walsh! Wowza! The young John Ford and John Wayne met Wyatt while working in props, and John Wayne said he based his western characters on the Wyatt he had met in person and his stories at the time.
Ultimately, Wyatt Earp is a study in what happens when class American justice hits the fan when no justice can be found. Tefertiller massively documents his book, and I can't imagine a better bio coming out, though I think he could have had a better editor.
October 30, 2021
Possibly the definitive book on its subject, Casey Tefertiller's Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend does a fine job sorting history from myth in the life of the Old West lawman, gunfighter, sportsman and occasional outlaw. Tefertiller chronicles Earp from a modest upbringing in rural Missouri to his rise as a lawman in the cowtowns of Kansas, before earning everlasting notoriety as Tombstone's toughest enforcer. The early parts of Earp's life receive a fairly quick gloss, likely because sources beyond personal accounts by Earp, etc. (which as Tefertiller notes are rarely reliable) are fairly scant. The balance of the book recounts the famous Arizona feud between the Earps, Doc Holiday and their Republican political-business allies and the Cowboys, a loose collection of rustlers, gunmen and sundry troublemakers who had the backing of Democrats like Cochise County Sheriff John Behan. This topic has been covered to death, and it's to Tefertiller's credit that he brings a fresh perspective. Rather than larger-than-life heroics, he shows the Earp-Cowboy spat as a glorified turf feud, with competing political, business and personal rivalries spilling over into bloodshed, at the OK Corral and after. Tefertiller does show a biographer's natural sympathy towards his subject, downplaying some of Earp's less reputable activities (he's not convinced that Earp ever worked as a pimp, though his brothers may well have) and emphasizing the violence and corruption of his opponents. On the other hand, by the time Earp descends to his famous "vendetta ride," waging private war against the Cowboys who killed Morgan and maimed Virgil, all pretenses to honor or morality or lost: the fact that Earp's "not as bad as" Behan, Ike Clanton or Curly Bill Brocious doesn't make his actions any easier to stomach. Tefertiller, to his credit, doesn't excuse this ugly part of Wyatt's life; he's also quite good at sketching Wyatt's rocky later years, including a controverisal stint refereeing boxing matches, a failed prospecting career in Alaska and his later efforts (with the help of his partner Sadie, journalist Stuart Lake and various filmmakers and novelists) to craft his legend. The Earp that emerges here is more human and less noble than the cinematic legend, a creditable achievement in and of itself. A must-read for students of the Old West.
December 4, 2016
Some of the men in my book group wanted to read a western, and some of them wanted to read a biography. They agreed to compromise, nominated this title, and it was voted in to our list. Downside = I have to read it, too. This a long book, thorough, dare I say tedious, comprising every document that touched on Wyatt Earp's career. I can't help but wonder why we pay so much attention to a white guy with a gun that died 100 years ago, but if this is your bag, it's well written and comprehensive. I made it to page 287 and now I'm moving on...
January 15, 2021
I became interested in reading this book in a kind of roundabout way, after seeing some YouTube videos about the real Wyatt Earp and some clips from the wonderful "Tombstone" movie starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. My appetite for delving further into the world of Earp needed a good book to provide the details and the context of the known and not-so-well known facts surrounding Wyatt's life, so I didn't have a specific title in mind. I picked out Casey Tefertiller's book from the variety of titles on Amazon, and it turned out to be a very good choice. I thoroughly enjoyed reading "Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend" and would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn the Earp story from a source that is carefully researched.
One of the most important facts that those of us conditioned by numerous movies must realize is that Wyatt Earp, although a remarkable man, was not a singular towering western legend. He of course shared many adventures and a life-long friendship with Doc Holliday, but he was, during his time as a Kansas lawman and entrepreneur/sometimes lawman in Tombstone, Arizona, part of a brother act. His older brother Virgil, especially, spent more time as an appointed lawman than Wyatt. Much can be understood when realizing that the famous gunfight at the OK Corral was brothers against brothers, with the Earps (Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan), and brother-in-arms Holliday, all appointed or deputized marshals, facing the "Cow-Boy" faction of members of the Clanton and McLaury families. There was a law and order aspect of the cause of this most famous 30-seconds of gun violence in the old west, but there was also the instigation of threats, perceived or real, to the members of the Earp family. If the OK Corral gunfight was made into a musical, a case could be made for gunfighters on both sides to sing the "Bonanza" theme song, along the lines of anyone who starts a fight with any of my brothers is gonna have a fight with me. Alright, I know that's being a little silly, but that TV show about the "Bonanza" brothers seems to share its main theme of brotherhood with the way in which the brothers Earp engaged in business enterprises together, and alternately backed each other up in adversity or revenged the harm that was inflicted on each other.
Another important historical aspect of this story almost always omitted by the movies is that the gunfight that left three Clanton-McLaury brothers dead and two Earp brothers wounded was both a part of, and an instigator of the overall political situation in Tombstone at the time. One of the least-discussed and most important results of the gunfight was the arrest of Wyatt and Doc for murdering their opponents. Tefertiller does a valuable service in shining light on this OK Corral fallout, which involved months of hearings and even the jailing of Earp and Holliday on two occasions (Morgan and Virgil were not initially charged because they were recuperating from their wounds). Wyatt and Doc especially were in mortal danger during this long process from the possibility of being dragged out of jail by a Cowboy enraged mob, or from eventually facing a trial leading to convictions and hanging. The fact that the charges depended on the testimony of Billy Clanton, who survived the gunfight by turning chicken and running from the scene, in the end saved Wyatt and Doc, but the book makes the scary situation they faced seem really palpable.
Although the real meaty part of this book involves Wyatt Earp's time in Tombstone, there is a lot more of his life to cover as he then moved with his wife Sadie around the West, mostly to boom towns, from Colorado to Idaho, Alaska and finally California, where they spent most of their later years. That long life story, including Wyatt's involvement with wives Celia "Mattie" and Josephine "Sadie" Earp, is why this is a rewarding, but not fast, read.
This is a perfect book to spend many enjoyable, informative hours reading. Although Tefertiller doesn't flinch at reporting negative aspects of his life, including the revelation (to me at least) that there has been a continuing historical revisionist opposition to Earp's heroic depiction over the decades, I put down the book in the end thinking that I had gained a much deeper understanding of a genuine, unique example of Americana, deserving of the weekly theme song praise from the TV "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" which implored us to long remember his fame and glory so that his story may be long told.
There I go again.
One of the most important facts that those of us conditioned by numerous movies must realize is that Wyatt Earp, although a remarkable man, was not a singular towering western legend. He of course shared many adventures and a life-long friendship with Doc Holliday, but he was, during his time as a Kansas lawman and entrepreneur/sometimes lawman in Tombstone, Arizona, part of a brother act. His older brother Virgil, especially, spent more time as an appointed lawman than Wyatt. Much can be understood when realizing that the famous gunfight at the OK Corral was brothers against brothers, with the Earps (Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan), and brother-in-arms Holliday, all appointed or deputized marshals, facing the "Cow-Boy" faction of members of the Clanton and McLaury families. There was a law and order aspect of the cause of this most famous 30-seconds of gun violence in the old west, but there was also the instigation of threats, perceived or real, to the members of the Earp family. If the OK Corral gunfight was made into a musical, a case could be made for gunfighters on both sides to sing the "Bonanza" theme song, along the lines of anyone who starts a fight with any of my brothers is gonna have a fight with me. Alright, I know that's being a little silly, but that TV show about the "Bonanza" brothers seems to share its main theme of brotherhood with the way in which the brothers Earp engaged in business enterprises together, and alternately backed each other up in adversity or revenged the harm that was inflicted on each other.
Another important historical aspect of this story almost always omitted by the movies is that the gunfight that left three Clanton-McLaury brothers dead and two Earp brothers wounded was both a part of, and an instigator of the overall political situation in Tombstone at the time. One of the least-discussed and most important results of the gunfight was the arrest of Wyatt and Doc for murdering their opponents. Tefertiller does a valuable service in shining light on this OK Corral fallout, which involved months of hearings and even the jailing of Earp and Holliday on two occasions (Morgan and Virgil were not initially charged because they were recuperating from their wounds). Wyatt and Doc especially were in mortal danger during this long process from the possibility of being dragged out of jail by a Cowboy enraged mob, or from eventually facing a trial leading to convictions and hanging. The fact that the charges depended on the testimony of Billy Clanton, who survived the gunfight by turning chicken and running from the scene, in the end saved Wyatt and Doc, but the book makes the scary situation they faced seem really palpable.
Although the real meaty part of this book involves Wyatt Earp's time in Tombstone, there is a lot more of his life to cover as he then moved with his wife Sadie around the West, mostly to boom towns, from Colorado to Idaho, Alaska and finally California, where they spent most of their later years. That long life story, including Wyatt's involvement with wives Celia "Mattie" and Josephine "Sadie" Earp, is why this is a rewarding, but not fast, read.
This is a perfect book to spend many enjoyable, informative hours reading. Although Tefertiller doesn't flinch at reporting negative aspects of his life, including the revelation (to me at least) that there has been a continuing historical revisionist opposition to Earp's heroic depiction over the decades, I put down the book in the end thinking that I had gained a much deeper understanding of a genuine, unique example of Americana, deserving of the weekly theme song praise from the TV "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" which implored us to long remember his fame and glory so that his story may be long told.
There I go again.
Read
April 23, 2024As the title says, this book certainly did a good job of revealing the life of Wyatt Earp from behind the legend of Wyatt Earp. There are few Americans throughout history whose lives are more crowded with myth and legend than Earp’s. He was truly a one of a kind individual in one of the most perilous eras of American history. As for the work itself, this book felt overly researched, as there were vast swaths of the book that weren’t discussing the life of the man himself but instead were long harangues of context of what was going on in Tombstone or Cochise County or Arizona at the time that weren’t pertinent to Earp’s story but rather more telling the story of the old west as a whole. The book also could have done a much better job of telling his story as a narrative instead of endless quotations from contemporary newspapers which added a significant degree of difficulty to reading the text. All in all even though it was a slow and painful read I am glad that I read it.
September 6, 2017
Recommend it. Well documented. May sound rather dry to some, but I liked it.
January 8, 2015
Easily the best documented biography of Wyatt Earp to date -- and credited as such in Ann Kirchner's recent Lady at the OK Corral.
The problem with writing an Earp biography is that so little of his life is reliably documented. Earp was a controversial figure in his own lifetime and his champions and allies tell one (usually exaggerated) story; his enemies tell another (equally exaggerated), and researcher/writers like Tefertiller and others have to choose who to believe, who to pick "facts" from, who to discard and how to make sense of it all. Contemporary newspapers -- considered somewhat objective these days -- are of little help due to much more obvious bias.
Given all those considerations, Tefertiller did a credible job of bringing it all together and making believable sense of it all.
The only problem with the book is that Tefertiller has so much to amalgamate that no sure picture can emerge. And because he's a highly competent and conscientious historian and researcher, he spends a lot of time and many pages setting scenes and providing historic, social and economic backdrops that sometimes become cumbersome to the reader. This is somewhat made evident by the time it's taken me to get through the book: if you know me, you know how much I like history, but this took an inordinate amount of time to get through -- not entirely due to the denseness of Tefertiller's account, but as much to outside distractions.
The problem with writing an Earp biography is that so little of his life is reliably documented. Earp was a controversial figure in his own lifetime and his champions and allies tell one (usually exaggerated) story; his enemies tell another (equally exaggerated), and researcher/writers like Tefertiller and others have to choose who to believe, who to pick "facts" from, who to discard and how to make sense of it all. Contemporary newspapers -- considered somewhat objective these days -- are of little help due to much more obvious bias.
Given all those considerations, Tefertiller did a credible job of bringing it all together and making believable sense of it all.
The only problem with the book is that Tefertiller has so much to amalgamate that no sure picture can emerge. And because he's a highly competent and conscientious historian and researcher, he spends a lot of time and many pages setting scenes and providing historic, social and economic backdrops that sometimes become cumbersome to the reader. This is somewhat made evident by the time it's taken me to get through the book: if you know me, you know how much I like history, but this took an inordinate amount of time to get through -- not entirely due to the denseness of Tefertiller's account, but as much to outside distractions.
January 31, 2014
This book was not as exciting as it's title. This was a dry and well-researched account of what the author could find out about the life of Wyatt Earp. The main thing I learned is that all of the movies and Hollywood stories about Wyatt Earp's life are not accurate. His real life and his real actions surrounding the "gunfight at the OK corral" are definitely not known at all. He was quite famous during his life and afterwards, but not for true reasons. OK, but not an engaging book.
November 19, 2025
An icon of the old West…
From a law and order perspective Wyatt Earp was a product of his environment. In order to deal with the bad element he encountered he had to be bad himself at times. That is bad by today’s standards. However, his actions at times were both praised and vilified by the same people he sought to protect. A law enforcement officers idiom is a strange lot; his ward is also his prey and this was never more true than for Wyatt Earp. Like today the public are fickle, they want to be protected but then want to criticise the methods used to protect them. Wyatt Earp experienced this and it must have infuriated him. Wyatt Earp sailed close to the wind in his manner of performance of his duties. When he could he operated within the law but sometimes that law, as today, proves inadequate and insufficient because bad people do get away with it sometimes. The law requires a fundamental criteria in order to prevail, but the human element in everything at times prevents justice being served. Wyatt Earp acted outside of the law, particularly when avenging the murder of his brother Morgan because he knew the law wouldn’t be able to give him justice. Wyatt Earp was a man of his time and a true icon of law enforcement in the old West. A good read but tough going at times, hence 4 stars.
From a law and order perspective Wyatt Earp was a product of his environment. In order to deal with the bad element he encountered he had to be bad himself at times. That is bad by today’s standards. However, his actions at times were both praised and vilified by the same people he sought to protect. A law enforcement officers idiom is a strange lot; his ward is also his prey and this was never more true than for Wyatt Earp. Like today the public are fickle, they want to be protected but then want to criticise the methods used to protect them. Wyatt Earp experienced this and it must have infuriated him. Wyatt Earp sailed close to the wind in his manner of performance of his duties. When he could he operated within the law but sometimes that law, as today, proves inadequate and insufficient because bad people do get away with it sometimes. The law requires a fundamental criteria in order to prevail, but the human element in everything at times prevents justice being served. Wyatt Earp acted outside of the law, particularly when avenging the murder of his brother Morgan because he knew the law wouldn’t be able to give him justice. Wyatt Earp was a man of his time and a true icon of law enforcement in the old West. A good read but tough going at times, hence 4 stars.
October 6, 2025
A serious attempt in getting the backstory to what was behind the "gunfight at the O.K. Corral" and defining who was this man, Wyatt Earp.
The politics, law vs. order, order vs. law, Nugget vs. Epitaph, Doc Holliday, the brothers Earp, "cowboys" (organized crime?), personal reputation and myth are just some of the many things addressed in this book. As a review suggested, the facts are better than the fiction. I came away with more respect for the man. Doing what needed to be done when the law failed him and the community in which he lived. Then having to live it all down.
Marshal Earp's days in early Hollywood are interesting. A very, young prop boy on a movie set got a chance to meet the Marshal. The prop boy's name was Marion Morrison who later took the stage name of John Wayne. Wayne later said, "I often think of Wyatt Earp when I play a film character. There's a guy who actually did what I'm trying to do in the movies." (340)
Can't go away and not mention one of Wyatt's best friends and one of my Western heroes, "Bat" Masterson.
The politics, law vs. order, order vs. law, Nugget vs. Epitaph, Doc Holliday, the brothers Earp, "cowboys" (organized crime?), personal reputation and myth are just some of the many things addressed in this book. As a review suggested, the facts are better than the fiction. I came away with more respect for the man. Doing what needed to be done when the law failed him and the community in which he lived. Then having to live it all down.
Marshal Earp's days in early Hollywood are interesting. A very, young prop boy on a movie set got a chance to meet the Marshal. The prop boy's name was Marion Morrison who later took the stage name of John Wayne. Wayne later said, "I often think of Wyatt Earp when I play a film character. There's a guy who actually did what I'm trying to do in the movies." (340)
Can't go away and not mention one of Wyatt's best friends and one of my Western heroes, "Bat" Masterson.
October 4, 2020
I grew up watching westerns and love them. I wanted to love this book because of my interest in Wyatt Earp.
This book might well be the most accurate, well-documented story of Wyatt Earp. It had to have been quite the challenge to write and I can't even imagine the research required. My hats off to the author for his efforts but I could not get through it. It was painstaking to read. I know the other people are important to Wyatt's life but I felt like I was reading their biography as well. I think it was information overload for me that finally after putting it aside 3 times that I surrendered.
Still, I give it 3 stars for the effort and full confession here-I am not the biggest fan of non-fiction, though I occasionally do read one that I really enjoy.
This book might well be the most accurate, well-documented story of Wyatt Earp. It had to have been quite the challenge to write and I can't even imagine the research required. My hats off to the author for his efforts but I could not get through it. It was painstaking to read. I know the other people are important to Wyatt's life but I felt like I was reading their biography as well. I think it was information overload for me that finally after putting it aside 3 times that I surrendered.
Still, I give it 3 stars for the effort and full confession here-I am not the biggest fan of non-fiction, though I occasionally do read one that I really enjoy.
September 12, 2024
Does what it needs to do. If you want to know about Wyatt Earp and the gun fight then this is the book for you, but it's more of a textbook than anything else. The writing is very dry and there are a few facts that are presented without context. If you don't already know some of the details of why it's life, especially in tombstone, some of the stuff said in the book is a little confusing. I don't know if this is the case for other versions of the book, but I have the hardcover copy and the font size was criminal. The book is already a hard read, but the font absolutely killed me. Again, if you're looking for a scholarly source about Wyatt earp, this is one of the better ones, but it's a pretty boring read.
June 12, 2018
I grew up in the fifties reading western paperbacks and watching western movies. This is the first factual history that I’ve read about the wild, wild western frontier period. Casey Tefertiller did a lot of research and used many primary sources in writing “Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend”. I enjoyed the many Democrat and Republican newspaper articles in the 1870s and 80s and was truly impressed with the strong vocabulary used; I believe that today we have dumbed-down in our newspaper writing. I was surprised to find out that cow-boys did not work on the ranches but were bandits, outlaws, horse thieves and stealers of cattle from the Mexican frontier.
December 10, 2025
Out of all the books and stories I've read about Wyatt Earp, his family, and his life before, during, and after his time in Tombstone, Arizona, this author presents factual accounts from a wide variety of sources and, for the most part, leaves the conclusions to be drawn by the reader.
Other books I've read about Mr. Earp have been biased in some way. One author wrote a book called, if I remember correctly, "Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life". The title told me all I needed to know about his book, and made the decision to not buy it a simple one for me.
This work by Mr. Tefertiller is, in my opinion, the best biography of Wyatt Earp available. I highly recommend it.
Other books I've read about Mr. Earp have been biased in some way. One author wrote a book called, if I remember correctly, "Wyatt Earp: A Vigilante Life". The title told me all I needed to know about his book, and made the decision to not buy it a simple one for me.
This work by Mr. Tefertiller is, in my opinion, the best biography of Wyatt Earp available. I highly recommend it.
June 28, 2018
My trip to TOMBSTONE!
I've been out west on family trips but never stopped at Tombstone. Those trips are over now but I did get to Tombstone...through this book! To me it took me right to that time and day. Too factional to be fictional! Too much like life and not like lies. Now you too can take this trip, through this book!
I've been out west on family trips but never stopped at Tombstone. Those trips are over now but I did get to Tombstone...through this book! To me it took me right to that time and day. Too factional to be fictional! Too much like life and not like lies. Now you too can take this trip, through this book!
May 26, 2019
I always enjoy a story about Wyatt Earp since the O.K. Corral shootout happened on my birthday (the date, not the year, obviously). While I appreciate the research put into this book, there are far too may footnotes and newspaper article quotes. But it seems that the true story of Earp is a hard one to figure out.
November 1, 2019
I chose this book because it seemed to be one of the more well researched and historically accurate versions of the story. It was a good book. Very informative. Did not appear to take sides in the various controversies that still exist but attempted to tell the whole story of Wyatt Earp, warts and all.
December 15, 2021
You've heard the myths and legends, and probably seen the tv show and movies, now you can meet the real man behind it all. Biographer, Casey Tefertiller, takes readers on a deep dive into the life and world of the American West's most revered, and misunderstood, lawman in this fascinating, engrossing, and readable book. A must read for "Wild West" history fans and western movie fans alike.
January 8, 2018
I loved this book. I've seen numerous movies re Wyatt Earp and the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral. This book sets the record straight with the real story and provided fascinating details regarding not only his life story, but the back story of the politics and the players in Tombstone.
July 2, 2018
I was wondering if any part of the movie Tombstone was accurate, knowing how much Hollywood likes to stretch the truth. It was pretty much accurate except some areas. The parts about the O.K corral was fascinating. Good read
June 8, 2019
Magnificent, cinematic, sea-to-shining-sea rendering of onetime mercenary turned lawman Wyatt...and the many changes he, and the republic, went through between the end of the First Civil War and the birth of Hollywood. Majestic.
March 22, 2021
It took a year to get through this. I finally scanned much of it. It’s a hard book to read, small print and massive descriptions, and choppy prose. I’m fascinated with Earp, Holliday and all things West. Thought this book would give me incite into Earp the man, but just some but it was a rehash of all the gun fights trials etc.. didn’t delve into his wives, his relationships with brothers etc.
November 22, 2024
Best Earp Book Ever
I was worried about the length of this book. Was it going to be too much information and get bogged down with boring sections? It never did. I am so glad I gave this book a chance.
I was worried about the length of this book. Was it going to be too much information and get bogged down with boring sections? It never did. I am so glad I gave this book a chance.
September 30, 2017
A comprehensive look at the truth and legend of Wyatt Earp. Thoroughly researched and footnoted. Continues after his death with a quick nod to Hollywood productions about Wyatt.
January 14, 2018
Ενα ωραιο βιβλιο για την αληθινη ζωη του πρωτου εκπροσωπου του νομου που τα εβαλε με το οργανωμενο εγκλημα στην Αγρια Δυση
July 8, 2018
Very thorough account of the life and times of this American icon, his family, and his aquaintances.
August 16, 2019
Pretty good bio. But Tefertiller (maybe the best name ever) kept losing me at times. However, it is very thorough and balanced. Doesn't make a hero or goat out of Earp.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews