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Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West
The must-have companion to Bill O'Reilly's historic series Legends and The Real West, a fascinating, eye-opening look at the truth behind the western legends we all think we knowHow did Davy Crockett save President Jackson's life only to end up dying at the Alamo? Was the Lone Ranger based on a real lawman-and was he an African American? What amazing detective work led to the capture of Black Bart, the "gentleman bandit" and one of the west's most famous stagecoach robbers? Did Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid really die in a hail of bullets in South America? Generations of Americans have grown up on TV shows, movies and books about these western icons. But what really happened in the Wild West? All the stories you think you know, and others that will astonish you, are here--some heroic, some brutal and bloody, all riveting. Included are the ten legends featured in Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies docuseries -from Kit Carson to Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok to Doc Holliday-- accompanied by two bonus chapters on Daniel Boone and Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley.Frontier America was a place where instinct mattered more than education, and courage was necessary for survival. It was a place where luck made a difference and legends were made. Heavily illustrated with spectacular artwork that further brings this history to life, and told in fast-paced, immersive narrative, Legends and Lies is an irresistible, adventure-packed ride back into one of the most storied era of our nation's rich history.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2015
1735 people are currently reading
3548 people want to read
About the author
David Fisher
69 books98 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
David Fisher is the author of more than twenty New York Times bestsellers and coauthor of Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies series. His work has also appeared in most major magazines and many newspapers. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.
David Fisher is the author of more than twenty New York Times bestsellers and coauthor of Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies series. His work has also appeared in most major magazines and many newspapers. He lives in New York with his wife and two sons.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 512 reviews
October 7, 2015
Move along folks...there's nothing to see here...if you are a western buff, that is. This is a garden variety selection of thumbnail biographies of figures of the old west. It's reasonably well-written and laid out, and I can't quibble with the celebrities Mr O'Reilly chose to grace the pages of his book. In fact, one might have predicted them, as he has rounded up a lot of the usual suspects like Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, and the James boys. Wild Bill Hickock, of course, could not be left out, and Custer has his place here as well.
I was happy to see Bass Reeves included...he is often left out of these literary roundups. Maybe he wasn't as flashy or infamous as some of his contemporaries, but as a black man enforcing the law in a white man's world on red man's land, he was fighting a double battle. Bass didn't like to resort to violence and arrested and jailed his own son for murder - now that's incorruptible!
I did glean a few bits of western trivia from these pages. I was unaware, for example, that Annie Oakley had offered to raise a regiment of women soldiers to fight in WWI, thereby showing more sand than the American President. But revelations like this are rare gems in this book for one who reads a lot on the settling of the west; for someone starting out in the genre, this is a dandy book, clear and concise and richly illustrated.
I was happy to see Bass Reeves included...he is often left out of these literary roundups. Maybe he wasn't as flashy or infamous as some of his contemporaries, but as a black man enforcing the law in a white man's world on red man's land, he was fighting a double battle. Bass didn't like to resort to violence and arrested and jailed his own son for murder - now that's incorruptible!
I did glean a few bits of western trivia from these pages. I was unaware, for example, that Annie Oakley had offered to raise a regiment of women soldiers to fight in WWI, thereby showing more sand than the American President. But revelations like this are rare gems in this book for one who reads a lot on the settling of the west; for someone starting out in the genre, this is a dandy book, clear and concise and richly illustrated.
August 11, 2017
Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West by David Fisher, Bill O'Reilly
Author: Bill O'Reilly
Title: The Real West
Series: Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies
Cover Rating:
Book Rating:
Buy This Book:
How did Davy Crockett save President Jackson's life only to end up dying at the Alamo? Was the Lone Ranger based on a real lawman-and was he an African American? What amazing detective work led to the capture of Black Bart, the "gentleman bandit" and one of the west's most famous stagecoach robbers?
Did Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid really die in a hail of bullets in South America? Generations of Americans have grown up on TV shows, movies and books about these western icons. But what really happened in the Wild West?
All the stories you think you know, and others that will astonish you, are here--some heroic, some brutal and bloody, all riveting. Included are the ten legends featured in Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies docuseries -from Kit Carson to Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok to Doc Holliday-- accompanied by two bonus chapters on Daniel Boone and Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley.Frontier America was a place where instinct mattered more than education, and courage was necessary for survival. It was a place where luck made a difference and legends were made. Heavily illustrated with spectacular artwork that further brings this history to life, and told in fast-paced, immersive narrative,
Legends and Lies is an irresistible, adventure-packed ride back into one of the most storied era of our nation's rich history.
I wasn't as impressed by this book as I thought I would be.
The accumulation of persons written about and the information that was included wasn't really anything new that isn't already known.
Ignoring the misspelling and other errors it just wasn't that big a deal. Granted I've always been a fan of history figures I think I was just expecting something else when I got this book.
Legends and Lies was recommended to me by a friend and it was good just wasn't great and didn't include any new information I hadn't already seen written by other authors.
If you haven't already read about this history or these historical figures before this will be a really great read but for those that have there isn't a whole lot of fresh information or perspective to discover.
Until next time book lovers...
Krissys Bookshelf Reviews purchased a print copy for personal collection. All thoughts, comments and ratings are my own.
If any of Krissy's Bookshelf Reviews has been helpful please stop by to like my post or leave a comment to let me know what you think. I love hearing from you!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Krissys Bookshelf Reviews
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Save
Author: Bill O'Reilly
Title: The Real West
Series: Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies
Cover Rating:
Book Rating:
Buy This Book:
How did Davy Crockett save President Jackson's life only to end up dying at the Alamo? Was the Lone Ranger based on a real lawman-and was he an African American? What amazing detective work led to the capture of Black Bart, the "gentleman bandit" and one of the west's most famous stagecoach robbers?
Did Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid really die in a hail of bullets in South America? Generations of Americans have grown up on TV shows, movies and books about these western icons. But what really happened in the Wild West?
All the stories you think you know, and others that will astonish you, are here--some heroic, some brutal and bloody, all riveting. Included are the ten legends featured in Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies docuseries -from Kit Carson to Jesse James, Wild Bill Hickok to Doc Holliday-- accompanied by two bonus chapters on Daniel Boone and Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley.Frontier America was a place where instinct mattered more than education, and courage was necessary for survival. It was a place where luck made a difference and legends were made. Heavily illustrated with spectacular artwork that further brings this history to life, and told in fast-paced, immersive narrative,
Legends and Lies is an irresistible, adventure-packed ride back into one of the most storied era of our nation's rich history.
I wasn't as impressed by this book as I thought I would be.
The accumulation of persons written about and the information that was included wasn't really anything new that isn't already known.
Ignoring the misspelling and other errors it just wasn't that big a deal. Granted I've always been a fan of history figures I think I was just expecting something else when I got this book.
Legends and Lies was recommended to me by a friend and it was good just wasn't great and didn't include any new information I hadn't already seen written by other authors.
If you haven't already read about this history or these historical figures before this will be a really great read but for those that have there isn't a whole lot of fresh information or perspective to discover.
Until next time book lovers...
Krissys Bookshelf Reviews purchased a print copy for personal collection. All thoughts, comments and ratings are my own.
If any of Krissy's Bookshelf Reviews has been helpful please stop by to like my post or leave a comment to let me know what you think. I love hearing from you!
Thank you so much for stopping by!
Krissys Bookshelf Reviews
Krissys Bookshelf Reviews has a QR code for your phone!
Save
April 18, 2015
Nothing original here, rather a regurgitation and summary of what others have written. Little if any introspection. More of a series of little vignettes of famous and infamous personalities of the West. Good reading for 6th-9th graders, and probably good for a middle-school reading list because it does bring these people to life. But it's a rather shallow read for an adult. Can't really give it more than 3 stars.
July 30, 2015
A very informative & enjoyable listen, narrated by Tom Wopat.
July 10, 2024
Not alot of new information for me in this book but it was a good read. well researched. Recommended
December 10, 2015
The last two months I've enjoyed Bill O'Reilly's latest book on the Old West while watching DVRed episodes of the companion series on FOX NEWS (with my wife). I would highly recommend watching each episode THEN following up with reading the related chapter in the book for more of each person's story. Every chapter was a great summary of some of the great legends of the West: Jesse James, David Crockett, Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid. The chapters I found most interesting were of Bass Reeves, Davy Crockett and Black Bart. O'Reilly's book is a great primer to further explore each profiled figure more in-depth.
December 17, 2020
Like with other books by this author, biographical facts are turned into to real-life stories without getting mired in the minutiae. The research put into this undertaking is clearly extensive. Characters from the wild west are brought to life, while dispelling common myths. Take the Lone Ranger for example, a gun-slinging African American. Hollywood (of prior eras) had a way of separating white hats from black hats, so the audience would know who was being portrayed as the good guy and who are the villains. As we know, real life has a lot more gray tones, and this is brought forth by O'Reilly. This book is an easy, quick and enjoyable read.
June 17, 2015
Oh, really?
First Boone was the 6th child, a few pages later he was the 7th. Kentucky is spelled "Kentucke" and "Kentucky". Poor composition.
First Boone was the 6th child, a few pages later he was the 7th. Kentucky is spelled "Kentucke" and "Kentucky". Poor composition.
August 13, 2015
Well... It was a good book if you can overlook inaccuracies, editorial misses and just the same ole stories we know, and really not written well.
I'm a huge fan of American history. Huge! But I found this book 'half written'. They left a lot out and the writing wasn't very good. It's like he tried to be funny, but it didn't really work.
Based on the title 'Legends and Lies'; I was expecting some juicy stuff that I haven't heard before and some commonly known 'facts' to be debunked. Not at all. It was just parts of the stories of their lives, which is generally interesting enough. But this book fell far short for me.
I'm a huge fan of American history. Huge! But I found this book 'half written'. They left a lot out and the writing wasn't very good. It's like he tried to be funny, but it didn't really work.
Based on the title 'Legends and Lies'; I was expecting some juicy stuff that I haven't heard before and some commonly known 'facts' to be debunked. Not at all. It was just parts of the stories of their lives, which is generally interesting enough. But this book fell far short for me.
July 22, 2015
O'Reilly has fooled me again. As previously with Killing Patton, the title is a come on. He simply rehashes all previous stories not some new insight as he would have you believe.
August 12, 2016
I loved this but I also really love and romanticize the Wild West. I grew up on John Wayne movies and live in the west so we celebrate it often. I was fascinated by these stories that I even went and watched the entire TV series that this is the companion to. A lot of reviewers on here are saying that this book is like reading Wikipedia and I think the reason it isn't that deep is because it is a support to the TV show and not the main entree. So-onto stories I loved. Jesse James is probably the most disturbing story because his mom literally bred him to be violent. The whole psychology behind that situation was fascinating and creepy. I think one of my favorite stories was Doc Holliday-who went out west when he discovered he was dying of consumption so he could "die with his boots on." This expression means dying while doing something adventurous. He became a notorious gunfighter who survived many situations that he shouldn't have. Unfortunately consumption got the better of him and as he lay in bed on Nov 8th 1887, "he supposedly awoke and asked in a clear voice for a glass of whiskey. He sighed, looked down at his bare feet, and commented, "Damn, this is funny," and died."
O my word history is so fun! Love it! I also loved the stories of Black Bart the gentleman robber who only stole from Wells Fargo wagons because they ticked him off after causing his gold claim to fail. After he would steal from the wagon train, he would walk back to San Francisco where he lead the life of a gentleman who made his money from mining. I loved him because he left poetry behind with his victims...like....
"I've labored long and hard for bread,
For honor and for riches
But on my corns too long you've tread
You fine-haired sons-of-bitches."
It's this wild, lawlessness that is truly so fun to learn about. It's guns blazing and survival of the fittest. America's history is just filled with these colorful human characters and I think it's our job to go out and discover them.
Erika's Amazon Link
O my word history is so fun! Love it! I also loved the stories of Black Bart the gentleman robber who only stole from Wells Fargo wagons because they ticked him off after causing his gold claim to fail. After he would steal from the wagon train, he would walk back to San Francisco where he lead the life of a gentleman who made his money from mining. I loved him because he left poetry behind with his victims...like....
"I've labored long and hard for bread,
For honor and for riches
But on my corns too long you've tread
You fine-haired sons-of-bitches."
It's this wild, lawlessness that is truly so fun to learn about. It's guns blazing and survival of the fittest. America's history is just filled with these colorful human characters and I think it's our job to go out and discover them.
Erika's Amazon Link
September 13, 2019
Interesting stories, but didn't seem too off what is known. Clearly the "old west" as we know it is glorified good guy/bad guy cowboys and "indians" stuff that has been overly misrepresented in media (from dime books of the time to movies), but I don't think anyone doesn't know that at this time...
June 20, 2016
This book has several chapters which are mini biographies of iconic characters from the Old West and the Frontier. I grew up in an era where Westerns and Frontier stories, as well as WWII dominated the movies, TV so I was interested in the book. As an avid reader of history, I have already read detailed biographies of a few of the people in the book. For the most part, I found it interesting and entertaining.
August 14, 2015
A computation of western "legends" but really nothing new has been covered except maybe the fact about the Lone Ranger - he didn't have a white horse/black outfit but maybe I'm mixing up with Hopalong Cassidy? I was intrigued by the fact that he could have been of black descent which I hadn't thought about but is very possible. A quick read.
July 7, 2015
Wow, O'Reilly laughed all the way to the bank with this one. Nothing you can't find on Wikipedia here. The only part that even remotely held my interest was the last segment, which outlined the history of the Western genre of books/movies/TV shows.
April 27, 2016
OK, but not much new information if you're already up to speed on the history of the American West. There were typos and inconsistencies throughout. I did appreciate the maps and photos to illustrate the stories.
March 12, 2016
To me, L&L was a bathroom book. It reminded me of something I'd find on the back of Grandma's toilet. It held my interest and was interesting but not a serious history. Overall an average read as long as you're not looking for something with depth.
June 15, 2020
It was an interesting history lesson. I would have preferred to have the money comparison from that era to now instead of just today's approximate amount. I highly recommend if you enjoy learning about crime in the 1800s.
June 10, 2025
Nothing new or groundbreaking, but a quick, decent read.
April 16, 2018
Let me start by saying I had heard of Bill O’Reilly but that was the extent of my knowledge when I picked this up at the library. Since finishing the book I did a bit of research and it seems that Mr. O’Reilly isn’t favorably looked upon in the history community. He is the most read historian according to book sales but he also seems to elaborate his retelling and doesn’t always inform the reader he has done this. The reason I looked into Mr O’Reilly was due to the number of times he quoted a person but failed to inform the reader where the information came from. Sometimes he would and sometimes he wouldn’t. I found that very odd.
As far as this particular book goes I found it to be a very easy read. Each chapter is dedicated to a historical figure in the Old West. Jesse James, Custer, Wild Bill, etc... Oddly enough Wyatt Earp did not have his own chapter but was featured heavily during Doc Holidays. The chapters are approx twenty pages each and feature a large number of pictures and artwork which I enjoyed but also managed to make the book a simple and easy read.
It’s very unlikely you’ll come across much information you didn’t already know unless you’re relatively new to this part of history. I for one had no idea that the Lone Ranger was very likely based on the life of a black man who was a US Marshal. I enjoyed reading about these larger then life characters! O’Reilly makes them seem very human. He displays their flaws while keeping you captivated by their amazing exploits. After awhile it’s like watching an action movie! He is also very careful to remind the reader at the end of each chapter that many of these men are considered heroes but in reality many of them were also cold blooded murders.
My other gripe lies with the authors handling of the American Indians. As we are reading about Daniel Boone, Custard, and many others we are told story after story about killing Native Americans and Native American raids. It was very contradictory. He’d tell us how white settlers were attacked but we are given no real context. He tells us how Boone and Custard were considered the greatest Indian fighters of their era but for most of the time I was at a loss as to why the Indians were such a problem. My years in school taught me it was because of the buffalo or their land but I wanted more details. Then we are given about five pages dedicated to letting the reader know that most of the Indian problems were entirely due to the way whites treated them; the Indians were only reacting to the whites. But for some reason O’Reilly couldn’t put any of that into context!
All in all I did enjoy reading this. I found the stories wholly entertaining. I learned some new things which is always great. It if your looking for a detailed account of the Old West from a highly respected historian this isn’t the book for you!
Al
As far as this particular book goes I found it to be a very easy read. Each chapter is dedicated to a historical figure in the Old West. Jesse James, Custer, Wild Bill, etc... Oddly enough Wyatt Earp did not have his own chapter but was featured heavily during Doc Holidays. The chapters are approx twenty pages each and feature a large number of pictures and artwork which I enjoyed but also managed to make the book a simple and easy read.
It’s very unlikely you’ll come across much information you didn’t already know unless you’re relatively new to this part of history. I for one had no idea that the Lone Ranger was very likely based on the life of a black man who was a US Marshal. I enjoyed reading about these larger then life characters! O’Reilly makes them seem very human. He displays their flaws while keeping you captivated by their amazing exploits. After awhile it’s like watching an action movie! He is also very careful to remind the reader at the end of each chapter that many of these men are considered heroes but in reality many of them were also cold blooded murders.
My other gripe lies with the authors handling of the American Indians. As we are reading about Daniel Boone, Custard, and many others we are told story after story about killing Native Americans and Native American raids. It was very contradictory. He’d tell us how white settlers were attacked but we are given no real context. He tells us how Boone and Custard were considered the greatest Indian fighters of their era but for most of the time I was at a loss as to why the Indians were such a problem. My years in school taught me it was because of the buffalo or their land but I wanted more details. Then we are given about five pages dedicated to letting the reader know that most of the Indian problems were entirely due to the way whites treated them; the Indians were only reacting to the whites. But for some reason O’Reilly couldn’t put any of that into context!
All in all I did enjoy reading this. I found the stories wholly entertaining. I learned some new things which is always great. It if your looking for a detailed account of the Old West from a highly respected historian this isn’t the book for you!
Al
June 19, 2015
Love him or hate him, one should not judge the book by the name of the well-known political commentator, Bill O’Reilly. The title page of Bill O’Reilly’s Legends & Lies: The Real West clearly states that it was written by David Fisher, the author of eighteen New York Times bestsellers.
In an entertaining and easy to read style, the author covers thirteen famous (or infamous) legends of the Old West including Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Jesse James and Billy the Kid. Also included was one I had never heard of, Bass Reeves, a black man who might be called the real Lone Ranger.
Admittedly, not familiar with the lives of many of these Old West legends, I was uncritical until I came across an account of Annie Oakley’s newly won acclaim after the Paris Exhibition. The book claimed “the King of Senegal wanted to buy her so she might kill the tigers then terrorizing his country.” Tigers? There are no tigers in Africa. Tigers are an Asian species. And, who was this king? There are no end notes where one might find and evaluate the source of an alleged fact.
Further on I encountered another error in the chapter on Doc Holiday who was associated with the Earp brothers. According to Bill O’Reilly’s Legends & Lies, Wyatt Earp “moved to Wichita in ’74 to keep peace in his brother Virgil’s house of ill repute while also working as a part-time peace officer…” Since I had previously read Allen Barra’s Inventing Wyatt Earp and Don Chaput’s Virgil Earp Western Peace Officer, I had some familiarity with the Earp clan. It was actually James Earp who was “running a few girls” according to Chaput. Barra states that “James was the loner among the brothers, and if he was pimping in Wichita he was more than likely running a one-man show.”
My criticisms aside, I enjoyed the book and learned a lot even if not always sure what was legend or lie. Sit back and enjoy. Approach this book as an entertaining read rather than a scholarly tome of history.
In an entertaining and easy to read style, the author covers thirteen famous (or infamous) legends of the Old West including Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, Jesse James and Billy the Kid. Also included was one I had never heard of, Bass Reeves, a black man who might be called the real Lone Ranger.
Admittedly, not familiar with the lives of many of these Old West legends, I was uncritical until I came across an account of Annie Oakley’s newly won acclaim after the Paris Exhibition. The book claimed “the King of Senegal wanted to buy her so she might kill the tigers then terrorizing his country.” Tigers? There are no tigers in Africa. Tigers are an Asian species. And, who was this king? There are no end notes where one might find and evaluate the source of an alleged fact.
Further on I encountered another error in the chapter on Doc Holiday who was associated with the Earp brothers. According to Bill O’Reilly’s Legends & Lies, Wyatt Earp “moved to Wichita in ’74 to keep peace in his brother Virgil’s house of ill repute while also working as a part-time peace officer…” Since I had previously read Allen Barra’s Inventing Wyatt Earp and Don Chaput’s Virgil Earp Western Peace Officer, I had some familiarity with the Earp clan. It was actually James Earp who was “running a few girls” according to Chaput. Barra states that “James was the loner among the brothers, and if he was pimping in Wichita he was more than likely running a one-man show.”
My criticisms aside, I enjoyed the book and learned a lot even if not always sure what was legend or lie. Sit back and enjoy. Approach this book as an entertaining read rather than a scholarly tome of history.
May 7, 2015
An excellent collection of collected biographies of the most famous figures of the Wild West, this book is well researched and corrects (and tells the origins of) the many legends and misunderstandings from this fascinating period of American history. Whether its outlaws such as Jess James and Butch Cassidy, heroes such as Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett, the protagonists of this book will delight readers. Well illustrated and attractively formatted, with copious notes and explanatory introductions, this book makes this well told, interesting history accessible and easy to read.
August 12, 2016
I enjoyed learning the real info on Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, Calamity Jane and others. I have lived in the Black Hills of SD where many of these people at least had some of their adventures. Sad reality of all the killing due to fighting each other, stealing, and the war of the Indians and the "white man". Good info. By the end, tired of all the killing and the relationship between most Indians and "white men" only got worse.
September 3, 2015
A fairly quick read but because of the number of characters there is not much new information uncovered for those who have done any previous reading on the subjects:
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
Wild Bill Hickok
Billy the Kid
Jesse James
Buffalo Bill Cody
Butch Cassidy
Black Bart
George Custer
Kit Carson
Doc Holliday
There was one new character that was interesting: Bass Reeves
Daniel Boone
Davy Crockett
Wild Bill Hickok
Billy the Kid
Jesse James
Buffalo Bill Cody
Butch Cassidy
Black Bart
George Custer
Kit Carson
Doc Holliday
There was one new character that was interesting: Bass Reeves
April 24, 2019
The audio book is narrated by Tom Wopat. He does a great job in his cadence and accents. Overall, the book features snippets or vignettes of various "old west" figures. Starting with Daniel Boone and working his way forward to Butch Cassidy and the Sun Dance Kid. Not an in depth biography by any means but entertaining history and you might pick up something you haven't heard before.
May 12, 2015
as good as it gets
lone range was a surprise! bits and pieces of learning from each of the stories brought back great memories of the TV series during m youth!
lone range was a surprise! bits and pieces of learning from each of the stories brought back great memories of the TV series during m youth!
December 22, 2015
This is such an awesome book! I didn't read the whole thing -- only the parts about Jesse James and Doc Holliday -- but I will definitely be going back to it sometime for reference.
April 15, 2019
A good book that was interesting, though I did not enjoy it as much as O’Reilly “Killing” books. It did however offer insight into characters of the old west and dispel some previous thoughts.
December 10, 2018
Interesting fun book with stories about the West.
Daniel Boone lived in North Carolina but explored Florida and Kentucky. At the time there were herds of buffalo in Kentucky. Boone lead a group of 50 settlers to Kentucky but they insisted on turning back when his son leading the cattle in the rear was attacked tortured and killed by Indians. Boone was hired by the Cumberland company to lead a group of men cutting the 300-mile-long Cumberland trail through the Cumberland gap. Just a little ax work.
Davey Crockett in Congress he opposed Andrew Jackson’s Indian removal act which was very unpopular in his home district though he supported in person. In the next election he was opposed by someone handpicked by Andrew Jackson who accused him of being a drunk and a cheater on his wife. The campaign was very dirty where his opponent posted signs that Crockett would appear someplace and when Crockett didn’t people were very mad. At one speech he lambasted Crockett who was in the audience. Crockett approached the electron and his opponent pulled out a pistol, aimed it at his chest and told him he better sit down. He did. He lost the election.
Crockett served in the revolutionary war mostly protecting mostly fighting Indians who were supporting the British. In the war of 1812 he joined Andrew Jackson as a scout. He came to despise Jackson and the way that he treated his man many of whom deserted because of lack of food.
Later in life Crockett participated in saving Andrew Jackson’s life in the first assassination attempt of a president in US history. A deranged house painter who thought he was English royalty pulled a pistol on Jackson at point-blank range but it misfired. Boone and other people nearby jumped on the man who managed to pull out another pistol that also miss fired.
Crockett wrote three autobiographies about himself and took what is out arguably the first celebrity known celebrity book tour traveling to New England.
Texas is an Indian word meaning friend. In 1835 17,000 of the 20,000 people living in Texas were Americans. There were many reasons for Crockett to go to Texas. He was separated from his wife, he was in debt, he lost an election to the Jacksonians in the Whigs had abandoned him. He lacked any current challenges and it was also the best place for him to reestablish his notoriety.
Kit Carson was related to Daniel Boone. Boone’s daughter was married to get Carson’s uncle and no doubt Daniel Boone served as a model for the Young Carson.
Carson’s father died when he was nine. His mother remarried but Carson did not like his stepfather who apprenticed him to a businessman in town. Carlson ran away and the man put an ad in the local paper with an award of one cent for Carson’s return. He learned to speak Spanish and eight Indian languages.
Carson was a hunter, trapper and guide. He fought Indians and lived among them. He took an Indian, Singing Grass, as his wife and when she died took another. He was an honored guest in many Indian villages.
Black Bart. Between 1875 and 1883 a robber named Black Bart robbed 28 stage coaches in Northern California. He always did the same thing. He never made threats he never harmed anyone he always got away on foot he always robbed Wells Fargo coaches. He was called the gentleman bandit.
Charles Bolles made a claim on the river in Minnesota and panned for gold. Two men approached him one day and asked to buy the claim he refused and they bought the land upstream from him and diverted the water. It turned out that Wells Fargo had hired these men. Charles moved to California where he robbed his first Wells Fargo stagecoach. He set up sticks to make it look like there were many men with rifles, stopped the stage coach and took the strong box which had the equivalent of $3000 in it. One terrified passenger threw out her purse but the robber returned it said he was not interested in her money. He moved to San Francisco and lived as a gentleman claiming he was a “mining engineer.” He dined in fancy hotels with fancy clothes and a walking cane.
Charles was afraid of horses and always walked away from his robbery sites. They were usually situated on the upward slope of the hill where the horses had slow. The gun he used was old and rusty and probably wouldn’t fire if you tried. He took a job teaching in San Francisco. At that time school was only three months. He was well liked by his students. On his fourth robbery he left a poem in the broken security box. “ I've labored long and hard for bread,. For honor and for riches,. But on my corns too long you've tread,. You fine-haired sons of bitches.”
And then another. “Here me down to sleep to wait the coming morrow. Perhaps success, perhaps defeat and everlasting sorrow. Yet come what will, I’ll try it onc, my conditions can’t be worse, and if there’s money in that box ‘tis money in my purse”
A robber who left a card at the scene quickly attracted to attention dime novelists and Black Bart captured the fancy of the American public
He disappeared from the scene and many stories circulated but none were verified about where he lived and what he did for the rest of his life. 1908 Henry Ford produced the model T that ended the career the profession of stage coach robber.
Wild Bill Hickok. In 1865 wild Bill Hickok another man had the first western duel in the town square in Springfield Missouri facing each other off waiting for each to draw.
Hicockk was a scout during the Civil War and later a law man in various towns in the west. He was absolutely honest absolutely upright. He like to gambling, women and drinking. He was the quickest to draw in the west.
He was killed in a town called Deadwood while sitting in a poker game. Someone came up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. He was holding aces and eights ever since called a dead man’s hand during his lifetime he had killed 36 people in what were considered to be righteous shootings.
Deadwood South Dakota average one murder a day in 1876. Gold was discovered their 1871.
The Lone Ranger: In 1933 the lone ranger was introduced by radio to the American public. He was probably based on a black western cowboy.
Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1837. He beat up his master in Texas during the civil war and fled to the lawless Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.
He learned the five languages of the “Civilized Tribes,“ the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Crow and Seminole. He was known as a good tracker. When President Grant appointed “Hangin Judge” Parker to stop the lawlessness in Indian country he gave him the ability to appoint 100 US marshals. Reeves was one of those. He was renowned for a sense of fairness, once interrupting a hanging to take the cattle thief to justice. When a US marshall traveled in those days he brought along a wagon and an aide to help him bring prisoners back. Reeves often used a Indian that he knew. He was also known to give a silver dollar the people who helped him, thus the origin of the silver bullet that the Lone Ranger carried.
He served as a marshal for 33 years and brought in approximately 3000 men while killing 20. People said that drawing on Reeves is about the same as committing suicide. At some point he had to arrest his own son for having shot his wife catching her in an active infidelity. When he retired in 1908 he was a legend.
The Lone Ranger wore a mask to hide his identity. Reeves often wore disguises to hide his. He would present himself as a farmer or a hobo or convict running from the law. Whatever it would take to get into the confidence of the man he was seeking.
Reeves would go out with a cook a wagon a deputy usually an Indian and a couple horses. He could not read and so before going out he had as many as 30 warrants read to him with the descriptions of the men and their crimes. He was said to have a photographic memory and remember every detail of every warrant. As he captured men he would chain them usually in pairs behind his wagon and bring them in in the bunches. He once brought in 19 men at one time. Outlaws in some areas would post it notes on trees along the line known as the deadline the note said that if her lawman crossed that line they would be killed. Thus, the origin of having a “deadline.”
Oklahoma was admitted to the union in 1907 and they immediately instituted a bunch of Jim Crowe laws. Making Indians honorary whites. This made it impossible for a black man like Reeves to arrest a white man. Instead of retiring at age 67 Reeves join the Oklahoma police force.
Buffalo Bill Cody
Cody’s Wild West show was a huge undertaking. He revolutionized the efficient loading and unloading of boxcars. He was consulted by presidents in all matters involving the wild west and included among his friends the major painter’s, office holders and inventors of his age. Edison met any Oakley at the Paris exhibit of 1889 and invited her to come to his studio where he photographed with his movie camera the smoke coming from her gone as well as class shattering. These short movies were shown in movie theaters in cost a nickel to see, these places this becoming called Nicklodeons.
Cody play paid all of his employees equally whether they were Indian, black, white, male or female. He was known to treat everyone with respect and was respected by all.
With the coming of motion pictures the demand for live shows of the west faded. The first commercial motion picture was the 12 minute “The Great Train Robbery in 1903. In 1913 the Wild West show closed in 1917 Buffalo Bill Cody died he was mourned across the US even by the Ocalla Sioux.
At the end of his life bill Cody became involved in making motion pictures about the west.
Annie Oakley never set foot in the west though she helped make the life their famous. During world war one she offered to raise an entire regiment of women capable of fighting in the war. Both here both she and Cody were strong proponents of women’s suffrage.
At Cody’s show in England attended by the queen the queen stood when the American flag went by and all her entourage stood and saluted the first time that English royalty had ever salute of the American flag.
Doc Holliday:
John Henry Holiday was a dentist and gunslinger. He was born to a wealthy family in Georgia and received a classical education. He studied dentistry but was diagnosed at age 21 with tuberculosis which was an incurable disease at the time. The only recommended treatment was dry air and so he went to Texas. He had a reputation for being quick and good with a gun and in fact is reported to have killed a couple of black men who were swimming in a white swimming hole back home.
In Texas he like to drink and gamble and was mean and quick to anger and killed a number of men by shooting or slashing the throat. If he was in one town for any length of time he hung up at shingle to do dentistry and us received the moniker Doc Holliday
He met a woman called Big Nose Kate who was a formidable hot tempered dancehall girl and sometime prostitute. She had a good education and was from Hungary. She’d been married once to a dentist. Once when a poker player pulled a gun on him Doc Holliday pulled out a knife and cut it him and was arrested. He was put in a hotel room with a guard as the town had no jail and a lynch mob gathered outside. Kate set fire to our building behind the hotel which brought everybody’s attention went and pulled two pistols on the guard and broke Doc out. They headed for Dodge City.
In Dodge an incident that cemented Doc and Wyatt Earp who was the sheriff of the town. One night about 50 cowboys came into town and were whooping it up in at The Long Branch saloon. Holiday was playing cards in a back room. The leader of the cowboys had a grudge against Earp and when the sheriff came 50 pistols were aimed at him. The leader announced that Earp was about to die. Holiday having quietly exited the back room cocked his pistol at the back of the leader’s head and announced that unless everyone drop their guns the leaders small amount of brains are going to be blown to smithereens. Guns dropped and Earp arrested two of the men. No one ever doubted Doc Holiday’s bravery or loyalty again.
In 1778 when Kate left Doc he decided to join the Earp brothers, Urban Wyatt, Morgan and Vergil. in Tombstone Arizona. Tombstone was built on a mesa above the Tough Knot silver mine. In 1880 Tombstone one of the last mining boom towns. It had 110 saloons, 14 brothels and gambling halls and a bowling alley.
On the Ides of March 1881 the “Cowboys” a gang in Tombstone robbed a stage coach killing two people. The shootout at the OK corral occurred on October 26, 1881. It took about 30 seconds. There had been great animosity between the Cowboys and Doc Holliday and Earp brothers.
The Clintons and some of the other Cowboys had said they were going to kill Doc and Wyatt and his brothers and Dr. decided that they needed to disarm them. They heard that 4 of the gang were waiting in a15 foot wide alley beside the OK Corral. They went to confront them. One of the other brothers told them to put their weapons down they refused then they drew and Holliday and the Earps blazed away. Three were killed and one ran away. This started a vendetta war.
Morgan was later shot in the back and the Earps decided that it was unsafe for them in Tombstone they loaded up the women and children and Morgan‘s body and headed to California. At one station the Clintons were rumored to be waiting to finish the job on Vergil and the next morning his riddled body was on the train tracks .A group of cowboys ambush the Earps later firing about 30 shots wounding one horse but none of the men. Over the next year about eight cowboys showed up dead. It was assumed that this was the work of the remaining brothers.
Doc holiday eventually moved to Leadville where he died of his tuberculosis. He was known throughout the west as the bravest and loyalist man you could hope for.
Gun fights where two men draw on each other in the middle of the street were very rare. After a town of been settled for a few years guns we usually outlawed in the town. If the person carried a gun it was usually a rifle because it was needed for hunting. Wyatt Earp noted the idea of being the quickest draw was false. The most accurate shooter would win. Wyatt herb noted that the person who drew the slowest and was the calmest will usually when a gun fight.
Many men carried a pistol on their hip but often would have a second smaller weapon, a Derringer, hidden in their coat somewhere. It is estimated that three out of four of the people killed in gun fights were killed by a smaller second weapon because they could be shot before their opponent realized what was happening.
Most guns or a ball and black powder the ball being about the size of a marble an accurate up to about 50 feet. People emptied their guns not as portrayed in movies where they just fire once. After the first couple of shots the black smoke would’ve secure everyone’s vision. Most fights occurred when people were liquored up and angry.
Daniel Boone lived in North Carolina but explored Florida and Kentucky. At the time there were herds of buffalo in Kentucky. Boone lead a group of 50 settlers to Kentucky but they insisted on turning back when his son leading the cattle in the rear was attacked tortured and killed by Indians. Boone was hired by the Cumberland company to lead a group of men cutting the 300-mile-long Cumberland trail through the Cumberland gap. Just a little ax work.
Davey Crockett in Congress he opposed Andrew Jackson’s Indian removal act which was very unpopular in his home district though he supported in person. In the next election he was opposed by someone handpicked by Andrew Jackson who accused him of being a drunk and a cheater on his wife. The campaign was very dirty where his opponent posted signs that Crockett would appear someplace and when Crockett didn’t people were very mad. At one speech he lambasted Crockett who was in the audience. Crockett approached the electron and his opponent pulled out a pistol, aimed it at his chest and told him he better sit down. He did. He lost the election.
Crockett served in the revolutionary war mostly protecting mostly fighting Indians who were supporting the British. In the war of 1812 he joined Andrew Jackson as a scout. He came to despise Jackson and the way that he treated his man many of whom deserted because of lack of food.
Later in life Crockett participated in saving Andrew Jackson’s life in the first assassination attempt of a president in US history. A deranged house painter who thought he was English royalty pulled a pistol on Jackson at point-blank range but it misfired. Boone and other people nearby jumped on the man who managed to pull out another pistol that also miss fired.
Crockett wrote three autobiographies about himself and took what is out arguably the first celebrity known celebrity book tour traveling to New England.
Texas is an Indian word meaning friend. In 1835 17,000 of the 20,000 people living in Texas were Americans. There were many reasons for Crockett to go to Texas. He was separated from his wife, he was in debt, he lost an election to the Jacksonians in the Whigs had abandoned him. He lacked any current challenges and it was also the best place for him to reestablish his notoriety.
Kit Carson was related to Daniel Boone. Boone’s daughter was married to get Carson’s uncle and no doubt Daniel Boone served as a model for the Young Carson.
Carson’s father died when he was nine. His mother remarried but Carson did not like his stepfather who apprenticed him to a businessman in town. Carlson ran away and the man put an ad in the local paper with an award of one cent for Carson’s return. He learned to speak Spanish and eight Indian languages.
Carson was a hunter, trapper and guide. He fought Indians and lived among them. He took an Indian, Singing Grass, as his wife and when she died took another. He was an honored guest in many Indian villages.
Black Bart. Between 1875 and 1883 a robber named Black Bart robbed 28 stage coaches in Northern California. He always did the same thing. He never made threats he never harmed anyone he always got away on foot he always robbed Wells Fargo coaches. He was called the gentleman bandit.
Charles Bolles made a claim on the river in Minnesota and panned for gold. Two men approached him one day and asked to buy the claim he refused and they bought the land upstream from him and diverted the water. It turned out that Wells Fargo had hired these men. Charles moved to California where he robbed his first Wells Fargo stagecoach. He set up sticks to make it look like there were many men with rifles, stopped the stage coach and took the strong box which had the equivalent of $3000 in it. One terrified passenger threw out her purse but the robber returned it said he was not interested in her money. He moved to San Francisco and lived as a gentleman claiming he was a “mining engineer.” He dined in fancy hotels with fancy clothes and a walking cane.
Charles was afraid of horses and always walked away from his robbery sites. They were usually situated on the upward slope of the hill where the horses had slow. The gun he used was old and rusty and probably wouldn’t fire if you tried. He took a job teaching in San Francisco. At that time school was only three months. He was well liked by his students. On his fourth robbery he left a poem in the broken security box. “ I've labored long and hard for bread,. For honor and for riches,. But on my corns too long you've tread,. You fine-haired sons of bitches.”
And then another. “Here me down to sleep to wait the coming morrow. Perhaps success, perhaps defeat and everlasting sorrow. Yet come what will, I’ll try it onc, my conditions can’t be worse, and if there’s money in that box ‘tis money in my purse”
A robber who left a card at the scene quickly attracted to attention dime novelists and Black Bart captured the fancy of the American public
He disappeared from the scene and many stories circulated but none were verified about where he lived and what he did for the rest of his life. 1908 Henry Ford produced the model T that ended the career the profession of stage coach robber.
Wild Bill Hickok. In 1865 wild Bill Hickok another man had the first western duel in the town square in Springfield Missouri facing each other off waiting for each to draw.
Hicockk was a scout during the Civil War and later a law man in various towns in the west. He was absolutely honest absolutely upright. He like to gambling, women and drinking. He was the quickest to draw in the west.
He was killed in a town called Deadwood while sitting in a poker game. Someone came up behind him and shot him in the back of the head. He was holding aces and eights ever since called a dead man’s hand during his lifetime he had killed 36 people in what were considered to be righteous shootings.
Deadwood South Dakota average one murder a day in 1876. Gold was discovered their 1871.
The Lone Ranger: In 1933 the lone ranger was introduced by radio to the American public. He was probably based on a black western cowboy.
Bass Reeves was born into slavery in Arkansas in 1837. He beat up his master in Texas during the civil war and fled to the lawless Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.
He learned the five languages of the “Civilized Tribes,“ the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Crow and Seminole. He was known as a good tracker. When President Grant appointed “Hangin Judge” Parker to stop the lawlessness in Indian country he gave him the ability to appoint 100 US marshals. Reeves was one of those. He was renowned for a sense of fairness, once interrupting a hanging to take the cattle thief to justice. When a US marshall traveled in those days he brought along a wagon and an aide to help him bring prisoners back. Reeves often used a Indian that he knew. He was also known to give a silver dollar the people who helped him, thus the origin of the silver bullet that the Lone Ranger carried.
He served as a marshal for 33 years and brought in approximately 3000 men while killing 20. People said that drawing on Reeves is about the same as committing suicide. At some point he had to arrest his own son for having shot his wife catching her in an active infidelity. When he retired in 1908 he was a legend.
The Lone Ranger wore a mask to hide his identity. Reeves often wore disguises to hide his. He would present himself as a farmer or a hobo or convict running from the law. Whatever it would take to get into the confidence of the man he was seeking.
Reeves would go out with a cook a wagon a deputy usually an Indian and a couple horses. He could not read and so before going out he had as many as 30 warrants read to him with the descriptions of the men and their crimes. He was said to have a photographic memory and remember every detail of every warrant. As he captured men he would chain them usually in pairs behind his wagon and bring them in in the bunches. He once brought in 19 men at one time. Outlaws in some areas would post it notes on trees along the line known as the deadline the note said that if her lawman crossed that line they would be killed. Thus, the origin of having a “deadline.”
Oklahoma was admitted to the union in 1907 and they immediately instituted a bunch of Jim Crowe laws. Making Indians honorary whites. This made it impossible for a black man like Reeves to arrest a white man. Instead of retiring at age 67 Reeves join the Oklahoma police force.
Buffalo Bill Cody
Cody’s Wild West show was a huge undertaking. He revolutionized the efficient loading and unloading of boxcars. He was consulted by presidents in all matters involving the wild west and included among his friends the major painter’s, office holders and inventors of his age. Edison met any Oakley at the Paris exhibit of 1889 and invited her to come to his studio where he photographed with his movie camera the smoke coming from her gone as well as class shattering. These short movies were shown in movie theaters in cost a nickel to see, these places this becoming called Nicklodeons.
Cody play paid all of his employees equally whether they were Indian, black, white, male or female. He was known to treat everyone with respect and was respected by all.
With the coming of motion pictures the demand for live shows of the west faded. The first commercial motion picture was the 12 minute “The Great Train Robbery in 1903. In 1913 the Wild West show closed in 1917 Buffalo Bill Cody died he was mourned across the US even by the Ocalla Sioux.
At the end of his life bill Cody became involved in making motion pictures about the west.
Annie Oakley never set foot in the west though she helped make the life their famous. During world war one she offered to raise an entire regiment of women capable of fighting in the war. Both here both she and Cody were strong proponents of women’s suffrage.
At Cody’s show in England attended by the queen the queen stood when the American flag went by and all her entourage stood and saluted the first time that English royalty had ever salute of the American flag.
Doc Holliday:
John Henry Holiday was a dentist and gunslinger. He was born to a wealthy family in Georgia and received a classical education. He studied dentistry but was diagnosed at age 21 with tuberculosis which was an incurable disease at the time. The only recommended treatment was dry air and so he went to Texas. He had a reputation for being quick and good with a gun and in fact is reported to have killed a couple of black men who were swimming in a white swimming hole back home.
In Texas he like to drink and gamble and was mean and quick to anger and killed a number of men by shooting or slashing the throat. If he was in one town for any length of time he hung up at shingle to do dentistry and us received the moniker Doc Holliday
He met a woman called Big Nose Kate who was a formidable hot tempered dancehall girl and sometime prostitute. She had a good education and was from Hungary. She’d been married once to a dentist. Once when a poker player pulled a gun on him Doc Holliday pulled out a knife and cut it him and was arrested. He was put in a hotel room with a guard as the town had no jail and a lynch mob gathered outside. Kate set fire to our building behind the hotel which brought everybody’s attention went and pulled two pistols on the guard and broke Doc out. They headed for Dodge City.
In Dodge an incident that cemented Doc and Wyatt Earp who was the sheriff of the town. One night about 50 cowboys came into town and were whooping it up in at The Long Branch saloon. Holiday was playing cards in a back room. The leader of the cowboys had a grudge against Earp and when the sheriff came 50 pistols were aimed at him. The leader announced that Earp was about to die. Holiday having quietly exited the back room cocked his pistol at the back of the leader’s head and announced that unless everyone drop their guns the leaders small amount of brains are going to be blown to smithereens. Guns dropped and Earp arrested two of the men. No one ever doubted Doc Holiday’s bravery or loyalty again.
In 1778 when Kate left Doc he decided to join the Earp brothers, Urban Wyatt, Morgan and Vergil. in Tombstone Arizona. Tombstone was built on a mesa above the Tough Knot silver mine. In 1880 Tombstone one of the last mining boom towns. It had 110 saloons, 14 brothels and gambling halls and a bowling alley.
On the Ides of March 1881 the “Cowboys” a gang in Tombstone robbed a stage coach killing two people. The shootout at the OK corral occurred on October 26, 1881. It took about 30 seconds. There had been great animosity between the Cowboys and Doc Holliday and Earp brothers.
The Clintons and some of the other Cowboys had said they were going to kill Doc and Wyatt and his brothers and Dr. decided that they needed to disarm them. They heard that 4 of the gang were waiting in a15 foot wide alley beside the OK Corral. They went to confront them. One of the other brothers told them to put their weapons down they refused then they drew and Holliday and the Earps blazed away. Three were killed and one ran away. This started a vendetta war.
Morgan was later shot in the back and the Earps decided that it was unsafe for them in Tombstone they loaded up the women and children and Morgan‘s body and headed to California. At one station the Clintons were rumored to be waiting to finish the job on Vergil and the next morning his riddled body was on the train tracks .A group of cowboys ambush the Earps later firing about 30 shots wounding one horse but none of the men. Over the next year about eight cowboys showed up dead. It was assumed that this was the work of the remaining brothers.
Doc holiday eventually moved to Leadville where he died of his tuberculosis. He was known throughout the west as the bravest and loyalist man you could hope for.
Gun fights where two men draw on each other in the middle of the street were very rare. After a town of been settled for a few years guns we usually outlawed in the town. If the person carried a gun it was usually a rifle because it was needed for hunting. Wyatt Earp noted the idea of being the quickest draw was false. The most accurate shooter would win. Wyatt herb noted that the person who drew the slowest and was the calmest will usually when a gun fight.
Many men carried a pistol on their hip but often would have a second smaller weapon, a Derringer, hidden in their coat somewhere. It is estimated that three out of four of the people killed in gun fights were killed by a smaller second weapon because they could be shot before their opponent realized what was happening.
Most guns or a ball and black powder the ball being about the size of a marble an accurate up to about 50 feet. People emptied their guns not as portrayed in movies where they just fire once. After the first couple of shots the black smoke would’ve secure everyone’s vision. Most fights occurred when people were liquored up and angry.
November 22, 2022
This is a wonderful primer featuring twelve major icons of the Old West - with some of their sidekicks, family members, and friends thrown in for good measure.
O'Reilly says right off the bat that he wrote this book to help people learn about America in an unforgettable way by bringing history vividly to life. He does that with amazing stories told with all the gory, but truthful detail. He presents the reader with thumbnail biographies of the likes of Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill, George Custer, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Bass Reeves (the real Lone Ranger).
O'Reilly fills these stories with facts and personalities, many of them disturbing. But he has made them all real people on the page because they were real people in life. His target audience is the people taken in by Hollywood's glitz and glamor which has the good guys always winning and John Wayne and Clint Eastwood mowing down bad guys in desperate, but fair fights. He wants to show us the reality of the Old West. He wants to make it clear that this was a place where brutality ruled, and life expectancy was measured in months. If you lived to be forty, you were way ahead. Some famous western men and women were both heroes and villains, split personalities. The dangers they faced were unrelenting.
So, O'Reilly tells stories about the highly successful stagecoach bandit, Black Bart, who walked miles to and from each one of his planned ambushes because he was afraid of horses. He writes of the incorruptible Bass Reeves who didn't like to resort to violence and arrested and jailed his own son for murder.
He also presents sidebars which clarify some of the common practices of the day. Here's an example that tickled me:
"Because it was a matter of survival rather than honor, in many shootings, the winner was simply the guy who got the drop on his opponent. Some men carried a pistol on their hip, knowing it would attract attention—but when necessary, they’d pull their serious weapon, often a small derringer, from under a coat or shirtsleeve and fire before their startled opponent could respond. It has been estimated that as many three out of four people who died from gunshots were killed by concealed second weapons."
This is a great book. It's clear, concise and richly illustrated. It's written and designed to make its reading a fun and exciting journey. Afterwards you will know the truth about America’s lively and unique past. You will have also learned about some lies that still circulate today. Debunking falsehoods is a major O'Reilly theme.
O'Reilly says right off the bat that he wrote this book to help people learn about America in an unforgettable way by bringing history vividly to life. He does that with amazing stories told with all the gory, but truthful detail. He presents the reader with thumbnail biographies of the likes of Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Buffalo Bill, George Custer, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Bass Reeves (the real Lone Ranger).
O'Reilly fills these stories with facts and personalities, many of them disturbing. But he has made them all real people on the page because they were real people in life. His target audience is the people taken in by Hollywood's glitz and glamor which has the good guys always winning and John Wayne and Clint Eastwood mowing down bad guys in desperate, but fair fights. He wants to show us the reality of the Old West. He wants to make it clear that this was a place where brutality ruled, and life expectancy was measured in months. If you lived to be forty, you were way ahead. Some famous western men and women were both heroes and villains, split personalities. The dangers they faced were unrelenting.
So, O'Reilly tells stories about the highly successful stagecoach bandit, Black Bart, who walked miles to and from each one of his planned ambushes because he was afraid of horses. He writes of the incorruptible Bass Reeves who didn't like to resort to violence and arrested and jailed his own son for murder.
He also presents sidebars which clarify some of the common practices of the day. Here's an example that tickled me:
"Because it was a matter of survival rather than honor, in many shootings, the winner was simply the guy who got the drop on his opponent. Some men carried a pistol on their hip, knowing it would attract attention—but when necessary, they’d pull their serious weapon, often a small derringer, from under a coat or shirtsleeve and fire before their startled opponent could respond. It has been estimated that as many three out of four people who died from gunshots were killed by concealed second weapons."
This is a great book. It's clear, concise and richly illustrated. It's written and designed to make its reading a fun and exciting journey. Afterwards you will know the truth about America’s lively and unique past. You will have also learned about some lies that still circulate today. Debunking falsehoods is a major O'Reilly theme.
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