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Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life
“It’s certain to remain the authoritative biography that at last makes the Kid’s life whole and understandable.” — San Francisco Chronicle Robert M. Utley does what countless books, movies, television shows, musical compositions, and paintings have failed to he successfully strips off the veneer of legendry to expose the reality of Billy the Kid. Using previously untapped sources, he presents an engrossing story—the most complete and accurate ever—of a youthful hoodlum and sometime killer who found his calling in New Mexico’s bloody power struggle known as the Lincoln County War. In unmasking the legend Utley also tells us much about our heritage of frontier vigilantism and violence.
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1989
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About the author
Robert M. Utley
92 books73 followersA specialist in Native American history and the history of the American West, Robert Marshall Utley was a former chief historian of the National Park Service. He earned a Bachelor of Science in history from Purdue University in 1951, and an Master of Arts in history from Indiana University in 1952. Utley served as Regional Historian of the Southwest Region of the NPS in Santa Fe from 1957 to 1964, and as Chief Historian in Washington, D.C. from 1964 until his retirement in 1980.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
August 2, 2023
Another difference distinguished Billy from many of his wartime friends and enemies. Although the newly respectable did not suddenly acquire scruples and cleanse society of its iniquities, they did rely less on violence to advance their fortunes. But Billy remained a gunman, coiled to defend himself or project his will through violence.
Failing in his bid for respectability, the Kid remained the consistent rebel. His criminal escapades, especially as they began to gain him notoriety, affronted and challenged the establishment. In contrast to Dolan, Riley, Matthews, and others who had initially created such turmoil, Billy continued to make trouble. Perhaps men like Judge Bristol, District Attorney Rynerson, and even Governor Wallace saw in the Kid's contempt for conventions and defiance of authority a disquieting reminder of their own pliant ethics and questionable actions. Whatever their motives, they singled him out for special treatment and ultimately, together with his comrades Bowdre and O'Folliard, saw that he paid for his insolence with his life.
Billy the Kid died as America enthusiastically plunged into the Gilded Age. The transformation of an agrarian nation into an industrial giant launched a frenzy of material acquisitiveness that corrupted national institutions with the same ethical laxity so conspicuous on the frontier. Jimmy Dolan and his friend Rynerson would have felt entirely at home in Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall or even in Grant’s White House. Only in a quick reliance on violence did the frontier differ from the nation as a whole in the relentless quest for power and wealth, and then it was largely a difference of degree.
The twin specters of corruption and violence remained embedded in American culture, periodically to surface separately or in tandem. Whether originating in the frontier experience or in some dark stain in the American character, they continue to find ambiguous expression in the legend of a youth who lived both. More than a century after his death, Billy the Kid still rides boldly across America’s mental landscape, symbolizing an enduring national ambivalence towards corruption and violence.
For a life that ended at twenty-one, that is a powerful and disturbing legacy.
Failing in his bid for respectability, the Kid remained the consistent rebel. His criminal escapades, especially as they began to gain him notoriety, affronted and challenged the establishment. In contrast to Dolan, Riley, Matthews, and others who had initially created such turmoil, Billy continued to make trouble. Perhaps men like Judge Bristol, District Attorney Rynerson, and even Governor Wallace saw in the Kid's contempt for conventions and defiance of authority a disquieting reminder of their own pliant ethics and questionable actions. Whatever their motives, they singled him out for special treatment and ultimately, together with his comrades Bowdre and O'Folliard, saw that he paid for his insolence with his life.
Billy the Kid died as America enthusiastically plunged into the Gilded Age. The transformation of an agrarian nation into an industrial giant launched a frenzy of material acquisitiveness that corrupted national institutions with the same ethical laxity so conspicuous on the frontier. Jimmy Dolan and his friend Rynerson would have felt entirely at home in Boss Tweed’s Tammany Hall or even in Grant’s White House. Only in a quick reliance on violence did the frontier differ from the nation as a whole in the relentless quest for power and wealth, and then it was largely a difference of degree.
The twin specters of corruption and violence remained embedded in American culture, periodically to surface separately or in tandem. Whether originating in the frontier experience or in some dark stain in the American character, they continue to find ambiguous expression in the legend of a youth who lived both. More than a century after his death, Billy the Kid still rides boldly across America’s mental landscape, symbolizing an enduring national ambivalence towards corruption and violence.
For a life that ended at twenty-one, that is a powerful and disturbing legacy.
March 3, 2017
Robert M. Utley is the gold standard for the history of the American West. This short, but scholarly life of Billy the Kid shows him to be scrupulous about providing nothing but well-researched fact instead of the all-too-available legends.
Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life shows young Henry McCarty alias Henry Antrim alias The Kid alias Billy the Kid to be a lesser figure than the facts would dictate. He had committed four murders that could be laid at his feet (including three sheriffs) and participated in some cattle and horse rustling, but he never really led a gang. In fact, he was only 21 years old when Pat Garrett came upon him by luck at Fort Sumner and plugged him.
Billy the Kid had numerous allies, particularly among the Hispanic population of New Mexico, and he was a frequent participant at local bailes, with a marked preference for young senoritas. It is very likely that if he had found his way across the border into Mexico, he would have lived farther into adulthood. Or not: Billy was a violent young dude.
Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life shows young Henry McCarty alias Henry Antrim alias The Kid alias Billy the Kid to be a lesser figure than the facts would dictate. He had committed four murders that could be laid at his feet (including three sheriffs) and participated in some cattle and horse rustling, but he never really led a gang. In fact, he was only 21 years old when Pat Garrett came upon him by luck at Fort Sumner and plugged him.
Billy the Kid had numerous allies, particularly among the Hispanic population of New Mexico, and he was a frequent participant at local bailes, with a marked preference for young senoritas. It is very likely that if he had found his way across the border into Mexico, he would have lived farther into adulthood. Or not: Billy was a violent young dude.
August 9, 2021
A wonderfully researched book that not only chronicles the history of the Kid, but also ties together broader elements of the story of New Mexico Territory. Utley is one of our most trusted historians, and it feels good to have such faith in the words as we read them.
October 29, 2019
Billy the Kid's legend is larger than his life. With humble beginnings under a different name and an end before he turned 22, Billy the Kid is a folk tale personified. Robert M. Utley painstakingly put the pieces back together to provide a timeline for The Kid's infamy and a background to the stories we've all heard. Though credited for everything from perpetrating the Lincoln County Wars to heartlessly murdering scores of people, the truth is much tamer than that (although his well-publicized escapes from various jails were quite real, and fraught with danger for all). The events for which The Kid is famous were a mere couple of years in his life; he had plenty of time for redemption before he headed down the path of no returns. Utley uncovers all of this, untangles the relationships he had, and reveals the potential reasons behind Billy the Kid's fatal choices.
This is a detailed and well-researched account of the life of Henry McCarty, aka William H Bonney, aka Billy the Kid. It doesn't lend itself well to hero worship, but it does reveal a historical figure and legend as a human being, and provides a dynamic look at his life and the times in which he lived. The book is a bit dry at times, but it is thorough. This isn't a fast-paced action-laced book, but rather a thoughtful meandering through a couple of decades during which a kid from New York makes himself out to be the baddest man in the West. The author's formal approach means that sometimes slogging through the facts, and nothing but the facts, but the attention to detail is appreciated. Included are pictures of people, descriptions and drawings of weaponry, a chapter devoted to the legend that sprung up after The Kid was no longer, extensive footnotes and references, and a complete index to the book.
This is a detailed and well-researched account of the life of Henry McCarty, aka William H Bonney, aka Billy the Kid. It doesn't lend itself well to hero worship, but it does reveal a historical figure and legend as a human being, and provides a dynamic look at his life and the times in which he lived. The book is a bit dry at times, but it is thorough. This isn't a fast-paced action-laced book, but rather a thoughtful meandering through a couple of decades during which a kid from New York makes himself out to be the baddest man in the West. The author's formal approach means that sometimes slogging through the facts, and nothing but the facts, but the attention to detail is appreciated. Included are pictures of people, descriptions and drawings of weaponry, a chapter devoted to the legend that sprung up after The Kid was no longer, extensive footnotes and references, and a complete index to the book.
October 2, 2013
When I was studying at the University of New Mexico, I used to drive through Ft. Sumner frequently between my hometown and Abq. I stopped in one time at the museum there and asked the clerk which biography of The Kid was the most factual. She mentioned Utley's so I picked it up, started reading it and then couldn't put the book down. A great read and probably is the most factual.
June 30, 2021
I have no doubt that the narrative presented is accurate, based solely on how dry and nearly unreadable this book is. There is something about the prose that rejects attention, and I had to strap my head in place to keep from wandering off while reading. Billy the Kid seems like an interesting person, it's a shame this book doesn't think so.
June 22, 2007
I'm not sure if this is the same book I read or not, but I **THINK** this is the correct title. Since I picked it up in the library over fifteen years ago I just can't be sure. The cover was different-- It had the same photo as Odaantje's new poetry book about Billy the Kid. Whatever. . the book read like a novel, and it was so very interesting because no one truly knows for sure if the guy who was shot in NM was Billy the Kid or someone else and if Billy ended up living out his days with his Mexican girlfriend. He wasn't really as bad as everyone said, though he did commit murders, they were in self-defense mostly. He may have been blamed for murders he never really committed too.
September 6, 2011
Robert Utley has done a great job in his factually-based portrayal of Billy The Kid. He brings to life the exciting, real life drama surrounding the Lincoln County War and Billy's role in that saga.
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November 1, 2019Billy the Kid was entangled with crime in the very early years of his teens, his boyish and slim figure branded him the nickname “The Kid” but a bullet at the age of 21 exiled his short and violent life. Personally, I think the book would have been more interesting if it was told through the eyes of Billy. The book was still interesting and gave plenty of historical details about this time period. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants an in-depth look at one of the most notorious outlaws in history.
July 30, 2023
Meticulously edited and researched, fairly well written, just not that interesting to me. I'm glad I read it because I have always wondered about Billy and what made him so famous. Turns out it was the press, just like now.
March 23, 2022
Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life is a fantastic book. Robert M Utley is a great Western writer/historian. It never drags. This book is the best book to read about the history of the Kid.
December 30, 2022
It was a really good read, really well researched though a little on the text book side at times.
February 27, 2024
A solid book that clarifies the truth through years of legend and hearsay. Wish it had been more fluidly written rather than the bare facts, but respect to the author for their diligence.
December 19, 2021
Robert M. Utley es un historiador estadounidense, especializado en las cuestiones del Oeste de los Estados Unidos y la historia militar. Hace estudios extremadamente serios, trabajando siempre a partir de documentos y archivos, y sin agregar nada de su propia cosecha (prefiere señalar cuando sobre alguna cuestión simplemente no hay información confiable). Este método lo aplica en esta excelente biografía de Billy the Kid, un personaje que surge del texto totalmente despojado de mitos, como una figura bastante pintoresca pero muy alejada de, por ejemplo, la imagen que el cine nos ha dado de él. Incluso se señala que su nombre real no era Billy Bonney, como aparece en ocasiones, sino muy probablemente Henry McCarthy, aunque utilizaba el apellido Antrim, que era el de su padrastro. Era un asesino, pero solamente existen cuatro homicidios que pueden atribuírsele con seguridad, y no los más de veinte de la leyenda. Era alguien simpático, aunque violento, hablaba perfectamente el castellano y se llevaba muy bien con los mexicanos, no acostumbraba beber pero era aficionado al juego, y (como todos los habitantes de la región) prefería utilizar un rifle y no las pistolas. Éste es, por lo tanto, un libro muy informativo. Su único inconveniente es la traducción, hecha por un "hespañol" chapado a la antigua, que traduce todos los apodos (¿quién no conoce a Billy the Kid? ¿por qué traducir como "Billy el niño"?) y escribe "hispánicos" en lugar de hispanos.
March 6, 2016
Ugh...I thought this book would never end. The only reason I finished it was for a book group. Utley's treatment of the history of Billy the Kid was too pompous for my taste. I disliked the fact that he relied heavily on Pat Garrett's account of events. Granted, Garrett's is a first hand telling, but it's coming from a man who needed a justification for killing a twenty-year-old man who was no more evil than he. Additionally, Utley uses his own books as references for facts in this book. He also assigns emotional states to the players in the history that he cannot possibly know. Finally, he treats the Mexican people in the story as the most shallow folk in the Wild West. They are either completely enamored of Billy, or they are so terrified by him, that they almost have no choice but to side with him. I for one, think my two stars are generous, but the research time Utley put in prompts me to give him that much.
March 28, 2012
This is only for people who have an interest in historical outlaw figures. Thieves and other criminals have been around since the beginning of time, it doesn't seem to matter what culture or period in history, and many times they choose this life, not because they need to steal or cheat to survive.
This book is very detailed and probably the most accurate and complete history of Billy the Kid, or any outlaw for that matter, I have read. There was a little too much detail my for interest. For instance, I didn't need to know the names and background of every person in a posse or a particular gang at the time. The book gets better and easier to read about halfway through. This is a good book for history buffs only since it is a factual account rather than an exciting re-creation.
This book is very detailed and probably the most accurate and complete history of Billy the Kid, or any outlaw for that matter, I have read. There was a little too much detail my for interest. For instance, I didn't need to know the names and background of every person in a posse or a particular gang at the time. The book gets better and easier to read about halfway through. This is a good book for history buffs only since it is a factual account rather than an exciting re-creation.
March 28, 2016
In his biography Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life, Robert Utley gives detailed endnotes that greatly focuses on evaluating and analyzing the sources he used during his research. He gives extensive backgrounds on different individuals and events that involved Billy the Kid, resulting in a better understanding of how he lived during his lifetime. He considered both the positive and negative aspects to the sources used to make his conclusions, pointing out potential embellishments and variations in perspectives. Utley also supports future researchers by giving directions on how to find the sources he used for his research and by giving full credit to the establishments that hold useful information about the Kid.
August 18, 2008
The book was incredibly boring. It was one of those books where you really, really had to concentrate one what you were reading regardless of how EXCITING!!!! it was. There where to many names that where only introduced once so you kinda forgot who was who. I guess when you read this book be prepared to have a piece of paper and a pen to list them all down. Nevertheless if you can stand boring books it would be good to read for a paper because it has A LOT of facts. Maybe im just not used to reading non-fiction. (Gormenghast is the Best)!!!!!!!!!!!!
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March 31, 2011Cudos to historian Utley for weeding through a forest of mythology about the famed gunman's doings to produce an easy to read, entertaining and logical account of Billy the Kid's life. Most of his criminal activity was as a hired gun in the Lincoln County war, a business turf war in southern New Mexico. Once that war was over the Kid had plenty of chance to leave the territory. He chose to stay and continue cattle rustling and horse stealing- his sticky end became a foregone conclusion.
November 11, 2012
As much detailed information as you'll find anywhere on Billy the Kid, who was only 21 when he was shot down by Sherrif Pat Garrett. Includes several references to a distant cousin (of mine) Louis Bousman (aka "the Animal") who rode with Pat Garrett in his capture of Billy the Kid at Stinking Springs, NM, and was involved in some major gunfights in Tascosa, Texas.
January 20, 2014
I think I was just not in the mood for this type of book. there is great detail in this book, and for me too much I think I would have preferred more of a story type book. what I did learn from the book was that his legend was probably more to do with bad luck as he grew up to become an outlaw and the time were others once his death used his name to write stories.
January 25, 2014
I enjoyed the way the author started the book from the beginning, rather as a couple of other books on Billy the Kid, which started at the end of his life. I thought it was very interesting learning about William H. Bonney, Henry Antrim alias Billy the Kid. The circumstances and environment in which he lived shaped his life and decisions.
July 23, 2010
Seems to an historical account of the life of William Bonney, alias Billy the Kid, it separates the myth from the real. You can't go wrong reading Robert M. Utley's account. The Kid, it could be argued, is one of the Wild West's tragic figures.
March 28, 2009
Billy the Kid facinates me, as he must others since they made a major motion picture about him. Someday I would love to visit all the places in New Mexico where he lived his short life.
February 7, 2011
An eye-opener. Billy didn't do nearly as much as most people have been led to believe.
December 16, 2011
Excellent. A little dry, but also clear and straight facts.
January 10, 2016
So far the least biased and most informative biography on Billy that I've read.
April 12, 2014
Definitely an interesting story.
April 1, 2014
This is a well researched book. My only problem with it is that a lot of the time it felt like I was not reading a book so much as a list. This person did this on this date in this place.
May 23, 2015
Good history. Clears up many of the myths.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews