Description
Book SynopsisOn October 26, 1881, Wyatt Earp, his two brothers, and Doc Holliday shot it out with a gang of cattle rustlers near the O K Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. It was over in half a minute, but those thirty violent seconds turned the thirty-three-year-old Wyatt Earp into the stuff of legend. This biography tells Wyatt Earp's story.
Trade Review“Barra, a sports columnist for the Wall Street Journal, does not attempt an intensive proof of the 'life behind the legend.' Rather, he is concerned here with the process of myth making. He offers fascinating and provocative insights into how various individuals manipulated and twisted aspects of Earp's life for their own purpose. Earp, of course, was not naive and played no small part in creating his own legend.”—Jay Freeman,
Booklist“Any future arguments will have to reckon with the evidence and explication that Allen Barra presents in this thoughtful, careful book.”—Jonathan Yardley,
Washington Post Book World“Engaging, detailed and refreshingly pugnacious. . . . Barra’s well-researched, provocative study of the man and his legend offers us a welcome opportunity to consider what our several versions of Wyatt Earp tell us about ourselves."—Richard E. Nicholls,
New York Times Book Review“Barra is no garden variety deconstructionist. . . . [He] lines up the mythmaking process in his crosshairs.”—
Chicago TribuneTable of ContentsIntroduction to the Bison Books EditionPrefaceIntroduction1. Wyatt: The Odyssey2. "Bloody Kansas" -- Wyatt Earp in Wichita3. On to Dodge City4. Tombstone: The Iliad5. "Three Men Hurled into Eternity"--The Streetfight in Tombstone6. Wyatt Earp on Trial7. Wyatt Earp Unleashed: The Vendetta Ride8. Putting Clothes on a Ghost: The Life and Legend of Doc Holliday9. The Lion in Autumn10. Hollywood Gunfighter11. Print the Legend12. Wyatt ReduxBibliographyIndex
