Errol Plain, SASS #47739 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Since many of you have done a lot of research on old west figures, I was wondering if you could recommend a good book or two on Wyatt Earp. Also Custer would be of interest. TIA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texas Jim Henry, SASS #20616 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Stuart Lake's Wyatt Earp - Frontier Marshal is not the best Earp book from a factual/historical context, but is the one which is probably most responsible for the promotion of the Wyatt Earp legend. For that reason, it is worth the read. I have a first edition, complete with dust jacket. Other folks will, no doubt, chime in with better historical narratives. Regards, TJH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Boots, # 20282 LTG-Regulator Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 As to Custer....try killing Custer and Troopers with Custer. Unique accounts about Custer and The Battle of the Little Big Horn, as well as some other "battles"...maybe he was not the hero I was raised to believe that he was. Nice to see views published from the other side, such as troopers and native Americans, which was rare to find in my history books.....but then I'm no youngster sothe history I studied in high school was pretty biased. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remo, SASS #17644 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 This is funny as last night I finished "The Last Gunfight" by Jeff Quinn. This is a new book that deals heavily on the underlying reasons behind the gunfight. As before mentioned the Lake biography is very unreliable as it was based on the notes of John Flood who tried to do a biography but failed. Not due to Flood's doing but that Wyatt did not talk much and many times gave vastly different versions of the same incident. Also Josephine Marcus made a biography difficult as she insisted on editorial approval before release. Lake's biography was released in 1931 and the Depression was in full tilt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wylie Harp, #21158L Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Wyatt Earp is one of the Old West's most iconic figures and perhaps the most famous lawman who ever lived. Yet, Wyatt was only a lawman for a total of about six of his 80 years. Among the many other occupations he tried in his long life were gambling, saloon keeping, mining, racehorse ownership, and real estate speculation. There is strong evidence to show that Earp was sometimes involved in slightly less than legal activities. Nonetheless, it is as a lawman that Wyatt Earp is remembered and especially for being the only non-injured or killed participant at the OK Corral Gunfight. As for books, short answer is that there are scores of them on him. Some are rare like: Wyatt Earp by Wyatt Earp (The Flood Manuscript) Wyatt Earp The Biography by Tim Fattig Wyatt Earp Angel of Death by Ben Traywick Supressed Murder of Wyatt Eap by Glenn Boyer More easily available are: Wyatt Earp The Life Behind the Legend by Casey Terfertiller Wyatt Earp Speaks by John Richard Stephens Wyatt Earp Frontier Marshal by Stuart Lake and many many others both pro and anti Earp in their opinions and conclusions. If I only had to pick one, it would be Wyatt Earp The Biography of the Legend, The Cowtown Years by Lee Silva. ~:Wylie:~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lefty Dude, SASS # 51223 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 For Wyatt Earp, Try; Tombstone, an Iliad of the Southwest. By Walter Noble Burns 1927. Retro by the 1999 by the University of New Mexico press. This includes a 1927 letter from Wyatt to the author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Errol Plain, SASS #47739 Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Thanks guys. I hope to find something that neither vilifies nor glorifies these men, just an open minded look at their lives. I am interested in learning more about Wyatt than just his stint as a lawman. As Wylie pointed out, there is more to his life than what we know him best for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nasty Newt # 7365 Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 You have some good Earp responses. I like Tefertiler's book best. Regarding Custer, "A Terrible Glory" by James Donovan is as unbiased a biography as you're likely to find on Custer. "With Custer on the Little Bighorn" by William O. Taylor is an interesting first person account by a survivor who was with Benteen and Reno on Reno Hill. It is pretty much neutral on Custer as I recall. "Custer" by Jeffrey D. Wert is a more-or-less sympathetic portrayal. I can't find the book and don't recall the title, but if you google the author, Hampton Sides, you should be able to find his book on the Little Bighorn. It is decidedly anti-Custer. Nasty Newt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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