Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape - Hardcover

Gardner, Mark Lee

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0061989479 ISBN 13: 9780061989476

Publisher: Mariner Books, 2013

Synopsis

Shot All to Hell by Mark Lee Gardner recounts the thrilling life of Jesse James, Frank James, the Younger brothers, and the most famous bank robbery of all time.

Follow the Wild West’s most celebrated gang of outlaws as they step inside Northfield’s First National Bank and back out on the streets to square off with heroic citizens who risked their lives to defend justice in Minnesota.

With compelling details that chronicle the two-week chase that followed—the near misses, the fateful mistakes, and the bloody final shootout on the Watonwan River, Shot All to Hell is a galloping true tale of frontier justice from the author of To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, Mark Lee Gardner.

Western Writers of America Spur Award - Wild West History Association Best Book Award - Milton F. Perry Award Best Book

About this title

About the Author

Mark Lee Gardner is the author of Rough Riders, To Hell on a Fast Horse, and Shot All to Hell, which received multiple awards, including a Spur Award from Western Writers of America. An authority on the American West, Gardner has appeared on PBS’s American Experience, as well as on the History Channel, the Travel Channel, and on NPR. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, True West, Wild West, American Cowboy, and New Mexico Magazine. He lives with his family in Cascade, Colorado.

From the Back Cover

It was the most famous bank robbery of all time, involving the legendary James-Younger gang's final shocking holdup—the infamous Northfield Raid—and the thrilling two-week chase that followed. Mark Lee Gardner, author of the critically acclaimed To Hell on a Fast Horse, takes us inside Northfield's First National Bank and outside to the streets as Jesse James and his band of outlaws square off against the heroic citizens who risked their lives to defeat America's most daring criminals. With vivid detail and novelistic verve, Gardner follows the James brothers as they elude both the authorities and the furious citizen posses hell-bent on capturing them in one of the largest manhunts in the history of the United States. He reveals the serendipitous endings of the Younger brothers—Cole, Jim, and Bob—and explores the James brothers' fates after the dust settled, solving mysteries about the raid that have been hotly debated for more than 130 years.

A galloping true tale of frontier justice featuring audacious outlaws and intrepid heroes, Shot All to Hell is a riveting slice of Wild West history that continues to fascinate today.

Reviews

There are, of course, many books and films, some serious and some fanciful, on the exploits of the James-Younger gang. Unlike most of them, Gardner, an authority on the American West, has shed considerable light on a neglected aspect of the gang’s life of crime, the escape of Frank and Jesse James from several posses after the debacle of their attempted robbery of the bank in Northfield, Minnesota. In his description of the origins of the gang and their “careers” before Northfield, Gardner provides a useful background for novices on the topic. His narrative picks up steam in his detailed, almost bullet-by-bullet account of the failed robbery. In the planning, the James brothers failed to realize that the well-armed citizens of Northfield would resist the attack on a bank that held their savings. Those who escaped the carnage in the town were the subject of a massive manhunt covering hundreds of miles, and the escape of Frank and Jesse was both exciting and remarkable. This is a well-done reexamination of an episode that has become enshrined in Western lore. --Jay Freeman

Edition details

• Publisher: Mariner Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0061989479
• ISBN 13: 9780061989476
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320