Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend (Civil Engineering and Engineering) - Hardcover

Tefertiller, Casey

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0471189677 ISBN 13: 9780471189671

Publisher: Wiley, 1997

Synopsis

"Quite impressive. I doubt if there has been or will be a moredeeply researched and convincing account." --Evan Connell, authorSon of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn

"The book to end all Earp books--the most complete, and mostmeticulously researched." --Jack Burrows, author John Ringo: TheGunfighter Who Never Was

"The most thoughtful, well-researched, and comprehensive accountthat has been written about the development and career of anOld-West lawman." --The Tombstone Tumbleweed

"A great adventure story, and solid history." --KirkusReviews

"A major contribution to the history of the American West. Itprovides the first complete and accurate look at Wyatt Earp'scolorful career, and places into context the important role that heand his brothers played in crime and politics in the Arizonaterritory. This important book rises above the realm of Westernbiography and shows the development of the Earp story in historyand myth, and its effect on American culture." --John Boessenecker,author Gold Dust and Gunsmoke

"The ultimate Wyatt Earp book." --Professor Richard BrownUniversity of Oregon

About this title

About the Author

CASEY TEFERTILLER is a former writer for the San Francisco Examiner with a keen interest in the American West.

From the Back Cover

WYATT EARP

On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, at just about three o'clock, four grim men strode down the dusty streets of Tombstone, Arizona―Deputy Marshall Wyatt Earp, determined to help arrest the rustlers threatening the lives of his two brothers, Virgil and Morgan, and "Doc" Holliday. A fierce gun battle erupted. In less than thirty seconds, it was over. When the smoke cleared outside the O.K. Corral, three of the rustlers lay dead.

We all know the story of Wyatt Earp and the O.K. Corral ―at least, we all think that we know it. Glamorized and mythologized by a century of history and Hollywood, the real story has grown nearly beyond recognition. One question continues to intrigue Wild West aficionados everywhere: Wyatt Earp . . . hero or villain? Now, at last, this scrupulously researched biography separates the man from the myth, and offers fascinating clues to the answer.

Based on recently discovered material, including newspapers believed to have been lost as well as personal accounts from Earp's friends, enemies, and acquaintances, this definitive biography paints a superbly balanced portrait of the man who helped shape the modern view of the Old West. A rich panorama of nineteenth-century American culture and politics, Wyatt Earp brings a fresh perspective to the life of a common man of uncommon courage, whose ultimate wish was to live a quiet life.

The legend of Wyatt Earp began on the Kansas plains, where he toiled as a lawman in the untamed cowtowns of Wichita and Dodge City. But the booming mine towns of the Far West promised greater riches. It was in Tombstone, a wild, lawless mining camp masquerading as a town, that Wyatt Earp and his brothers determined to make their fortune. As Tombstone grew, so did the demand that someone enforce the law, and with their reputations preceding them, the brothers took up the call and the badges.

They found themselves up against killers and thieves who had decided that the riches of the Arizona territory were theirs for the taking. While the sparring between the lawmen and the outlaws reached its most storied point at the O.K. Corral, that bloody confrontation―rare in the Old West―was far from the end of the feud. When friends of the dead men took revenge on Virgil and Morgan, Wyatt Earp, with his good friend Doc Holliday and a carefully chosen group of men, carried out a ruthless vendetta. Their actions created the legacy of Wyatt Earp that would live ever after.

From the Kansas plains to Tombstone, from Nome to San Francisco, here is the complete, unvarnished story of Wyatt Earp as it has never before been told, with a cast of characters whose names ring with the very spirit of the Old West: Ike Clanton, Curley Bill, and John Ringo among them.

The story of Wyatt Earp's life evokes memories of a thousand Hollywood westerns, with good reason. In the early days of silent film, the old lawman would watch the movies being made in the hills near his home in Los Angeles. Those who met him―and listened to his stories―included an aspiring director named John Ford and a prop boy who would later ride the cinema range under the name John Wayne.

Wyatt Earp is a full-bodied, rich biography that does full justice to its legendary subject.

Praise for Wyatt Earp

"Quite impressive. I doubt if there has been or will be a more deeply researched and convincing account." ―Evan Connell, author The Son of the Morning Star.

"The book to end all Earp books―the most complete, and most meticulously researched."―Jack Burrows, author John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was.

"A major contribution to the history of the American West. It provides the first complete and accurate look at Wyatt Earp's colorful career, and places into context the important role that he and his brothers played in crime and politics in the Arizona territory. This important book rises above the realm of western biography and shows the development of the Earp story in history and myth, and its effect on American culture." ―John Boessenecker, author Badge and Buckshot: Lawlessness in Old California.

"The first really serious documented biography of Wyatt Earp to be published . . . an incredible job of research . . . a vast amount of material which gives a fresh and more realistic view of Wyatt Earp and his time. This is, simply, a major contribution to western American history." ―Gary L. Roberts, professor Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

"The ultimate Wyatt Earp book." ―Professor Richard Brown University of Oregon A Selection of the History Book Club.

On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, at just about three o'clock, four grim men strode down the dusty streets of Tombstone, Arizona--Deputy Marshall Wyatt Earp, determined to help arrest the rustlers threatening the lives of his two brothers, Virgil and Morgan, and Doc Holliday. A fierce gun battle erupted. In less than thirty seconds, it was over. When the smoke cleared outside the O.K. Corral, three of the rustlers lay dead.

We all know the story of Wyatt Earp and the O.K. Corral --at least, we all think that we know it. Glamorized and mythologized by a century of history and Hollywood, the real story has grown nearly beyond recognition. One question continues to intrigue Wild West aficionados everywhere: Wyatt Earp . . . hero or villain? Now, at last, this scrupulously researched biography separates the man from the myth, and offers fascinating clues to the answer.

Based on recently discovered material, including newspapers believed to have been lost as well as personal accounts from Earp's friends, enemies, and acquaintances, this definitive biography paints a superbly balanced portrait of the man who helped shape the modern view of the Old West. A rich panorama of nineteenth-century American culture and politics, Wyatt Earp brings a fresh perspective to the life of a common man of uncommon courage, whose ultimate wish was to live a quiet life.

The legend of Wyatt Earp began on the Kansas plains, where he toiled as a lawman in the untamed cowtowns of Wichita and Dodge City. But the booming mine towns of the Far West promised greater riches. It was in Tombstone, a wild, lawless mining camp masquerading as a town, that Wyatt Earp and his brothers determined to make their fortune. As Tombstone grew, so did the demand that someone enforce the law, and with their reputations preceding them, the brothers took up the call and the badges.

They found themselves up against killers and thieves who had decided that the riches of the Arizona territory were theirs for the taking. While the sparring between the lawmen and the outlaws reached its most storied point at the O.K. Corral, that bloody confrontation--rare in the Old West--was far from the end of the feud. When friends of the dead men took revenge on Virgil and Morgan, Wyatt Earp, with his good friend Doc Holliday and a carefully chosen group of men, carried out a ruthless vendetta. Their actions created the legacy of Wyatt Earp that would live ever after.

From the Kansas plains to Tombstone, from Nome to San Francisco, here is the complete, unvarnished story of Wyatt Earp as it has never before been told, with a cast of characters whose names ring with the very spirit of the Old West: Ike Clanton, Curley Bill, and John Ringo among them.

The story of Wyatt Earp's life evokes memories of a thousand Hollywood westerns, with good reason. In the early days of silent film, the old lawman would watch the movies being made in the hills near his home in Los Angeles. Those who met him--and listened to his stories--included an aspiring director named John Ford and a prop boy who would later ride the cinema range under the name John Wayne.

Wyatt Earp is a full-bodied, rich biography that does full justice to its legendary subject.

Praise for Wyatt Earp

Quite impressive. I doubt if there has been or will be a more deeply researched and convincing account. --Evan Connell, author The Son of the Morning Star.

The book to end all Earp books--the most complete, and most meticulously researched.--Jack Burrows, author John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was.

A major contribution to the history of the American West. It provides the first complete and accurate look at Wyatt Earp's colorful career, and places into context the important role that he and his brothers played in crime and politics in the Arizona territory. This important book rises above the realm of western biography and shows the development of the Earp story in history and myth, and its effect on American culture. --John Boessenecker, author Badge and Buckshot: Lawlessness in Old California.

The first really serious documented biography of Wyatt Earp to be published . . . an incredible job of research . . . a vast amount of material which gives a fresh and more realistic view of Wyatt Earp and his time. This is, simply, a major contribution to western American history. --Gary L. Roberts, professor Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.

The ultimate Wyatt Earp book. --Professor Richard Brown University of Oregon A Selection of the History Book Club.

Reviews

This biography of the controversial western lawman, by a former San Francisco Examiner writer, uses newly found primary sources and exhaustive archival research to uncover the real man obscured by myths, tall tales, and calumnies. Tefertiller's version of Earp finds, amid some unpleasant elements, a real core of heroism. He had a penchant for gambling and saloon life, was an energetic womanizer, and had a habit of applying undue force in arresting suspects. Yet he was also, as Tefertiller documents, indisputably courageous. His varied and colorful career included time as a security guard on Wells Fargo stagecoaches, prospecting, running faro games, and speculating on western lands and mines. Most famously, though, he served as a town sheriff and a US marshall. That Earp could be at various times a gambler and a marshall should not, the author suggests, seem all that startling: Gamblers were highly esteemed figures in the demimonde of the wide open towns of the frontier. Men familiar with violence seemed to these communities to be the ideal choice to establish order. During his term as marshall of Tombstone, Ariz., Earp did just that, confronting rustlers, robbers, and gunmen, bringing them to justice or occasionally shooting it out with them, most famously in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Earp's actions inevitably brought him into conflict with powerful, autocratic ranchers and corrupt politicians. The charges that blackened Earp's reputation, Tefertiller argues, were largely fictions circulated by his enemies, who planted stories about him in pliant frontier newspapers. Using a wide variety of primary sources, Tefertiller manages to summon up a human, complex figure and, while not omitting flaws, to persuasively demonstrate that Earp believed in the law and did his best in hard times to defend it. A great adventure story, and solid history. (42 photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Basing his account on primary resources, Tefertiller, a former writer for the San Francisco Examiner, has tried to write an unbiased report of the storied life of lawman Wyatt Earp?a villain and a hero in Tombstone, Arizona, both before and after his death in 1929. Portrayed by novelists, historians, and filmmakers, the Earp brothers?especially Wyatt?became the stuff of legends. Attempting to uncover what really happened in Tombstone, Tefertiller draws on newspaper articles and personal accounts by Earp's friends, enemies, and acquaintances. The result is a fresh look at legendary events, showing how the image of Earp was formed. This well-researched historical work is a pleasure to read. Recommended for collections on the American West and wherever Earp is popular.?Terri P. Summey, Emporia State Univ. Lib., Kan.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0471189677
• ISBN 13: 9780471189671
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416