This widely regarded classic represents a volume of biographies of numerous master gunfighters, including such notables as John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid, Dallas Stoudenmire, Sam Bass, Wild Bill Hickok, Butch Cassidy, and Tom Horn. Himself a Westerner familiar with the feel of pistol and rifle, Cunningham knew firsthand several of the Texas gunfighters featured in his book, the product of more than 35 years of research, interviews, and writing.

A cruel, hated man collects a fortune, then disappears in the desert. The Texas Rangers think it's murder and put one of their best on the job - but he'll need help. There's evil here that no one suspects.

A cruel, hated man collects a fortune, then disappears in the desert. The Texas Rangers think it's murder and put one of their best on the job - but he'll need help. There's evil here that no one suspects.

Before the myths took over, there was the dust. There was the blood. There were real men with real guns standing in real streets, making split-second decisions that would echo through decades of dime novels, Hollywood pictures, and campfire stories. William MacLeod Raine lived close enough to that world to smell the gunpowder, and in Famous Sheriffs and Western Outlaws, he delivers something that neither legend nor fiction ever quite managed: the truth. Not the sanitized, sepia-toned versi...

The must-have companion to Bill O'Reilly's historic series Legends and Lies: The Real West, a fascinating, eye-opening look at the truth behind the western legends we all think we knowHow did Davy Crockett save President Jackson's life only to end up dying at the Alamo? Was the Lone Ranger based on a real lawman-and was he an African American? What amazing detective work led to the capture of Black Bart, the "gentleman bandit" and one of t...

This New York Times' bestseller features the West’s most prominent lawmen and criminals, who tell their stories of fight, death, and survival.In the romantic narrative of the Old West, two larger-than-life characters emerged as the perfect foils for each other-the rampant outlaw and the heroic peace officer. Without the villain, sheriffs would not have needed to uphold the law; and without the sheriff, villains would have had no law to break. Together, bot...

Originally published in 1926, this biography tells the rousing tale of Billy the Kid, once of the most well known outlaws in the Old West. The Saga of Billy the Kid focuses on a period of time where two dangerous gangs tore a bloody path across Lincoln, New Mexico. After being shot to death in 1881 by the intrepid Lincoln County sheriff Pat Garret, Billy the Kid became a romanticized symbol of the wildness that laced the American west. Interest in the outlaw’s wild life grew after...

On 14 May 1804, one Captain Meriwether Lewis and his companion William Clark led a thirty-three-man expedition to the new lands of Louisiana. 8,000 miles and two years later, after rafting up the Missouri and crossing the Rocky Mountains, they reached the far side of the world, the Pacific Ocean.Fredrick Nolan explores the first US settlers of the American West, including the remarkable stories of unsung heroes and heroines, the bloody battles between settlers and the native Americ...

**Named a Best Book of 2025 by Bloomberg“One hell of a good read.” —The New York Times“One of the most important books written on the American West in many years.” —True West MagazineFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Big Rich and Forget the Alamo comes an epic reconsideration of the time and place that spawned America’s most legendary gunfighters, from Jesse James and Billy the Kid to Butch and Su...

The True Story Behind True GritImmortalized in the classic novel and films, the real "Rooster" Cogburn was as bold, brash, and bigger-than-life as the American West itself. Now, in this page-turning account, Cogburn's great-great-grandson reveals the truth behind the fiction--and the man behind the myth. . .He was born in 1866 in Fancy Hill, Arkansas, the descendant of pioneers and moonshiners. Six foot three, dark eyed, and a dead shot with a rifle, Frankl...

From multiple New York Times bestselling author Tom Clavin comes the thrilling true story of the most infamous hangout for bandits, thieves and murderers of all time—and the lawmen tasked with rooting them out.Robbers Roost, Brown’s Hole, and Hole-in-the-Wall were three hideouts that collectively were known to outlaws as “Bandit Heaven.” During the 1880s and ‘90s these remote locations in Wyoming and Utah harbored hundreds of train and bank robbers, horse ...

Known for his ability to make history come vividly to life, Reasoner strips away the dime novel legends and Hollywood myths to show us how the gunfighters of the Old West really lived, killed, and were killed.Praised for his “well-researched” (Booklist) and “lively, suspenseful” (Publishers Weekly) novels, James Reasoner now proves that truth can be even more exciting than fiction.Among the true stories he brings us:• Doc ...