In 1948 a childhood friend of Billy the Kid claimed Billy was still living and led investigators to a man in Texas known as William H. "Brushy Bill" Roberts. After initially denying it, Brushy finally agreed to confess his identity on the condition the investigator would help him obtain a pardon so he could die a free man. Over the course of several months Mr. Roberts provided many astounding proofs that he was the Kid of legend, including physical evidence and firsthand knowledge of many ...

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...

“So richly detailed, you can almost smell the gunsmoke and the sweat of the saddles. ”—Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of Ghost SoldiersNo outlaw typifies America’s mythic Wild West more than Billy the Kid. To Hell on a Fast Horse by Mark Lee Gardner is the riveting true tale of Sheriff Pat Garrett’s thrilling, break-neck chase in pursuit of the notorious bandit. David Dary calls To Hell on a Fast Horse, “A masterpiece,” and Robert M. Utley calls it, “Super...

“Countless books have been written about the infamous outlaw ... this is surely one of the best.”—Publishers Weekly, starred reviewIn this revisionist biography, award-winning historian Michael Wallis re-creates the rich anecdotal saga of Billy the Kid (1859–1881), a young man who became a legend in his time and remains an enigma to this day. In an extraordinary evocation of the legendary Old West, Wallis demonstrates why the Kid has remained one of our most popular folk h...

Think gunfighter, and Wyatt Earp or Billy the Kid may come to mind, but what of Jim Moon? Joel Fowler? Zack Light? A host of other figures helped forge the gunfighter persona, but their stories have been lost to time. In a sequel to his Deadly Dozen, celebrated western historian Robert K. DeArment now offers more biographical portraits of lesser-known gunfighters—men who perhaps weren’t glorified in legend or song, but who were rightfully notorious in their day.DeArment ha...

For every Wild Bill Hickok or Billy the Kid, there was another western gunfighter just as deadly but not as well known. Robert K. DeArment has earned a reputation as the premier researcher of unknown gunfighters, and here he offers twelve more portraits of men who weren’t glorified in legend but were just as notorious in their day.Those who think they already know all about Old West gunfighters will be amazed at this new collection. Here are men like Porter Stockton, the Texas terr...

Cowboy and drifter Frank Clifford lived a lot of lives—and raised a lot of hell—in the first quarter of his life. The number of times he changed his name—Clifford being just one of them—suggests that he often traveled just steps ahead of the law. During the 1870s and 1880s his restless spirit led him all over the Southwest, crossing the paths of many of the era’s most notorious characters, most notably Clay Allison and Billy the Kid.More than just an entertaining and informative na...

Billy the Kid spent part of his youth in Santa Fe in the 1870s.~ What was New Mexico's territorial capital like in Billy's day?~ How did Santa Fe's frontier character and its Hispanic culture shape the development of this future desperado?~ What other residents did Billy encounter who would figure significantly in later chapters of his brief life?~ And how did Billy spend his days and his nights as a youngster in Santa Fe? Did he ice skate? . . . play baseball?...

Despite the countless books and films devoted to him, Billy the Kid remains one of the most elusive figures of the Old West. Now, award-winning western historian Frederick Nolan has scoured the published literature to offer this well-rounded compendium on the life and times of William H. Bonney.The Billy the Kid Reader contains some of the best articles on the Kid—including gems no longer in print. From the first dime novel that appeared shortly after his death to the rese...

True stories of the wild and dangerous world of the Arizona Territory—includes photos.A refuge for outlaws at the close of the 1800s, the Arizona Territory was a wild, lawless land of greedy feuds, brutal killings and figures of enduring legend. These gunfighters included heroes as well as killers, and some were considered both. Bandit Pearl Hart committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the country, and James Addison Reavis pulled off the most ext...

"My investigation of Minnesota murders over the years revealed no new motives for killing anyone. The old ones are perfectly satisfactory. . . . I hope you will find these murders interesting. I regret that I could not report the most ingenious and remarkable ones. They looked like accidents or natural deaths and were never discovered."—Walter N. TrenerryMurder in Minnesota features some of the state's most infamous criminals—a collection of fascinating and disagreeable characters ...

Lawmen of the old west played a juggling act as far as the law was concerned. The lawman had be both tougher and smarter than his outlaw counterpart or the outlaw would win. Most the sheriffs and marshals wearing badges played at gambling, often owning the gambling concessions in the saloons and barrooms of the very towns they were required to police.