Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend Hardcover - 1997

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.