Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend

by Casey Tefertiller

Overview

"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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471283621
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	03/11/1999
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	311,296
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

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

Table of Contents

Cowtown Justice.

A New Town, A New Badge.

Murder and Madness.

A March to Destiny.

"I Think We Can Hang Them." Tombstone in Terror.

Vendetta.

Law versus Order.

A Fight for Honor.

The Last Frontiers.

Long May His Story Be Told.

Notes and Sources.

Bibliography.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

"Forget what you saw at the movies-this biography of the legend ofthe Old West shows that the facts are more interesting than thelegend."—The New York Times Book Review

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

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

"Quite impressive. I doubt if there has been or will be a moredeeply researched and convincing account."—Evan Connell, author ofThe Sun of the Morning Star

From the Publisher

As Terfertiller's biography establishes, Earp's legend endures vividly in books and films, especially in John Ford's classic My Darling Clementine (1946), which is not burdened by the facts. Earp spent many more years as gambler and saloonman than as frontier marshal. The saga of the Earp brothers in Dodge City and Tombstone in the 1880s is a sleazy one, Terfertiller shows, as they operated on both sides of the law, enforcing order as maverick marshals. If there were profits to be made, principle became insignificant. One vendetta, the notorious O.K. Corral shootup, takes up much of the story. Yet there were few pistol duels, none of them cinematically romantic, and Earp, with his Sadie, would drift in search of income as far north as Nome, Alaska. Down on his luck, he lived into his 80s, dying in 1929 after decades of handouts from his wife's family. Although he had already become a legend in print, his gunslinger period was unrewarding, and his years after Tombstone proved to be even more so. Terfertiller, a former journalist for the San Francisco Examiner, is meticulous in his research, with the net effect of diminishing the Earp image. Photos. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

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 Earpa villain and a hero in Tombstone, Arizona, both before and after his death in 1929. Portrayed by novelists, historians, and filmmakers, the Earp brothersespecially Wyattbecame 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.

Library Journal

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.

Kirkus Reviews