The Last Gunfight--Jeff Guinn

[Mean Bob Mean]

What a terrific read.  Objectively rendered, good data, nice overview of the frontier and the causes of the tensions in Tombstone.  Highly recommended. 

[Stillwater]

What a terrific read.  Objectively rendered, good data, nice overview of the frontier and the causes of the tensions in Tombstone.  Highly recommended.  

I've just started to read this book. If it is as good as his book on Bonnie and Clyde, it will be a sure winner...

Bill

[flyingcollie]

Mean Bob, I been looking for something to read, thanks for the review. Don't know the author, but with Stillwater's recommend for the book on Bonnie and Clyde, sounds like a good 'un.

The more I read about the gunfight at the OK Corral, the more I began to think I'd probably have "sided" with the Clantons . . . maybe if I read this book, I'll change my mind on that. Kind of hard to see how Wyatt Earp got demigod status as a real "hero" . . . he was a shady character and kind of a low-life all his life, looks like to me. 

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[Mean Bob Mean]

Mean Bob, I been looking for something to read, thanks for the review. Don't know the author, but with Stillwater's recommend for the book on Bonnie and Clyde, sounds like a good 'un.

The more I read about the gunfight at the OK Corral, the more I began to think I'd probably have "sided" with the Clantons . . . maybe if I read this book, I'll change my mind on that. Kind of hard to see how Wyatt Earp got demigod status as a real "hero" . . . he was a shady character and kind of a low-life all his life, looks like to me.  

It's an unvarnished look to be sure.  Earp was lionized by Masterson and consequently wrote his own one sided story but prior to Tombstone was kind of shady.  The Clanton family is not at all without their foibles:  both they and the McLaury clan were in fact criminals though they saw themselves simply as ranchers.  Ike is really the villain in the true stoy, he caused the problem because he was weak.  Also, old man Clanton was no charmer:  a bushwhacker of no small measure.  The story really opens up a lot of the forces of economy and politics which lead them all to act as they did.  I will very much look forward to getting your take on things sir!

When I lived in that area, the locals would try to get you to pick a side and they argued ad naauseum over it.  

[flyingcollie]

That's mighty interesting, Mean Bob . . . I just found an article about a descendent of Ike Clanton who wants to get his remains moved from an obscure, lonely gravessite and re-interred at Boot Hill in Tombstone. A quick look on the 'net indicates the Clantons were basically cattle rustlers, and "The Cowboys" a pretty nasty lot, criminals, as you said.

I've been pre-disposed to be sympathetic to "The Cowboys". When he was in his early 20s my Dad wrangled dudes on the Circle Z in Patagonia before WWII. Probably discussions on the subject were even a little hotter then, only 60 years or so after the OK Corral . . . at that time, the Arizona cowboys on the Circle Z represented the Clantons as pioneer ranchers being set upon by "big city" thugs, and the population rush that came with the boom in Tombstone . . .

Got my copy of the book coming ! (S&H costing a bit more than the book     . . . a bargain at $3.95)

[Mean Bob Mean]

That is definitely how the cowboys in Arizona saw it.  The stuff was repeated as gospel and after awhile was accepted fact.  Clinton's and Mclaury family were not the worst but today none of those people would appeal to us.

[flyingcollie]

 Yippee !! Book came in the mail today, I already read about forty pages into it. So far, I really like the author's way of writing and the way he opens his story . . . thanks again, Mean Bob !!

[Mean Bob Mean]

Yippee !! Book came in the mail today, I already read about forty pages into it. So far, I really like the author's way of writing and the way he opens his story . . . thanks again, Mean Bob !!

Nice!

 I loved that little book ad it turned me onto want to read about the Texas Rangers.  Reading now The Cowboy by Philip Ashton Rollins.  It is a historical treatise on what cowboys wore, ate, did, etc.  Originally published in the 1920s.  It is a hoot!

[TwoWalks Baldridge]

Nice!

 Reading now The Cowboy by Philip Ashton Rollins.  It is a historical treatise on what cowboys wore, ate, did, etc.  Originally published in the 1920s.  It is a hoot!

Mean Bob Mean, thanks for pointing out the cowboys by Rollins.  I found it online to read and it is very good.

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/philip-ashton-rollins/the-cowboy-his-characteristics-his-equipment-and-his-part-in-the-development--hci/1-the-cowboy-his-characteristics-his-equipment-and-his-part-in-the-development--hci.shtml

[Mean Bob Mean]

Mean Bob Mean, thanks for pointing out the cowboys by Rollins.  I found it online to read and it is very good.

http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/philip-ashton-rollins/the-cowboy-his-characteristics-his-equipment-and-his-part-in-the-development--hci/1-the-cowboy-his-characteristics-his-equipment-and-his-part-in-the-development--hci.shtml

Nice!

[flyingcollie]

Well, I'm up to the gunfight . . . ominously designated Chapter 13.

Guinn offers an in-depth history that includes a lot of pertinent details about the time and place, but it's never dry . . .

I guess you don't need me to tell you all how things  turn out . . . 

[Stillwater]

I've finished the book. The book is finished off with the Chapter on Legends. This chapter is where Guinn finishes everything off. He doesn't leave any loose ends dangling in undefined space.

This has been a really good book for me, comperable to the quality of his Bonnie and Clyde book.

Bill

[Mean Bob Mean]

This has been a really good book for me, comperable to the quality of his Bonnie and Clyde book.

I loved the patient description he gives of the forces that shaped those men and placed them in that position.

[Stillwater]

I loved the patient description he gives of the forces that shaped those men and placed them in that position.

Me too. That is probably the best part of this book, or his Bonnie and Clyde book...

Bill

[Mean Bob Mean]

Me too. That is probably the best part of this book, or his Bonnie and Clyde book...

Bill

Guinn's talk about the Texas Rangers got me wanting a book about that group of fine men.  Any recommendations?

[Coal Creek Griff]

Wearing the Cinco Peso was excellent.

 CC Griff

[Stillwater]

Wearing the Cinco Peso was excellent.

 CC Griff

If you buy the book and read it, give us a report on what you thought of it...

Bill

[Coal Creek Griff]

If you buy the book and read it, give us a report on what you thought of it...

I actually listened to the unabridged audio version of this book.  I have a long commute from the Coal Creek ranch to a place where I can actually make a living.  Audio books are the main way I keep my sanity (such as it is) during the drives.  I've listened to many hundreds of books over the years.  Last night I was using my phone to answer and kept the answer short.  Today I'm actually at a computer.

The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, by Mike Cox, is the first of a two volume history of the Rangers (http://www.amazon.com/TEXAS-RANGERS-Wearing-1821-1900-Associates/dp/0312873867).  This volume covers 1821-1900.  I haven't read or listened to the second volume about the modern Rangers.  The author is a former media relations/public information officer for the Rangers and had access to old records (http://www.mikecoxonline.com/index.htm).

I thought the book was very well done.  It told the history without bogging down in statistics or minutia.  While those things are important for history, I was interested in the stories of the people and this book focused on those stories.

I have also read (actually "read" on actual paper!) Robert Utley's Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425190129).  It has been too long since I read it to remember details, but I do recall enjoying it.  Utley, of course, is a well respected historian and writer.  I have read a number of his books.

There are also a number of first-person accounts of the Rangers.  I own and have read A Texas Ranger by N. A.  Jennings, who served under Captain McNelly.  A couple of years ago I also downloaded PDF versions of a number of books that are long out of print, but I can't find the source this morning.  I think they came from a Texas Ranger museum in Texas, but I can't find the link.  They are probably out there somewhere.  The early accounts suffer from the problems typical of older first-person accounts and autobiographies in that they often show a strong bias and sometimes may stretch the truth a bit.

Those would be my recommendations, in that order.

CC Griff

[Mean Bob Mean]

Thanks mate!

[Stillwater]

I actually listened to the unabridged audio version of this book.  I have a long commute from the Coal Creek ranch to a place where I can actually make a living.  Audio books are the main way I keep my sanity (such as it is) during the drives.  I've listened to many hundreds of books over the years.  Last night I was using my phone to answer and kept the answer short.  Today I'm actually at a computer.

You've gotta watch out for those computers, they're a time-waster in the extreme... Ask me how I know.

The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, by Mike Cox, is the first of a two volume history of the Rangers (http://www.amazon.com/TEXAS-RANGERS-Wearing-1821-1900-Associates/dp/0312873867).  This volume covers 1821-1900.  I haven't read or listened to the second volume about the modern Rangers.  The author is a former media relations/public information officer for the Rangers and had access to old records (http://www.mikecoxonline.com/index.htm).

Thank you for this information. Amazon dot com gets a major part of my discretionary spending money.

I thought the book was very well done.  It told the history without bogging down in statistics or minutia.  While those things are important for history, I was interested in the stories of the people and this book focused on those stories.

I like stories that don't get involved in minutia unless it is really germain to understanding the story.

I have also read (actually "read" on actual paper!) Robert Utley's Lone Star Justice: The First Century of the Texas Rangers (http://www.amazon.com/dp/0425190129).  It has been too long since I read it to remember details, but I do recall enjoying it.  Utley, of course, is a well respected historian and writer.  I have read a number of his books.

I have most of Robert Utleys books. And, I must obtain this one. Robert Utley is my favorite author of historical books.

I have an acquaintance that has some pictures, which he is attempting to prove are actual pictures of Billy the Kid. I emailed them to Utley and I was surprised at the great response I got from Him.

There are also a number of first-person accounts of the Rangers.  I own and have read A Texas Ranger by N. A.  Jennings, who served under Captain McNelly.  A couple of years ago I also downloaded PDF versions of a number of books that are long out of print, but I can't find the source this morning.  I think they came from a Texas Ranger museum in Texas, but I can't find the link.  They are probably out there somewhere.  The early accounts suffer from the problems typical of older first-person accounts and autobiographies in that they often show a strong bias and sometimes may stretch the truth a bit
Those would be my recommendations, in that order.

CC Griff

Griff, I really appreciate your good response to me. I will track these books down and add them to my libray. I have so many books tht I don't have any place to put them other than stacking them against a wall. I have to do something substantive about that soon...!