Outlaws of the Wild West

De: Terry C. Treadwell

Narrado por: Jim Seybert

The "Wild West" developed in the years following the American Civil War. However, this period of myth-making cowboys, infamous gunslingers, not always law-abiding lawmen, and saloon madams is as much the product of fiction writers and film makers as reality.

Many of those who roamed America's West in the period between 1850 and 1900 often appear as colorful, romanticized, legendary characters. The majority of outlaws, though, were anonymous common criminals. In 1877, the state adjutant general of Texas published "wanted posters" for some 5,000 outlaws and bandits in the Rio Grande district alone, almost all of whom have since vanished into the mists of time.

When it comes to the Wild West, it is important to separate fact from fiction. Of the known recorded killings by the various outlaws and gunfighters, Billy the Kid killed four men, not the 20 that some writers attributed to him. Clay Allison, however, was thought to have killed at least 15 men in his time as a gunfighter, while some of the outlaw gangs were particularly violent and ruthless.

The days of the outlaws of the Wild West gradually came to an end at the turn of the 20th century. The legends, however, live on.

©2021 Terry C. Treadwell (P)2021 Tantor

Great read!

I enjoyed this book. It was well researched and presented much information on outlaws to which I was unaware. Would recommend this book to any western buff.

Telling it like it was

This is one of the best books I have read(listened to) regarding various outlaws of the developing westwrn States. Full of no BS facts and well presented.

Not worth the time

The book is about a bunch of little known “outlaws “ that lived after the civil war. While some of so-called bios are interesting, they are too short. The uninteresting ones were too long. Find a book more interesting about the outlaw you are interested in.