Editorial Reviews
Midwest Book Review
Billy The Kid: His Life And Legend is a tour de force of western scholarship, a carefully documented biography complete with bibliographical essays on historical scholarship, fiction, films, culture criticism, and a complete chronology of William Bonnie's life and death. Jon Tuska's careful scholarship and analysis of sources refutes the mythical embellishments that have surrounded Billy the Kid. He concludes that in order for such a legend to arise, it is necessary for a historical character to have qualities that permit ambiguous interpretations of his behavior. Billy The Kid is the definitive work on a legend of the American West by a gifted, painstaking scholar of western culture.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Book Description
Was Billy the Kid the most romantic of western desperadoes or a vicious killer? Ever since the Kid was shot by Pat Garrett in 1881, historians, storytellers, and filmmakers have been recounting and reinventing his life. In 1983 Jon Tuska published his first edition of Billy the Kid, and it was immediately recognized as the most accurate account yet produced. Choice called it "A magnificent tour de force and a model for others who would study legendary heroes of the American West." Now Tuska returns to the Kid in this new and expanded edition, examining the histories, novels, films, and other interpretations of the Kid that have appeared over the last 12 years. As with the earlier edition, this remains the most comprehensive and accurate reconstruction of the West's most legendary figure.
Billy the Kid
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