Outlaws of the Wild West

The Wild West, a myth-making era of cowboys, gunslingers, and lawmen, was largely fiction created by writers and film makers. Outlaws like Billy the Kid, William Clarke Quantrill, Butch Cassidy, and Harry Longabaugh became household names, while most outlaws were anonymous common criminals. The era ended in the early 1900s, but the legends continue to live on.

\n Format: Hardback
\n Length: 248 pages
\n Publication date: 30 March 2021
\n Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd
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The Wild West, also known as the American Frontier, emerged in the years following the American Civil War. However, this era of myth-making cowboys, infamous gunslingers, and saloon madams is as much a product of fiction writers and film makers as reality. The outlaw came into their own in the mid to late 19th century, with some individuals, such as Billy the Kid, William Clarke Quantrill, Butch Cassidy, or Harry Longabaugh, better known as the Sundance Kid, becoming household names. Many of those who roamed America's West in the period between 1850 and 1900 often appear as colorful, romanticized, legendary characters. This includes the likes of Frank and Jesse James, who had stepped outside the law due to the harshness of life after the Civil War or under circumstances beyond their control.

The majority of outlaws, though, were anonymous common criminals. In 1877, for example, 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 twenty that some writers attributed to him. A notorious gunslinger, John Wesley Hardin, was said to have killed twenty-seven men, but was only charged with one murder. Wild Bill Hickok killed three men, two of them in Abilene while he was City Marshal, and one in Springfield, Missouri, for which he was tried and found not guilty. Clay Allison, however, was thought to have killed at least fifteen men in his time as a gunfighter, while some of the outlaw gangs, such as the Rufus B.

\n Weight: 842g\n
Dimension: 164 x 240 x 29 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781526782373\n \n