The Calamity Papers
Western Myths and Cold Cases
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Spur Award-winning author, Dale L. Walker continues what he started in Legends and Lies, by uncovering the truth around some of the American West's most famous and infamous figures. Leaving no figure sacred and no stone unturned, Walker dives deep into some of the most enduring myths and legends of the Old West:
*What was the real story behind the death of Meriwether Lewis--suicicide or homicide?
*Did Pat Garrett really kill Billy the Kid, or did the Kid fake his own death and live to a ripe old age?
*What was the real relationship between Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane?
*And who was the woman who claimed to have proof that she was their daughter?
*Was Jack London killed or did he take his own life?
*Who burned Wolf House to the ground?
Asking these and many more questions, The Calamity Papers sheds some necessary light on our history by taking a closer look at some its heroes.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Western historian Walker rounds up some of the Old West's most colorful characters, including Calamity Jane, Wild Bill Hickok, Meriwether Lewis and Jack London, for this entertaining rehash of tall tales. Walker doesn't have anything new to present, but he does a good job of re-telling these intriguing stories. He considers whether both Lewis's and London's deaths were murder or suicide, and resolves the nature of the relationship between Jane and Wild Bill. Musings on the demise of lesser-known figures such as Tom Meagher, Pat Garrett and Albert Jennings Fountain will be of interest principally to Western fans. Walker's got an enjoyable knack for purple prose: characters are "shadowy" or "even shadowier," and "walk across each other's shadow." Occasionally, however, his sentences seem to get away from him, as in 'bad land'...can be seen between these ancient formations in the 275 square miles of blinding, shifting, cresting, slumping, eastward-drifting sahara of gypsum known as the White Sands." Walker also has a tendency to repeat quotations from his research, a tick that gives his book an amateurish quality that unfortunately belies his meticulous work. For a quick dip into the "cold cases" of the American West, though, Walker's compilation would be hard to beat.
