Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend | 
| Author: Casey Tefertiller
Publisher: Wiley
Category: Book
List Price: $19.95
Buy Used: $4.91
You Save: $15.04 (75%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 141078
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 416
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 0471283622
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
UPC: 723812283620
EAN: 9780471283621
Publication Date: February 25, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: cover worn
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Product Description
"Quite impressive. I doubt if there has been or will be a more deeply researched and convincing account." --Evan Connell, author Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn
"The book to end all Earp books--the most complete, and most meticulously researched." --Jack Burrows, author John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was
"The most thoughtful, well-researched, and comprehensive account that has been written about the development and career of an Old-West lawman." --The Tombstone Tumbleweed
"A great adventure story, and solid history." --Kirkus Reviews
"A major contribution to the history of the American West. It provides the first complete and accurate look at Wyatt Earp's colorful career, and places into context the important role that he and his brothers played in crime and politics in the Arizona territory. This important book rises above the realm of Western biography and shows the development of the Earp story in history and myth, and its effect on American culture." --John Boessenecker, author Gold Dust and Gunsmoke
"The ultimate Wyatt Earp book." --Professor Richard Brown University of Oregon
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| Customer Reviews: Read 46 more reviews...
 Wyatt Earp July 30, 2008
the book was of excellent quality being used as stated on amazon. The shipping time was quick and was within the time frame as noted if not before
 Wyatt had Warts! February 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book takes the time to show Wyatt Earp- warts and all. No effort is made to create a legend out of this pimp and gambler, just facts are revealed. GREAT READ for fans of Wyatt Earp.
Great Detail on Wyatt Earp, his Family and of Course, Tombstone November 18, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a very detailed account of the life of Wyatt Earp and for that matter Tombstone. The biography starts off typically detailing Earp and his families up bringing and discusses in detail Wyatt's difficulties with the loss of his first wife, declining fortunes, possible an incident of horse stealing while down on his luck and his life as a jack of all trades starting as a freight hauler and of course as a buffalo hunter making friends with the Masterson brothers. The author cover's Wyatt's early stints as a Police Officer noting that he was never the Sheriff or Marshall but the deputy, indicating that Earp preferred or was more qualified as the action oriented arm of the law. The author has thorough accounts of his time in Dodge, Wichita and his meeting of several famous lawmen such as Charlie Bassett. And of course, the meeting and friendship of Wyatt and Doc Holiday is well told. The meat of the book is Tombstone where Wyatt, Morgan, Virgil, James and eventually Warren along with Doc Holiday migrate to find their fortunes in the boom town. The author often quotes several sections of the two town newspapers to document his facts along with the diary of a well known resident. The Earps are described as pure businessmen initially taking interest in properties and in saloon gaming but as usual, they become involved in law enforcement as Virgil takes a both a U.S. Deputy Marshal position and as a town Deputy Sheriff. The overlapping civil authority is confusing between the Federal Marshal jurisdiction, the town Marshal jurisdiction and the County Sheriff's, the political hack Johnny Behan. What is apparent from this book is that the Earps were unyielding in their enforcement of the law as Morgan, Wyatt and sometimes Warren were deputized to enforce the law and did so stringently in contrast to Johnny Behan. Behan and some of the Tombstone society saw the cowboys virtually as tolerable pirates that rustled and occasionally robbed, with some citizens, particularly Behan gaining financial benefits. The author does a very good job of explaining the escalation of tension as the cowboys, particularly the Clantons, "Curly Bill" Brocius, the McLaurys and Johnny Ringo, become in conflict with the law and of course, the Earps. The odd relationships between the two groups, periodically intertwined between offenses and gambling with each other such as poker, are well described as Ike Clanton becomes the catalyst for the fight. The fight, deaths of the McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton, and the assassination attempt of Virgil and murder of Morgan are described articulately along with the second climax of Tombstone, Wyatt's vendetta ride. Always along, Doc Holiday, who is described as having a strong allegiance to Wyatt and his descriptions are quite fascinating Holiday is a somewhat mysterious and self destructive character. The author completes Wyatt's time in Tombstone, describes his relationship with Josephine Marcus and flight to Colorado, joining Masterson in some of his old haunts such as Dodge City teaming up again with some of the most famous lawmen of the west. The author closes the last 1/4 of the book on Wyatt's travels around the west as a speculator ranging in areas as far away as Alaska. Well covered too is Wyatt's possibly naive agreement to referee a fight that may very likely have been fixed without his knowing resulting in a very embarrassing public moment. The author closes with Earp's final years, growth of legend, attraction by movie stars and authors who desire to capture the legend in print. The only lapse in the book is the failure to write in detail how Wyatt tried to reconcile with Ike Clanton and the Cowboys to end the feud after Virgil was severely wounded. This is important because it reinforces the fact that Wyatt was very rational and deliberate and his rare taking of life was essentially a last resort in an area of the west where the civil authority was weak.
Detailed but lacks a little emotion July 3, 2007
Excellent book for its purpose - but the excitement of Earp's life doesn't come through, which is probably a fault in me, not the book.
Wyatt Earp: Life of a Frontier Lawman June 20, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Casey Tefertiller's Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend begins with Cowtown Justice and the young lawman's early efforts to apply the law in the Kansas communities of Wichita and Dodge City. Wyatt Earp gained wide community approval with his quite way of dealing with explosive situations.
Tefertiller chronicles the Dodge City era of the 1870's and Wyatt Earp's role as lawman. Toward the end of the 1879 cattle season Wyatt joined his brothers and made the move the silver mining camp at Tombstone, Arizona.
There is no doubt that silver was the big lure to the mining camp, but Wyatt also considered the idea of operating a stagecoach line and a possible freight line. He looked into both of those propositions and when they didn't work out he fell back on his earlier experience as a lawman and took an appointment as Deputy US Marshal.
Wyatt Earp was on the Tombstone streets during 1880 and 1881 and had first hand knowledge of the good and the bad. He witnessed corrupt politicians and their muscle called the cowboys bully and intimidate the citizens of Tombstone. A confrontation was set in motion during the summer of 1881 when Wyatt Earp and Johnny Behan squared off as political opponents to run for Cochise County Sheriff. And adding to their adversarial positions was the fact that both men were seeking the hand of a pretty young lady named Josephine Marcus. Tombstone residents continued to be plagued with the bullying tactics of the cowboys and all that came to a head on the evening of October 25, 1881 when the cowboy's most vocal personality made the rounds of saloons drinking and railing against the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday. There were minor skirmishes that evening and the next morning but the big show came the following afternoon when the cowboy's ignored a city ordinance and refused to surrender their firearms. Ike Clanton, Billy Clanton, Frank Mclaury, Tom Mclaury and Billy Claiborne defiantly waited at the vacant lot on Fremont Street near Third for the arrival of Chief of Police Virgil Earp and his deputies Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday. When the shooting was over it was obvious that the cowboys had lost the fight. Tom and Frank Mclaury were dead, and Billy Clanton was dying of multiple gunshot wounds. Virgil Earp had a bad leg wound; Morgan Earp was wounded in the back, Doc Holliday got a severe bruise when a bullet glanced off his gun belt and Wyatt Earp did not have a scratch. The shootout didn't end the conflict, because just day's later Ike Clanton filed murder charges against the Earps and Holliday. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were hauled into Judge Wells Spicer's court for a hearing. Prosecution and the defense called a string of witnesses to the stand, but at the end of the 28-day hearing Judge Spicer ruled in favor of the defense. The hearing didn't end the feud. Virgil Earp received three shotgun blasts and was almost killed while making his night rounds and Morgan Earp was shot in the back and killed by night guns. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were marked for assassination, but left the Tombstone area for Colorado to avoid a complete bloodbath. Wyatt married Josephine Marcus and they followed the silver and gold mining strikes from Idaho to Alaska. Wyatt later dabbled in commercial real estate, horse racing and for a while was a Wells Fargo special detective. In his latter years he lived in Los Angeles and was a movie consultant on western films. Wyatt Earp died in his Los Angeles home in 1929. Casey Tefertiller tells the Wyatt Earp story in a straightforward style that leaves the reader with an indelible picture of that famous Frontier Lawman.
Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Also "The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle."
The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
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