商品簡介
"All of history is mystery," Dale L. Walker says, and he proves his point in this lively, humorous--and rational--approach to the West's greatest puzzles. Did Davy Crockett, for example, go down swinging Ol' Betsy, defending the ramparts of the Alamo--or was he captured? Who is buried in Jesse James's grave? Was the man Pat Garrett shot that night really Billy the Kid? How did Black Bart, "the gentleman bandit," disappear? Did Sacajawea, the famous "Bird Woman" who scouted for Lewis and Clark, die twice? The possibilities unfold as Walker brings together little-known facts and the elusive connections that shed light on the biggest enigmas of the American West.
Dale L. Walker is also the author of The Boys of '98 and Pacific Destiny. In 2000, he received the Owen Wister Award from the Western Writers of America, Inc., for lifetime achievement in Western history and literature.
Legends and Lies is an entertaining, fascinating, and historically sensitive investigation into many of the great mysteries and puzzles of the American West. Did Davy Crockett, for example, really go down swinging Ol' Betsy while defending the ramparts of the Alamo—or was he captured? Who is actually buried in Jesse James's grave? Was the man Pat Garrett shot that fateful night in 1881 really Billy the Kid? How did Black Bart, the so-called "gentleman bandit," disappear? Why do some people believe that Sacajawea, the famous "Bird Woman" who scouted for Lewis and Clark, died twice?
The possibilities and paradoxes that define history itself unfold as Walker brings together little-known facts and elusive connections in a study that will be must-reading for all students and scholars of the American West.
"Walker's Legends and Lies is a masterwork of its kind, bringing serious scholarship and poetic prose to a subject that has too often received only tabloid treatment."—Loren D. Estleman
"A stunning accomplishment."—The San Antonio Express News
"Not only good reading, but good history."—Roundup Magazine
"A colorful, accurate, fast romp through some of the remaining mysteries of what was once the American frontier."—The Salem Statesman Journal
"A collection of strange and intriguing tales about famous characters of American Western history. The author's research has come upon many mysteries that resist ultimate solution. A prolific writer of the Old West, Walker (also a columnist for the Rocky Mountain News) examines the life and death of Davy Crockett, Meriwether Lewis and his Indian guide Sacajawea, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Boston Corbett, the soldier who killed John Wilkes Booth, Ambrose Bierce, Custer, Crazy Horse, and the Mormon leaders who instigated the mass murder of a wagon train of 'gentile' men, women, and children passing through 'Mormon land' on their way to California. Walker, trying to fill gaps in the historical records by exposition of logical reasoning, finds conflicting testimonies, many rumors, bizarre tales, and conspiracy theories, and also credible accounts of the deaths of these larger-than-life characters. Despite several Mexican eyewitness accounts of Crockett's death at the Alamo, Walker concludes that he died as he lived—heroically. The mysterious 'suicide' of Meriwether Lewis opens several questions—did he know too much about the treacherous General Wilkinson and the unconvicted Aaron Burr? The song and story of Jesse James as a folk-hero Robin Hood is demolished by Walker as he argues that James was a murderer-robber who stole from both the rich and the poor and kept the proceeds. [Walker] stresses the detective-story aspects behind official history. Legends and myths grow around famous figures, some true, some exaggerated, some lies that add to mysteries, but he argues that legends tend to live on, whether true or false and that myths and fictions often overcome facts . . . [These] stories are absorbing and Walker's commentaries are instructive. They should entertain readers of American Western history and mystery fans."—Kirkus Reviews
作者簡介
Born in Illinois, the son of a career army sergeant, Dale L. Walker is a journalism graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso whose 20 books reflect his varied historical interests: military and Western history, 19th century "Golden Age" journalism, biography, and Jack London studies. Among his books are Januarius Macgahan: The Life and Times of an American War Correspondent; Legends and Lies: Great Mysteries of the American West; The Boys of '98; Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders; Bear Flag Rising: The Conquest of California; Pacific Destiny; and Eldorado: The California Gold Rush. He is a four-time winner of the Spur Award from Western Writers of America, the Owen Wister Award for life achievement in the history and literature of the American West, and many other awards, and is a member of the prestigious Texas Institute of Letters.
Walker, who lives in El Paso, Texas, with his wife of 43 years, Alice McCord, has been involved in virtually every aspect of the book business. He has served as a university press director, newspaper book page editor, magazine editor, fiction editor for Forge Books, book columnist and reviewer, and has written historical books, magazine work, and fiction.
