Billy the Kid, Wild Bill Hickok, Belle Starr, Wyatt Earp, the Younger Gang, the Dalton-Doolin Gang and Bat Masterson--these real-life lawmen and lawbreakers have been the basis of so many Hollywood Westerns that it has become difficult to discover where the truth ends and the legend begins. All actually became larger-than-life characters during their lifetimes, as contemporary newspapers and books embellished their deeds for their own purposes. But it was in Hollywood that the line between reality and myth was completely blurred. Each chapter-length entry here first focuses on the known facts of the people's lives and how each became truly legendary during their lifetimes. The reality is then compared to how they have been portrayed in the movies.

The author has written several books about ghost towns in the Southwest – Death Valley, the Mojave, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada. Those books have very much been about places. This book, focused on gunslingers and lawmen, is very much about people - the sort of people that populated many of the Western towns in the post-Civil War “Old West”.The gunslinger category is focused on people famous for handling a gun, who were not (primarily) in law enforcement. This could include scouts, outlaws, target shooters, and “quick draw artists”. Among the names in the "Top 10": Annie Oakley, Butch Cassidy, John Wesley Hardin, Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid and Jesse James.The lawman category includes “gunmen” sheriffs, known as much for their shooting and quick draw ability as for their law enforcement skills, and also several professional law enforcement personnel who made their careers as sheriffs or marshals, and started to develop what later would become standard procedures for law enforcement officials in the 20th century. Among the "Top 10" in the lawman category: Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, Pat Garrett, Allan Pinkerton and Seth Bullock.This edition contains 40 photos.

Standoffs, saloons, and sunsets spring to mind when one envisions the rough and tumble early days of the American frontier.

True stories of the wild and dangerous world of the Arizona Territory—includes photos. A refuge for outlaws at the close of the 1800s, the Arizona Territory was a wild, lawless land of greedy feuds, brutal killings and figures of enduring legend. These gunfighters included heroes as well as killers, and some were considered both. Bandit Pearl Hart committed one of the last recorded stagecoach robberies in the country, and James Addison Reavis pulled off the most extraordinary real estate scheme in the West. But with fearless lawmen like C.P. Owens and George Ruffner at hand, swift justice was always nearby. In this collection of true stories, Arizona’s official state historian and celebrated storyteller Marshall Trimble brings to life the rough-and-tumble characters from the Grand Canyon State’s most terrific tales of outlawry and justice.

These are the guns of legendary lawmen, outlaws, and TV heroes. Includes brief biographies of more than 50 gunslingers, half from the Old West and half from Hollywood, plus fascinating stores about 1950s and 1960s celebrities.

Sifting factual information from among the lies, legends, and tall tales, the lives and battles of gunfighters on both sides of the law are presented in a who's who of the violent West

This novella is based on the character Sheriff Kriss Talbot from Cattle Drive 1882, copyright 2021 Larry Kendrick, and there are several references to the novel. Kriss faced a family tragedy as a child with the murder of his entire family influencing his decision-making and leading to him becoming a gunslinger and later in life, a lawman. It includes several flashbacks interrupting the sequential order of the main narrative, giving the reader a look at past events in the character's life, offering a better understanding of present-day elements in the story.