Terry C. Treadwell

This nonfiction book about the history of the American frontier aims to separate fact from fiction in regards to the outlaws that long been a part of popular fiction. I have to admit going in that my prior knowledge of this subject mainly comes from fiction, and even then it's particularly sparce, so there were plenty of new interesting facts for me to learn.

The book features a comprehensive history of a number of different individuals. It shouldn't have been surprising to me, but wow, there were some horrifically violent people around in the wild west! Some of the stories are absolutely wild. I think the thing that surprised me the most was just how young so many of them were when they died. I did find some stories more interesting than others. I think one of the most interesting was about Black Bart, who left poems behind after committing robberies. I was particularly interested in reading about the women outlaws, especially Calamity Jane, because that used to be my favourite movie. I read the book pretty much in one sitting but I can see it being the kind of book you dip in and out of, perhaps only reading about the people who interest you.

The photos in the book really brought the people to life. There's something about seeing the photos of the real people alongside their wild stories that just hammers home the point that these aren't just stories, they are real lives. As a warning, there are also a lot of photos of dead bodies, as photographing the body of an outlaw after killing him seems to have been a common practice. These pictures are more disturbing, although they do also do a good job of reminding you that these are real people.

I understand that the author wanted to show the reality of the frontier, but the constant reiteration of 'they were bad people' at times feels a little patronising. I also found some of the language used a little outdated, which when directly quoting people is fine but in the general text felt a bit off. One that stood out to me was the statement that a person would have been diagnosed as a 'schizophrenic sociopath' if he had been alive today, when nothing in the text implied that he had any symptoms of schizophrenia. This might sound a little nitpicky, but in a nonfiction book it bothered me.

I enjoyed reading this book, and I learned lots of new information about a time period I hadn't really considered before, I would have appreciated more words from people at the time, rather than just dates and names. This may be due to a lack of primary sources, though.
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The story about the young German pilots of the First World War, some of who became household names for both the German population and to many of those they pitted their skills against. Their photographs appeared on "Sanke" postcards which were sold to the public giving them a film star-like status. Many of the pilots who rose to national and international fame became increasingly bitter and disillusioned at the growing ineptitude of their generals.
They continued to fall in combat; the legendary Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, was shot down and killed at only 25 years old. A small number of these "Knights" survived the war. Some were to die between the wars by murder, revolution or accident. Others were to fight again during the Second World War for the Third Reich, among them the notorious Hermann Goering.… (más)