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WILD WEST INTERVIEWS

JOHN BOESSENECKER

JOHN BOESSENECKER

Author of Ride the Devil's Herd: Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang

Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil’s Herd reveals a time and place in which homicide rates were fifty times higher than those today. The story still bears surprising relevance for contemporary America, involving hot-button issues such as gang violence, border security, unlawful immigration, the dangers of political propagandists parading as journalists, and the prosecution of police officers for carrying out their official duties. Wyatt Earp saw it all in Tombstone.

May 1, 2020

2018

About the Interview:

Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. But the story of his two-year war with a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys has never been told in full.

 

The Cowboys were the largest outlaw gang in the history of the American West. After battles with the law in Texas and New Mexico, they shifted their operations to Arizona. There, led by Curly Bill Brocius, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers.

THOM HATCH

THOM HATCH

Author of The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer: The True Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

In this thrilling narrative history of George Armstrong Custer's death at the Little Bighorn, award-winning historian Thom Hatch puts to rest the questions and conspiracies that have made Custer's last stand one of the most misunderstood events in American history. While numerous historians have investigated the battle, what happened on those plains hundreds of miles from even a whisper of civilization has been obscured by intrigue and deception starting with the very first shots fired.

Custer's death and the defeat of the 7th Calvary by the Sioux was a shock to a nation that had come to believe that its westward expansion was a matter of destiny. While the first reports defended Custer, many have come to judge him by this single event, leveling claims of racism, disobedience, and incompetence. These false claims unjustly color Custer's otherwise extraordinarily life and fall far short of encompassing his service to his country.

By reexamining the facts and putting Custer within the context of his time and his career as a soldier, Hatch's The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer reveals the untold and controversial truth of what really happened in the valley of the Little Bighorn, making it the definitive history of Custer's last stand. This history of charging cavalry, desperate defenses, and malicious intrigue finally sets the record straight for one of history's most dynamic and misunderstood figures.

Aug. 17, 2018

2018

About the Interview:

Interview with Wild West author Thom Hatch discussing his book, The Last Days of George Armstrong Custer: The True Story of the Battle of the Little Bighorn

Thom Hatch

THOM HATCH

Author of The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Tradition holds that Butch Cassidy was the leader of the Wild Bunch outlaw gang and that the Sundance Kid was his right-hand man. Author Thom Hatch goes along with that sometimes-debated notion in his 350-page dual biography of these legendary Western characters. He calls Cassidy “the mastermind” and says that members of the loosely organized gang “would come and go depending on whether or not Butch needed their help with a robbery, or if their own criminal endeavors beckoned them elsewhere.” Hatch, the author of Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn: An Encyclopedia and an award-winning book about Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle, adds, “If Butch was the brains of the gang, the man who ascended to stand at Butch’s side with six-guns in his hands was Harry Longabaugh [Sundance].” The author does concede that Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan was “perhaps the most dangerous character involved with the Wild Bunch.”

July 24, 2018

2018

About the Interview:

Interview with Wild West author Thom Hatch discussing Butch Cassidy and his book, The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Thom Hatch

THOM HATCH

Author of The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Tradition holds that Butch Cassidy was the leader of the Wild Bunch outlaw gang and that the Sundance Kid was his right-hand man. Author Thom Hatch goes along with that sometimes-debated notion in his 350-page dual biography of these legendary Western characters. He calls Cassidy “the mastermind” and says that members of the loosely organized gang “would come and go depending on whether or not Butch needed their help with a robbery, or if their own criminal endeavors beckoned them elsewhere.” Hatch, the author of Custer and the Battle of the Little Bighorn: An Encyclopedia and an award-winning book about Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle, adds, “If Butch was the brains of the gang, the man who ascended to stand at Butch’s side with six-guns in his hands was Harry Longabaugh [Sundance].” The author does concede that Harvey “Kid Curry” Logan was “perhaps the most dangerous character involved with the Wild Bunch.”

Feb. 8, 2018

2018

About the Interview:

Interview with Wild West author Thom Hatch discussing Billy the Kid and his book, The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

DANIEL EDWARDS

DANIEL EDWARDS

Author of Billy the Kid: An Autobiography

Did Pat Garrett kill Billy the Kid? It was a moonlit night in Ft. Sumner, NM when history tells us that Sheriff Pat Garrett shot down the notorious outlaw Billy “the Kid”. Newspapers across the country quickly reported that the Kid was dead and Garrett quickly put the body in the ground. But rumors spread that the Kid had survived and the testimony of Garrett’s posse was contradictory about how, exactly, the shooting had gone down. Nevertheless, without evidence, the story of the heroic Sheriff stood for almost 70 years. Then, in 1950, an old man from Hico, TX petitioned the governor of New Mexico for a pardon for crimes he committed as Billy the Kid. No one took him seriously, and yet the old man was an exact match in physical characteristics and knew intimate details about the Kid’s life. He also knew details about the fateful shooting the night Garrett claimed to have shot him that had been erased by history. Details, for example, that Garrett had killed his very drunk bearded half-Mexican partner, a claim that has only recently been verified by modern research.

Mar. 2, 2018

2018

About the Interview:

Interview with Wild West author Daniel Edwards discussing his book, Billy the Kid: An Autobiography

Mark Lee Gardner

MARK LEE GARDNER

Author of To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett

No outlaw typifies America’s mythic Wild West more than Billy the Kid. To Hell on a Fast Horse by Mark Lee Gardner is the riveting true tale of Sheriff Pat Garrett’s thrilling, break-neck chase in pursuit of the notorious bandit. David Dary calls To Hell on a Fast Horse, “A masterpiece,” and Robert M. Utley calls it, “Superb narrative history.” This is spellbinding historical adventure at its very best, recalling James Swanson’s New York Times bestseller Manhunt—about the search for Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth—as it fills in with fascinating detail the story director Sam Peckinpah brought to the screen in his classic film Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

Aug. 16, 2016

2018

LISTEN

About the Interview:

Interview with Wild West author Mark Lee Gardner discussing his book, To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett.

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