Thunder in the West
The Life and Legends of Billy the Kid, Volume 32 (The Oklahoma Western Biographies)
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Narrated by:
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Jack de Golia
About this listen
Billy the Kid - born Henry McCarty in 1859, and also known as William H. Bonney - emerges from this audio in all his complexity, at once a gentleman and gregarious companion and a thief and violent murderer. Tapping new depths of research, Etulain traces Billy’s short life from his mysterious origins in the East through his wanderings in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. As we move from his peripatetic early years through the wild West to his fatal involvement in the Lincoln County Wars, we see the impressionable boy give way to the conflicted young man and, finally, to the opportunistic and often amoral outlaw who was out for himself, for revenge, and for whatever he could steal along the way.
Against this deftly drawn portrait, Richard W. Etulain considers the stories and myths spawned by Billy’s life and death. Beginning with the dime novels featuring Billy the Kid, even during his lifetime, and ranging across the myriad newspaper accounts, novels, and movies that alternately celebrated his outlaw life and condemned his exploits, Etulain offers a uniquely informed view of the changing interpretations that have shaped and reshaped the reputation of this enduring icon of the Old West.
The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
©2020 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2021 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Offers the gold standard in the fields of history and lore on Lincoln County, New Mexico, and Billy the Kid.” (David V. Holtby, author of Forty-Seventh Star)
“Richard W. Etulain is one of the best known writers of the Wild West. Highly recommend!” (Tombstone Epitaph)
“Solid, carefully researched, and well written. It also serves as a guide to areas for western historians’ further research.” (Southwestern Historical Quarterly)
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Story
Of all the colorful characters that inhabited the West during the 19th century, the man who has earned an enduring legacy as the region's quirkiest is John Henry "Doc" Holliday (1851-1887), a dentist turned professional gambler who was widely recognized as one of the fastest draws in the West. In fact, the only thing that might have been faster than the deadly gunman's draw was his violent temper, which was easily set off when Holliday was drunk. By the early 1880s, Holliday had been arrested nearly 20 times.
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VERY informative
- By michael on 04-10-16
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Cult of Glory
- The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers
- By: Doug J. Swanson
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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The Texas Rangers came to life in 1823, when Texas was still part of Mexico. Nearly 200 years later, the Rangers are still going - one of the most famous of all law enforcement agencies. In Cult of Glory, Doug J. Swanson has written a sweeping account of the Rangers that chronicles their epic, daring escapades while showing how the white and propertied power structures of Texas used them as enforcers, protectors, and officially sanctioned killers.
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Not a book about men who tamed the west
- By W. Larson on 12-30-20
By: Doug J. Swanson
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Alias Billy the Kid
- By: C. L. Sonnichsen, William Morrison
- Narrated by: Jack Chekijian
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Was Billy the Kid really shot to death by Sheriff Pat Garrett on a July night in 1881? At the midpoint of the last century, an old man comes forth seeking a pardon for crimes committed. He says that he wants to die a free man - and that he is Billy the Kid. The incident leads to this examination of new facts, new interpretations, and new contradictions. It is the story of "Brushy" Bill Roberts, a man who laid claim to a legend. Originally published in 1955 by University of New Mexico Press.
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must read!
- By James A thornton on 03-27-18
By: C. L. Sonnichsen, and others
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To Hell on a Fast Horse
- The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett
- By: Mark Lee Gardner
- Narrated by: Graham Rowat, Alan Sklar
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Billy the Kid - a.k.a. Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, and William Bonney - was a horse thief, cattle rustler, charismatic rogue, and cold-blooded killer. A superb shot, the Kid gunned down four men single-handedly and five others with the help of cronies. Two of his victims were Lincoln County, New Mexico, deputies, killed during the Kid's brazen daylight escape from the courthouse jail on April 28, 1881.
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Great Listen
- By Susan Stilley on 10-06-21
By: Mark Lee Gardner
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Ride the Devil's Herd
- Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang
- By: John Boessenecker
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the OK 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, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling, and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers.
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Tough Listen.
- By Nick on 05-15-20
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Jesse James
- Last Rebel of the Civil War
- By: T. J. Stiles
- Narrated by: Christopher Lane
- Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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In this brilliant biography T. J. Stiles offers a new understanding of the legendary outlaw Jesse James. Although he has often been portrayed as a Robin Hood of the old west, in this ground-breaking work Stiles places James within the context of the bloody conflicts of the Civil War to reveal a much more complicated and significant figure.
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Borderline woke retelling of the era JJ live in
- By Rodney on 08-24-22
By: T. J. Stiles
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Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Patriots
- By: Bill O'Reilly, David Fisher
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, Bill O'Reilly
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The must-have companion to Bill O'Reilly's historical docudrama Legends and Lies: The Patriots, an exciting and eye-opening look at the Revolutionary War through the lives of its leaders. The American Revolution was neither inevitable nor a unanimous cause. It pitted neighbors against each other as loyalists and colonial rebels faced off for their lives and futures. These were the times that tried men's souls: No one was on stable ground, and few could be trusted.
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Couldn't stop listening!
- By Erin on 08-05-16
By: Bill O'Reilly, and others
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Cattle Kingdom
- The Hidden History of the Cowboy West
- By: Christopher Knowlton
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 14 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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The Open Range cattle era lasted barely a quarter-century, but it left America irrevocably changed. These few decades following the Civil War brought America its greatest boom-and-bust cycle until the Depression, the invention of the assembly line, and the dawn of the conservation movement. It inspired legends, such as that icon of rugged individualism, the cowboy. Yet this extraordinary time and its import have remained unexamined for decades. Cattle Kingdom reveals the truth of how the West rose and fell, and how its legacy defines us today.
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Disappointing - Author has an Agenda
- By McMullen on 09-19-21
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Murder at the Mission
- A Frontier Killing, Its Legacy of Lies, and the Taking of the American West
- By: Blaine Harden
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall
- Length: 12 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1836, two missionaries and their wives were among the first Americans to cross the Rockies by covered wagon on what would become the Oregon Trail. Dr. Marcus Whitman and Reverend Henry Spalding were headed to present-day Washington state and Idaho, where they aimed to convert members of the Cayuse and Nez Perce tribes. Both would fail spectacularly as missionaries.
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Good history; wanted more indigenous perspective.
- By Anonymous User on 07-06-21
By: Blaine Harden
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The Last Outlaws
- The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- By: Thom Hatch
- Narrated by: James C. Lewis
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - as leaders of the Wild Bunch, they planned and executed the most daring bank and train robberies of the day, with a professionalism never before seen by authorities. For several years at the end of the 1890s, the two friends, along with a revolving cast who made up their band of thieves, eluded local law enforcement and bounty hunters, all while stealing from the rich bankers and eastern railroad corporations who exploited western land. The close calls were many, but Butch and Sundance always managed to escape to rob again another day - that is, until they rode headlong into the 20th century.
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EXELLENT LISTENING<br />
- By Warren Taylor on 08-13-17
By: Thom Hatch
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Furious Hours
- Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee
- By: Casey Cep
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Reverend Willie Maxwell was a rural preacher accused of murdering five of his family members for insurance money in the 1970s. With the help of a savvy lawyer, he escaped justice for years until a relative shot him dead at the funeral of his last victim. Despite hundreds of witnesses, Maxwell's murderer was acquitted—thanks to the same attorney who had previously defended the reverend. Casey Cep brings this story to life, from the shocking murders to the courtroom drama to the racial politics of the Deep South.
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Great book, needs a Southern narrator
- By Joseph Wu on 06-06-19
By: Casey Cep
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The Kosher Capones
- A History of Chicago’s Jewish Gangsters
- By: Joe Kraus
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The Kosher Capones tells the fascinating story of Chicago’s Jewish gangsters from Prohibition into the 1980s. Author Joe Kraus traces these gangsters through the lives, criminal careers, and conflicts of Benjamin “Zukie the Bookie” Zuckerman, last of the independent West Side Jewish bosses, and Lenny Patrick, eventual head of the Syndicate’s “Jewish wing.”
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Kind of scattered
- By joey carbo on 10-04-21
By: Joe Kraus
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Big Wonderful Thing
- By: Stephen Harrigan
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 28 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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The story of Texas is the story of struggle and triumph in a land of extremes. It is a story of drought and flood, invasion and war, boom and bust, and of the myriad peoples who, over centuries of conflict, gave rise to a place that has helped shape the identity of the United States and the destiny of the world.
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Guidall is in top form with very good material
- By Elizabeth on 12-22-19
By: Stephen Harrigan
What listeners say about Thunder in the West
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Sydney Frey
- 04-24-24
Thoroughly Entertaining
I loved this biography and appreciate that Etulain put the story of Billy the Kid in part one and the historiography of Billy in the second. It's a fascinating read and I have found many more books to read!
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- David D. Bickings
- 05-26-22
Too much repetitiveness, and more than half the book essentially the repeats itself
Half the book Chronicles the short life of Billy the kid, and the other half basically repeats the same things but from the perspective of others. The book should’ve just been half as long and only had the first part.
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