Wild Bill
The True Story of the American Frontier’s First Gunfighter
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Narrated by:
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Johnny Heller
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By:
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Tom Clavin
About this listen
“The first thing you will notice about this engaging and delightful biography is that [narrator Johnny Heller] sounds like a character actor who moseyed off the set of an old-fashioned oater. His voice is a little scratchy, a little seasoned and perfectly suits this biography of larger-than-life Bill Hickok and his pals, from Calamity Jane to Buffalo Bill Cody and General Custer.” (The Berkshire Edge)
This program includes a bonus interview with the author.
The definitive true story of Wild Bill, the first lawman of the Wild West, by the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Dodge City.
In July 1865, "Wild Bill" Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in Springfield, Mo., - the first quick-draw duel on the frontier. Thus began the reputation that made him a marked man to every gunslinger the Wild West.
James Butler Hickock was known across the frontier as a soldier, Union spy, scout, lawman, gunfighter, gambler, showman, and actor. He crossed paths with General Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody, as well as Ben Thompson and other young toughs gunning for the sheriff with the quickest draw west of the Mississippi.
Wild Bill also fell in love - multiple times - before marrying the true love of his life, Agnes Lake, the impresario of a traveling circus. He would be buried however, next to fabled frontierswoman Calamity Jane.
Even before his death, Wild Bill became a legend, with fiction sometimes supplanting fact in the stories that surfaced. Once, in bar in Nebraska, he was confronted by four men, three of whom he killed in the ensuing gunfight. A famous Harper’s Magazine article credited Hickok with slaying 10 men that day; by the 1870s, his career-long kill count was up to 100.
The legend of Wild Bill has only grown since his death in 1876, when cowardly Jack McCall famously put a bullet through the back of his head during a card game. Best-selling author Tom Clavin has sifted through years of Western lore to bring Hickock fully to life in this rip-roaring, spellbinding true story.
"[Narrator Johnny Heller] ensures that Western aficionados will enjoy listening to the life of Wild Bill." (AudioFile Magazine)
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Great Listen
- By Susan Stilley on 10-06-21
By: Mark Lee Gardner
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The Texas Rangers
- Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900
- By: Mike Cox
- Narrated by: Jonathan Hogan
- Length: 16 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Mike Cox, journalist and Texas Ranger grand master, recounts enthralling tales of men who proudly wore the silver Lone Star - once hand-carved from the Mexican five peso. Whether facing Indians, banditos, or Yankees, TexasRangers earned a reputation for being some of the most formidable lawmen in U.S. history.
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Like reading case reports
- By Planetary Defense Commander on 02-16-12
By: Mike Cox
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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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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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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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The Summer of 1876
- Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West
- By: Chris Wimmer
- Narrated by: Chris Wimmer, Johnny Heller
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
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The summer of 1876 was a key time period in the development of the mythology of the Old West. Many individuals who are considered legends by modern listeners were involved in events that began their notoriety or turned out to be the most famous—or infamous—moments of their lives. Those individuals were Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Wild Bill Hickok, and Jesse James. The Summer of 1876 weaves together the timelines of the events that made these men legends.
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Like History? You will thoroughly enjoy this book!
- By JRC on 04-26-24
By: Chris Wimmer
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Butch Cassidy
- The True Story of an American Outlaw
- By: Charles Leerhsen
- Narrated by: Pete Simonelli
- Length: 8 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than a century the life and death of Butch Cassidy have been the subject of legend, spawning a small industry of mythmakers and a major Hollywood film. But who was Butch Cassidy, really? Charles Leerhsen, best-selling author of Ty Cobb, sorts out the facts from folklore and paints a “compelling portrait of the charming, debonair, ranch hand-turned-outlaw” (Ron Hansen, author of The Kid) of the American West.
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Butch Cassidy is still a modern day hero!
- By Anonymous User on 12-12-20
By: Charles Leerhsen
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Empire of Shadows
- The Epic Story of Yellowstone
- By: George Black
- Narrated by: Jack de Golia
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Empire of Shadows is the epic story of the conquest of Yellowstone, a landscape uninhabited, inaccessible, and shrouded in myth in the aftermath of the Civil War. In a radical reinterpretation of the 19th century West, George Black casts Yellowstone's creation as the culmination of three interwoven strands of history.
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Paints a big picture
- By Gail Thomalla on 07-13-21
By: George Black
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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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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
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West Like Lightning
- The Brief, Legendary Ride of the Pony Express
- By: Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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The thrilling narrative history of one of the most enduring icons of the American West, the Pony Express, from the number-one New York Times bestselling co-author of American Sniper - an exciting tale of daring young men pushing limits to the extremes across the vast, rugged, and unsettled American West.
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A Picture of Wild West Life and the Pony
- By Pierre C. on 08-07-18
By: Jim DeFelice
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Outlaws of the Wild West
- Infamous Western Criminals and Killers
- By: Daniel Brand
- Narrated by: Wayne Butler
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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The Wild West was a troublesome area for a long, long time. Hard conditions brought hard people - not everyone was suited to live there, but those who did had a choice - the boring everyday life or a life of an outlaw, filled with daring escapes, adventures, and thievery. If it was you, which one would you choose?
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very detailed
- By J M Holmes on 10-24-24
By: Daniel Brand
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Killing Jesus
- A History
- By: Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard
- Narrated by: Bill O'Reilly
- Length: 6 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Millions of people have thrilled to best-selling authors Bill O'Reilly and historian Martin Dugard's Killing Kennedy and Killing Lincoln, works of nonfiction that have changed the way we view history. Now the anchor of The O'Reilly Factor details the events leading up to the murder of the most influential man in history: Jesus of Nazareth. Nearly 2,000 years after this beloved and controversial young revolutionary was brutally killed by Roman soldiers, more than 2.2 billion human beings attempt to follow his teachings and believe he is God.
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The Jesus story in context
- By Kimberly on 10-01-13
By: Bill O'Reilly, and others
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Seth Bullock
- A Captivating Guide to Deadwood’s First Sheriff Who Tamed This Wild West Town and Was Later Appointed US Marshal by Theodore Roosevelt
- By: Captivating History
- Narrated by: Jason Zenobia
- Length: 1 hr and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Deadwood, 1876: a notorious little mining town in modern-day South Dakota that was a hive of criminal activity. Thieves, drunkards, prostitutes, and murderers ran rampant among its booming streets. There were over 300 murders in this town during the first year of its existence. When Wild Bill Hickok was brutally shot and killed at point-blank range in the back of the head, it was obvious that someone had to rise up and save the town of Deadwood from itself.
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Enjoyable
- By DM on 05-19-21
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Dreams of El Dorado
- A History of the American West
- By: H. W. Brands
- Narrated by: Matt Kugler
- Length: 17 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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In Dreams of El Dorado, H. W. Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes us from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush. He shows how the migrants' dreams drove them to feats of courage and perseverance that put their stay-at-home cousins to shame - and how those same dreams also drove them to outrageous acts of violence against indigenous peoples and one another. El Dorado was at least as elusive in the West as it ever was in the East.
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Dreadful narration
- By Fredmo on 12-09-19
By: H. W. Brands
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It is the early 19th century, and the land recently purchased by President Thomas Jefferson stretches west for thousands of miles. Who inhabits this vast new garden of Eden? What strange beasts and natural formations can be found? Thus was the birth of Manifest Destiny and the resulting bloody battles with Indigenous tribes encountered by white explorers. Also in this volatile mix are the grizzled fur trappers and mountain men, waging war against the Native American tribes whose lands they traverse.
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Robbers Roost, Brown’s Hole, and Hole-in-the-Wall were three hideouts that collectively were known to outlaws as “Bandit Heaven.” During the 1880s and ‘90s these remote locations in Wyoming and Utah harbored hundreds of train and bank robbers, horse and cattle thieves, the occasional killer, and anyone else with a price on his head.
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Outstanding narrator
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The true story of the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, and the famous Battle at the OK Corral, by the New York Times best-selling author of Dodge City and Wild Bill. On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, nine men clashed in what would be known as the most famous shootout in American frontier history. Thirty bullets were exchanged in 30 seconds, killing three men and wounding three others. The fight sprang forth from a tense, hot summer.
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Like History? You will thoroughly enjoy this book!
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Throne of Grace
- A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the Bloody Conquest of the American West
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The explosive true saga of the legendary figure Daniel Boone and the bloody struggle for America's frontier by two best-selling authors at the height of their writing power - Bob Drury and Tom Clavin. This fast-paced and fiery narrative, fueled by contemporary diaries and journals, newspaper reports, and eyewitness accounts, is a stirring chronicle of the conflict over America’s "First Frontier" that places the listener at the center of this remarkable epoch and its gripping tales of courage and sacrifice.
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Review
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The Last Hill
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They were known as “Rudder’s Rangers,” the most elite and experienced attack unit the Army had. In December 1944, they would be the spearhead into Germany, taking the war into Hitler’s homeland at last. Their colonel was given this objective: Take Hill 400. After two days, when they were finally relieved, only 16 Rangers remained to stagger down from the top of Hill 400. The Last Hill is filled with unforgettable action and characters—a gripping, finely detailed saga of what the survivors of the battalion would call “our longest day.”
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more a history of the rangers in ww2
- By M. Johannes on 10-12-23
By: Bob Drury, and others
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Valley Forge
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Valley Forge is the riveting true story of an underdog US toppling an empire. Using new and rarely seen contemporaneous documents - and drawing on a cast of iconic characters and remarkable moments that capture the innovation and energy that led to the birth of our nation - the New York Times best-selling authors Bob Drury and Tom Clavin provide a breathtaking account of this seminal and previously undervalued moment in the battle for American independence.
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Moving story about saving the Revolution
- By LEE on 11-15-18
By: Bob Drury, and others
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The Heart of Everything That Is
- The Untold Story of Red Cloud, An American Legend
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The great Oglala Sioux chief Red Cloud was the only Plains Indian to defeat the United States Army in a war, forcing the American government to sue for peace in a conflict named for him. At the peak of their chief’s powers, the Sioux could claim control of one-fifth of the contiguous United States. But unlike Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, or Geronimo, the fog of history has left Red Cloud strangely obscured. Now, thanks to painstaking research by two award-winning authors, his incredible story can finally be told.
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The Irresistable Force Paradox: Manifest Destiny
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By: Bob Drury, and others
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Ride the Devil's Herd
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- By: John Boessenecker
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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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Deadwood
- A Novel
- By: Peter Dexter
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- Unabridged
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Deadwood, Dakota Territories, 1876: Legendary gunman Wild Bill Hickcock and his friend Charlie Utter have come to the Black Hills town of Deadwood fresh from Cheyenne, fleeing an ungrateful populace. Bill, aging and sick but still able to best any man in a fair gunfight, just wants to be left alone to drink and play cards. But in this town of played-out miners, bounty hunters, upstairs girls, Chinese immigrants, and various other entrepreneurs and miscreants, he finds himself pursued by a vicious sheriff, a perverse whore man bent on revenge, and a besotted Calamity Jane.
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What the hell is it with Narrators of Westerns?
- By Kevin on 06-10-19
By: Peter Dexter
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Texas Ranger
- The Epic Life of Frank Hamer, the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde
- By: John Boessenecker
- Narrated by: Graham Winton
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- Unabridged
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From the horseback days of the Old West through the gangster days of the 1930s, Hamer stood on the front lines of some of the most important and exciting periods in American history. He participated in the Bandit War of 1915, survived the climactic gunfight in the last blood feud of the Old West, battled the Mexican Revolution's spillover across the border, protected African Americans from lynch mobs and the Ku Klux Klan, and ran down gangsters, bootleggers, and Communists.
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I love Frank Hamer, but Boessenecker's left leanin
- By A. Taylor on 04-06-19
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Lucky 666
- The Impossible Mission
- By: Bob Drury, Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
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From the authors of the New York Times best-selling The Heart of Everything That Is and Halsey's Typhoon comes the dramatic untold story of a daredevil bomber pilot and his misfit crew who fly their lone B-17 into the teeth of the Japanese Empire in 1943, engage in the longest dogfight in history, and change the momentum of the war in the Pacific - but not without making the ultimate sacrifice.
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A WWII Pacific Tale
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
By: Bob Drury, and others
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Doc Holliday
- The Life and Legend
- By: Gary L. Roberts
- Narrated by: Arthur Flavell
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- Unabridged
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In Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend, the historian Gary Roberts takes aim at the most complex, perplexing, and paradoxical gunfighter of the Old West, drawing on more than 20 years of research - including new primary sources - in his quest to separate the life from the legend. Doc Holliday was a study in contrasts: the legendary gunslinger who made his living as a dentist; the emaciated consumptive whose very name struck fear in the hearts of his enemies
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“Watch Tombstone?” You are an idiot
- By Richard on 05-02-20
By: Gary L. Roberts
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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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Lightning Down
- A World War II Story of Survival
- By: Tom Clavin
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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On August 13, 1944, Joe Moser set off on his forty-fourth combat mission over occupied France. Soon, he would join almost 170 other Allied airmen as prisoners in Buchenwald, one of the most notorious and deadly of Nazi concentration camps. Tom Clavin's Lightning Down tells this largely untold and riveting true story.
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This book will make you understand how much ch our freedom costs
- By Linkr on 11-06-21
By: Tom Clavin
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Billy the Kid: An Autobiography
- The Story of Brushy Bill Roberts
- By: Daniel A. Edwards
- Narrated by: Barry Corbin
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1882, a notorious outlaw and a childhood friend of Billy the Kid was released from prison where he had been serving time for killing a Texas Ranger. His freedom finally secured, the outlaw disappeared and was never heard from again. Never, that is, until 1948, when he came out of hiding after almost 70 years. In the course of proving his identity to a court of law, the outlaw revealed that his friend Billy the Kid was not killed by Pat Garrett but was still alive even to that day.
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so informative and vety detail oriented!
- By Taylor Tomberlin on 01-01-23
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- Buretto
- 09-29-19
The world around Wild Bill, and Wild Bill, too.
It certainly is a comprehensive account of James Butler Hickok, and shares a lot of information from his private and public lives, A lot of his work, prior to his later fame, as a Union spy was quite interesting, and the book gives a coherent picture of the man.
That being said... Wild Bill is often a supporting character, or even at times absent, in his own book. There are extended periods of time when we learn about George Custer, Buffalo Bill Cody, Tom Smith, John Wesley Hardin, Calamity Jane and many others, making the book half again as long as it might be, if it stayed on the main subject. Certainly crossing paths with these people is noteworthy, particularly in clearing up the relationship with Jane. But even as the tangents stray, fortunately, they stay just this side of reasonable, providing color and context for the life of Wild Bill Hickok.
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- 20eagle16
- 04-06-19
I Learned Much
I learned a great deal about Wild Bill. The book helped me appreciate the man and all he did and learn about the many famous people who passed through his life in his short lifetime. He truly was larger than life. I recommend this audiobook.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Amazon Customer
- 05-23-19
great book
i enjoyed the mix of lore and known facts. the book painted a superb picture of wild Bill's life and the people around him.
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- aubreypub
- 12-04-20
Great Western
Apparently interest in the Old West is a generational thing as the well-read twenty something who was cleaning my roof the other day had never heard of Wild Bill Hickok. When he asked me what I’d been reading he had a blank look when I named dropped “Wild Bill” who may have been one of the most famous men in America in his day. The icons of my childhood were the “cowboys” and “Indians”. My friends and I were all up in Custer, Buffalo Bill, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Geronimo, Crazy Horse, Calamity Jane, Wyatt Earp, Sitting Bull, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday. They were the stuff of dime novels, legends in their own time. Wild Bill was certainly one of the most interesting of them all. Hundreds, even thousands of articles and books were written about these folks. There was a lot of exaggeration and hyperbole but much was true. Some even promoted themselves in their own life times with stage plays and Wild West shows starring themselves. Wild Bill made it to Broadway, playing Wild Bill. But he became disgusted with his performance opposite Buffalo Bill and California Jack and left the show and went back West. His eyesight was failing probably due to syphillis and he was drinking heavily. Bill had premonitions and was considered something of a “spiritualist.” He predicted his own imminent death which occurred in Deadwood in 1876 when a low life named Jack McCall snuck up behind him and shot him in the head. The bullet exited his cheek and lodged in the wrist of another poker player at the table who never had the bullet removed. Poker players who don’t know Wild Bill will least know Aces and Eights, the Dead Man’s Hand, what Bill was holding when the bullet ended his life.
James Butler Hickok was described as the best looking corpse anyone had ever seen. By most testimony he was a spectacular looking human when he was alive. You can read the descriptions of him by both Colonel and Mrs Custer if you want proof. Just over six feet tall with broad shoulders, a girlish waist, shoulder length hair and a handsome mustache he made quite an impression where ever he went. Bill was famous for bathing everyday and wearing stylish clothes when he wasn’t dressed in plainsmen buckskins. He wore his six shooters butts forward so he could quickly cross draw, a move that kept his Chesterfield jacket from getting in the way. He was quick and could shoot accurately with either hand and he often would demonstrate his prowess with the handgun by shooting targets or cans thrown in the air. During the Civil War he was a Union soldier who often spied on the South dressed as a Rebel and infiltrating the Confederate army. After the war he gravitated West and worked as a scout, a wagon driver and a law man. He had a broad reputation and in later life, when he ended up in Deadwood, was such a draw that saloon owners would encourage him with free whiskey to make their business his headquarters.
I didn’t know anything about Wild Bill save what I’d learned by watching the HBO show Deadwood. His appearance there was pretty much a cameo and fostered the probably false story that he and Calamity Jane had a romantic relationship. These were her claims, not his. The fact is that Wild Bill had a rather long romance with a woman twelve years older who was one of the most prominent circus owners in the United State. After their marriage, Agnes Lake returned home to reorganize her circus and wait for Bill to send for her to move to South Dakota. That never happened as Bill was murdered.
This book continues my foray into the Old West with biographies of Jesse James, Billy the Kid and a novel about Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. It was a fascinating time I think because of the idea of the “frontier”—that edge of the country where civilization and rule of law confronts wildness and lawlessness. It took tough, hard-nose men to bring order to the cow towns like Dodge City and Abilene. The characters were colorful, interesting and adventurous. In a dystopian novel we move from order to disorder and imagine how one might cope with it. On the frontier we moved from disorder to order as more and more people arrived, got settled and organized family and social life. People like Wild Bill were on the cutting edge of this movement and the fascination of Easterners with the turmoil on the edge of the country made folks like Wild Bill, Billy the Kid and Buffalo Bill (to name all the famous Bills) legends in their own time. Some perhaps were legends in their own mind, like Buffalo Bill, who was a friend of Wild Bill’s from pre Civil War Days and who convinced Wild Bill to become an actor for a short time. Buffalo Bill sounds like a fascinating fellow as well and he will be my next pursuit. Well written, great detailed research, terrific context and a well read audio book.
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- Brent W. Hunter
- 01-30-22
Fascinating & Well-Written
Wild Bill is a western character I’ve always heard of, but never really knew his whole story. I think Tom Clavin’s research & subsequent book brought Wild Bill Hickok to life. I will definitely be reading/listening to more of Tom Clavin’s works.
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- David
- 07-28-19
Spy, Lawman, Entertainer, Killer
Wild Bill Hickok emerges as a strange and charismatic figure in Tom Clavin’s biography. Clavin has done extensive research to separate myth from legend, and the results are surprising. Much of Hickok’s life was unknown to me, including his service as a Union spy during the Civil War (when he wore a Confederate uniform behind Confederate lines), his early work with his brother as a teamster and his unhappy but often lucrative performances in Wild West shows in the East.
The biography made the Wild West seem like a small-town club. The same group of frontier buddies kept appearing in one town after another: Hays City, Abilene, Cheyenne, Deadwood. Buffalo Bill Cody shows up again and again. General Custer finally leads his troops to the Little Big Horn. Like Wild Bill, many of his friends have reductive nicknames: Texas Jack, Colorado Charlie, California Joe. (I may have the first names wrong, but hey, it was an audiobook.) Historic figures pass Wild Bill’s path in cameos, like William Quantrill, John Wesley Hardin, William Tecumseh Sherman and Ned Buntline. And then we meet his true love, Agnes Lake, who owned one of the traveling circuses that visited the frontier towns. One of the book’s best parts busts the myth of romance between Hickok and Calamity Jane.
Hickok is personally intriguing. He was a deputy US marshal and frequently a lawman, but he often made his living gambling. Apparently wildly handsome, he wore his hair shoulder-length and dressed in town like a dandy. And unlike just about anybody else out west, Wild Bill bathed every day.
But at heart, the book makes clear, Hickok was a killer. Even setting aside many of the false legends about his quick draw, he killed a lot of men. Sometimes he did this as a lawman, sometimes just as a survivor out-drawing those who wanted to take down a legend. The book highlights several instances in which he tried to avoid confrontation, suggesting to a foe with a gun that they settle things over a drink. But there was no evidence in the book of Hickok’s reflection or regret over the number of men he had killed.
The other problem, which Clavin handles well but without emphasis, was the treatment of Native Americans. Hickok was not into the slaughter of Indians, unlike his friend Custer, but he seemed oblivious to the broken treaties, cruelty and lawlessness directed at the Plains natives. He seemed to get along personally with the many Native Americans he met, including wives of his friends, but he also seemed ignorant of the larger issues. Their land was stolen, and their lives were often taken without mercy. Again, there is no evidence of reflection or regret over this.
The narrator had a raspy, grizzled voice that worked well. He spoke like an old prospector telling tales over whiskey at a Deadwood saloon.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and recommend it to others interested in the American frontier or history generally.
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- Andrew
- 01-31-20
Loved it..
I’m a huge Wild Bill fan. Absolutely entertaining! Very informative. It felt as though I went back in time. Thumbs up Tom Clavin and Johnny Heller! Highly recommended!
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- JDP
- 04-01-19
Fun & interesting read
Really enjoyed the book & learning about Wild Bill! Recommend to people who are interested in this period of history & the "wild west". Listening to Tom Calvin's other book on Dodge City now
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- Placeholder
- 05-30-19
it was ok but i wouldn't listen to it again.
it was ik. it kept my attention but I can't say I would recommend it unless you were board and out of credits.
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- CB
- 08-25-21
Great American read!
Loved this book! We listened to it on a road trip to Deadwood. It set the stage for our own great American adventure. We loved the narrator and the additional stories of men and women of the time. There was so much more to Wils Bills life, accomplishments, patriotism, and hardships than we realized. Great book!
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