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Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride
In this revisionist biography, award-winning historian Michael Wallis re-creates the rich anecdotal saga of Billy the Kid (1859 1881), a young man who became a legend in his time and remains an enigma to this day. In an extraordinary evocation of the legendary Old West, Wallis demonstrates why the Kid has remained one of our most popular folk heroes. Filled with dozens of ...more
Paperback, 328 pages
Published
March 1st 2008
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published 2007)
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When Pat Garrett shot and killed Billy the Kid on July 14th 1881 in New Mexico Territory a legend was born.
From the corrupt streets of New York to the corrupt towns of the Wild West, Billy the Kid's 21 short years are brought vividly to life by this fascinating biography.
So few actual facts are known about him that historians do not even agree about his birthplace or even his real name. Michael Wallis has painstakingly sifted through all the exaggerated stories and outright l...more
From the corrupt streets of New York to the corrupt towns of the Wild West, Billy the Kid's 21 short years are brought vividly to life by this fascinating biography.
So few actual facts are known about him that historians do not even agree about his birthplace or even his real name. Michael Wallis has painstakingly sifted through all the exaggerated stories and outright l...more
The author of this book is the voice of "Sheriff" from the movie Cars (and has some of the best lines in the movie), and apparently he has also written a very good book on the history of Route 66. He obviously loves and knows the West, and tries hard to write a good book here, but unfortunately there is just far too little real information about this elusive figure and far too much myth. He spends most of the book deconstructing the myths, but can't replace them with many hards facts...more
Whenever I see "Billy the Kid" I think of two things:
1. Twinkie the Kid
2. Emilio Estevez.
The author's intent in this book is to separate the myth of The Kid from the reality, and Mr. Wallis succeeds admirably in dispelling many notions about Bonney and his time and the books makes an excellent read. I am not going to be one of those people that say "Wow! This read like a novel!" Soooooo, what novel? "The Pelican Brief" or "...more
1. Twinkie the Kid
2. Emilio Estevez.
The author's intent in this book is to separate the myth of The Kid from the reality, and Mr. Wallis succeeds admirably in dispelling many notions about Bonney and his time and the books makes an excellent read. I am not going to be one of those people that say "Wow! This read like a novel!" Soooooo, what novel? "The Pelican Brief" or "...more
This is my second book by this author. I also read his biography on Pretty Boy Floyd. His writing style is much more readable - even entertaining - than most writers of history that I have encountered. That makes this book a good read.
Because there is little reliable information available on Billy the Kid, much of the book is actually not about the Kid himself as much as it is a history of the West of the 1870s and 1880s. In that regard, it is a very interesting and enlightening history. Another...more
Because there is little reliable information available on Billy the Kid, much of the book is actually not about the Kid himself as much as it is a history of the West of the 1870s and 1880s. In that regard, it is a very interesting and enlightening history. Another...more
I've always been interested in the Old West: cowboys, Native Americans, outlaws, pioneers, the frontier, buffalo. Even though most of it is myth and legend instead of fact, it's still fascinating. Billy the Kid is a prime example. The legend was built up around this kid, but the truth of his life is very different, and it's interesting reading this book to find out just how much less romantic and dashing and murderous his actual life was amd how little is actually known about him. Historians can...more
Billy the Kid by Michael Wallis does an excellent job of sorting the myth from the man and begins to paint a clear picture of the infamous Billy the Kid. So much of the history of the west is plagued by a lack of sources and misinformation from dime novels and eastern newspapers that until the last 10 years there has not been a serious effort to sort out the facts and the fiction. In fact unless the US military was involved and the sources were better preserved an effort was barely made at all. ...more
This book does not describe the legend of Billy the Kid. Instead it creates a portrait of Billy by revealing the details of his life: what the people who knew Billy said about him, what were his known personal tastes, what was his mother like, what was his step father like, where did he live, what was the nature of the places he lived. As I read this book an authentic portrait of Billy the Kid began to emerge in my mind, painted by each fact revealed, not a portrait build on imaginative fiction,...more
The first problem with writing a book about Billy the Kid is that most of what is known about Billy is myth. The second problem is that what *is* known about Billy (myth included) can barely fill a hundred pages, much less close to 300.
In the beginning the author acknowledges that facts about Billy are sparse and so he spends most of the book presenting many of the possibilities surrounding Billy's life in an effort to debunk myths about the man. His father could have been this guy, or that guy...more
In the beginning the author acknowledges that facts about Billy are sparse and so he spends most of the book presenting many of the possibilities surrounding Billy's life in an effort to debunk myths about the man. His father could have been this guy, or that guy...more
A book for anyone interested in the 'Wild West' and one of the greatest legends in American history. The life of Billy the Kid is a difficult one to write a history about because fact has long since merged with legend and its with difficulty that the two can be separated. But the author does his best and also provides a portrait into a time long since past.
For never having read anything about any of the notorious outlaws, I really enjoyed this book. I picked it up out of frustration when I couldn't find the book I wanted at the library but I learned a lot and was entertained.
so much about billy the kid is shrouded in conjecture and myth. wallis does a fantastic job of cutting through the legends and presenting the facts. his style is more fast paced than most history writers too, which i really appreciated.
Absolutely excellent. Very readable, and this paints the best picture of the Kid so far. Also nails done some really nice historical points for my project...
I didn't actually finish this book. So I'm not sure if my review counts, but the book was just boring. I guess if I'd gone into it really wanting to learn about the history of America when Billy the Kid was born, or even before he was born, this would have been a great book. By the time I stopped I'd learned more about P.T. Barnum and his relationship with his daughter, and more about the locations that are the best if you are suffering from consumption, than I had about Billy. And I actually re...more
Breezy and digressive, but Wallis didn't do much more than read a lot to put this together. No analysis or new research.
The first book I've read in a long time that I could not finish! Ugh! If his annoying Hee Haw narrative doesn't make you want to throw the book out the window, then his tirade against guns and vigilante justice will probably make you roll your eyes to the back of your head. And how many times can you talk about how hot and muggy it was? This is basically a politically correct 21st century journalist's view of a 19th century outlaw. Irritating and amateurish.
Boy howdy, avoid this ...more
Boy howdy, avoid this ...more
Mr. Wallis has written a well-researched book. Despite the fact that tere are tons of endnotes (and I mean tons -- at least 2 superscripts in most paragraphs), the superscripts do not interrupt the flow of the narrative.
Billy the Kid is shown as a human being with all the flaws that humans have. He also is shown to have loyalty, love, attractiveness. He is usually portrayed either as a hero or a villain. This portrayal shows that he may have been a bit of both, and traces those characteri...more
Billy the Kid is shown as a human being with all the flaws that humans have. He also is shown to have loyalty, love, attractiveness. He is usually portrayed either as a hero or a villain. This portrayal shows that he may have been a bit of both, and traces those characteri...more
Really not a bad book, but just not my style.
Decent read, def learned some interesting facts about the actual Billy the Kid. Nice to seperate folklore from reality. Could have done without some of the background stories about the towns he lived in or the chapter on the Cattle Ranch Kings of the west. Overall a quick read, well written. Wasn't a wow book but kept me entertained on the T.
I'm not usually interested in the Old West, but this novel is a fantastic historical account of Billy the Kid's short life; starting from his birth right until his untimely death. I love how Michael Ellis managed to seperate the myth from the man. It's a must for anyone who loves works based on history.
The only thing that I didn't like about it was that it seemed like the author was trying to say that his research was the only credible research. He seemed to spend a lot of his time trying to discredit other researchers. Other than that it was a pretty good book.
I've read everything on Billy, and this actually had new stuff in it I'd never read before, even if they were small details. Thanks to Kylea for getting it for me!
Very readable short chapters packed with information. Really enjoying reading this and getting a fantastic sense of time and place.
Lot of fun. Much isn't known about the guy, but it's amazing how much is, and what an interesting character he was.
Story line mixed in with facts. Tends to sidetrack the reader.
Great book for people interested in the history of Wild West.
Very solid, eloquent western history.
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Michael Wallis is the bestselling author of Route 66, Billy the Kid, Pretty Boy, and David Crockett. He hosts the PBS series American Roads. He voiced The Sheriff in the animated Pixar feature Cars. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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