Jesse James Was His Name; or, Fact and Fiction concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri

by William A. Settle Jr.

"Jesse James," said Carl Sandburg, "is the only American bandit who is classical, who is to this country what Robin Hood or Dick Turpin is to England, whose exploits are so close to the mythical and apocryphal." For this definitive study no significant source of information concerning Jesse James and his brother Frank has been neglected, and from it emerges resolution of the debated point: "Were the Jameses common criminals or gallant Robin Hoods?"

Genres: History, Biography, Civil War

283 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1966

Reviews

[Martin Willoughby]

Clearly writtin and concise. Takes into account the known and largely unknown details of his life.

[rinabeana]

This seemed relatively scholarly, in that sources were cited and any speculation was clearly identified as such. I was amazed at how little was actually verified about Jesse's life. There is absolutely no physical evidence that Jesse robbed the banks and trains of which he was accused (mainly because family members often provided alibis and the crimes occurred before surveillance technology was available). There is also no evidence that Jesse gave away his shadily acquired money to the less fortunate. If Jesse had been captured by legitimate law enforcement personnel, I doubt his legend would exist as it does now. The fact that he was shot while unarmed by a hired assassin (which is essentially what Bob Ford was) made him a sympathetic character, despite his evil deeds. Also, most of his crimes were committed in a relatively small area, and people in the East were free to fantasize about the heroic character and disseminate misinformation. I guess everybody loves a hero and it doesn't much matter if the heroic acts are true or not.

I learned quite a bit from reading this, especially about the situation in Missouri during and immediately after the Civil War. Settle presents the war there as being essentially fought with guerrilla tactics and brutalities committed against citizens not involved in the fighting. Most of the information I've read about the Civil War concerns the combat in the East, and I had no idea what the state of affairs on the Western front was like. This does not excuse Jesse or Frank James, the Younger boys (whose family probably got put through the ringer the worst), or any of the other outlaws of their horrible actions, but it does provide more of a context.

[Shanna]

Too many facts, not enough fiction-haha. It read too much like a textbook rather than like a story which was what I was hoping for. It still had it's interesting parts and I really liked the Missouri history of it all.