Great Gunfighters of the Kansas Cowtowns 1867-1886

by Nyle H. Miller

These accounts of the exploits and antics of twenty-one western gunfighters in Kansas during the days of the Long Drive are derived entirely from contemporaneous sources - newspapers; city, township, county, state, and federal records; and letters, diaries, and other manuscript not through a haze of artificial gunsmoke but sharp and clear through the eyes of their contemporaries. The focal points of the authors' half decade of research were seven Kansas cowtowns in their wildest Abilene, 1867-1871; Hays, 1867-1871; Newton, 1871; Ellsworth, 1871-1875; Wichita, 1870-1877; Dodge City, 1872-1886; and Caldwell, 1879-1885. The result is a book that will not only appeal to all lovers of Western Americana but will also prove a trustworthy research tool for scholars probing this area of American history. Much of the material first appeared in serial form in "The Kansas State Historical Society Quarterly" and was subsequently expanded and collected in "Why the West Was Wild" (1963), from which the present volume is drawn.

494 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Tiffany L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a lot of information about the history of Kansas and the people involved! I really enjoyed it!!

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

A meticulous, if mind-boggling, piece of cultural history, based entirely on contemporary documents rather than half-baked cowboy mythology. That said, it's about as colorful a book as I've ever read. Hist a glass of Kansas sheep-dip to Rowdy Joe Lowe and Al Updegraff, Wild Bill and "the shot-gun brigade."

[Cws]

K-978.1Mil