And Die in the West: The Story of the O.K. Corral Gunfight
The gunfight at the O.K. Corral has excited the imaginations of Western enthusiasts ever since that chilly October afternoon in 1881 when Doc Holliday and the three fighting Earps strode along a Tombstone, Arizona, street to confront the Clanton and McLaury brothers. When they met, Billy Clanton and the two McLaurys were shot to death; the popular image of the Wild West was reinforced; and fuel was provided for countless arguments over the characters, motives, and actions of those involved.\...
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And Die in the West presents the first fully detailed, objective narrative of the celebrated gunfight, of the tensions leading up to it, and of the bitter, bloody events that followed. Paula Mitchell Marks places the events surrouding the gunfight against a larger backdrop of a booming tombstone and the fluid, frontier enviroment of greed, factions and violence. In the process, Marks stips away many of the myths associated with the famous gunfight and of the West in general. Publishers Weekly Was it murder or self-defense when the three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday confronted the Clanton and McLaury brothers on the streets of Tombstone, Ariz.? Each side has had its partisans, and the subject is still debated by historians. Marks delivers an exhaustive account of this episode in frontier history, reviewing the political, economic and social conditions of the region, noting that other frontier communities struggled with the same issues. A succession of characters--cattle rustlers, tinhorn gamblers, law officers of questionable integrity--are introduced with biographical sketches. There is a detailed reconstruction of the gunfight, with conflicting evidence from witnesses, and a full report of the coroner's investigation and subsequent trial with Marks, a professor at St. Edward's in Austin, Tex., inclined to accept the verdict, giving the Earps the benefit of the doubt. She also recounts the bloody aftermath and follows the major characters to the ends of their lives. Diehard Western buffs will enjoy this definitive account of the affair; others may be overwhelmed by minutiae. Photos. (July)
\ Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly\ Was it murder or self-defense when the three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday confronted the Clanton and McLaury brothers on the streets of Tombstone, Ariz.? Each side has had its partisans, and the subject is still debated by historians. Marks delivers an exhaustive account of this episode in frontier history, reviewing the political, economic and social conditions of the region, noting that other frontier communities struggled with the same issues. A succession of characters--cattle rustlers, tinhorn gamblers, law officers of questionable integrity--are introduced with biographical sketches. There is a detailed reconstruction of the gunfight, with conflicting evidence from witnesses, and a full report of the coroner's investigation and subsequent trial with Marks, a professor at St. Edward's in Austin, Tex., inclined to accept the verdict, giving the Earps the benefit of the doubt. She also recounts the bloody aftermath and follows the major characters to the ends of their lives. Diehard Western buffs will enjoy this definitive account of the affair; others may be overwhelmed by minutiae. Photos. (July)\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalMarks observes that `` . . . gunfights in the West were usually confused, even bumbling affairs made even more confusing when more than two people were involved.'' She clearly demonstrates this in the case of the O.K. Corral gunfight. After establishing the participants' backgrounds and alliances, she sorts through the mass of conflicting, confused, and self-serving testimony to determine the most likely course of events on that fateful late October afternoon in 1881. There are no heroes or villains here, only a careful analysis of why the gunfight happened. Though the real truth will never be known, Marks's reconstruction renders previous accounts obsolete. Because of the enduring popularity of the Old West, this belongs in most libraries.-- Stephen H. Peters, Northern Michigan Univ. Lib., Marquette\ \
