Hot Off the Press
By: Mark Boardman 08/01/2009
NEW FACTS ON:
The Sundance Kid. Donna Ernst is an in-law of the outlaw. The Sundance Kid: The Life of Harry Alonzo Longabaugh (University of Oklahoma Press) is an update of her 1992 book Sundance My Uncle. The new info includes details on the Kid’s middle years in Colorado, Wyoming and Canada, his failed attempts at going straight and Ernst’s convincing argument that Butch and Sundance died in Bolivia.
Jedediah Smith. The last bio of this remarkable pioneer came out in 1953, but Barton H. Barbour’s Jedediah Smith: No Ordinary Mountain Man (University of Oklahoma Press) presents recently-discovered translated Mexican documents and sections of Smith’s journal. The result: A more complete portrait of one of this country’s great pathfinders.
Jesse James Jr. The legendary badman’s boy had a colorful but tragic life—including his lawyer years. The Love Pirate and the Bandit’s Son (Union Square Press) looks at one case he handled, that of a gold-digger osteopath (what a combination!) who got her comeuppance at the point of a knife in 1924. Author Laura James excellently tells the tale of Zeo Zoe Wilkins and, to a lesser extent, of Jesse Jr., whose own story has been long ignored. But Jesse as the killer stretches the truth.
The Hanging Judge. This isn’t the first work of fiction that mentions Isaac J. Parker (True Grit got there first), but Loren Estleman’s The Branch and the Scaffold (Forge) is unique in focusing on the legendary jurist and his court. The author is a dogged researcher, and the book has the aura of truth. Besides the entertainment value (and that’s sizeable), the book adds flesh and blood to the cold, hard facts of the Parker era.
Soapy Smith. Mike Coppock may be the first Alaskan to write about the con man’s time during the Gold Rush, and that provides some unique insights. But Terror in the Klondike: The Reign and Killing of Soapy Smith (Graphic Image Publications) relies too heavily on previous works, some of which have been discredited. I expect to see better research in the upcoming book by Soapy’s great grandson, Jeff Smith.
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