Reviews for Dodge City : Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the wickedest town in the American West
Library Journal
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Clavin (coauthor, The Heart of Everything That Is) presents an extraordinary account of the iconic Wild West town of Dodge City, KS, as told through the experiences of legendary lawmen Wyatt Earp (1848-1929) and Bat Masterson (1853-1921). Clavin intricately links the history of the frontier town with that of the Southwestern mining town of Tombstone, AZ. Using period newspapers and both popular and academic histories, Clavin's most successful contribution is his attention to Masterson and his brothers, who have been largely overshadowed by the Earps. Luke Short and Bill Tilghman also get their due as lawmen, as does Doc Holliday. Verdict Clavin brings true personality to a severe Earp and the affable but steady-nerved Masterson during their roles in taming the wildest excesses of the Western frontier. Although this work is targeted to a popular audience, the pace of the narrative is slowed by placing finely detailed information and side stories within the main text (instead of as endnotes).-Nathan Bender, Albany Cty. P.L., Laramie, WY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publishers Weekly
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Recounting the most famous of cattle towns and its two most influential lawmen, Clavin (Reckless) argues that it wasn't gunfights but rather the refusal to fight that eventually tamed Dodge City, Kans., the "wickedest town in the American west." Though the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Ariz., has passed into popular legend, fewer know of the Dodge City War, the last hurrah of the town's violent legacy, which the legendary Wyatt Earp and lesser-known Bat Masterson resolved without violence. The romanticization and mythification of the West and the gunslinger is Clavin's greatest challenge; with a firm dedication to the truth, he has attempted to confirm what he can and qualify what he cannot. Though this fact-checking may take some of the glamor out of the popular conception of Earp in particular, Clavin's book brims with a colorful collection of real outlaws, sex workers, gamblers, and chorus dancers whose personalities, deeds, and even nicknames help readers understand why the Western legend entranced the nation in the first place. To know the history of Dodge City is to understand how the West was won, and this history is often just as captivating and strange as the legends that have supplanted it. Agent: Scott Gould, RLR Associates. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Clavin (coauthor, The Heart of Everything That Is: The Untold Story of Red Cloud, an American Legend) chronicles the history of the legendary Western town of Dodge City, KS. Its time line is that of the frontier through successive stages of settlement from Native American homeland and the site of buffalo hunts to cattle drives from Texas, terminating at the westward-expanding railroad town, and development of an urban, cosmopolitan settlement. Its citizens included colorful lawmen and outlaws-all merit mention and description in Clavin's tome. It seems that no one is left out, with even Billy the Kid and Theodore Roosevelt gracing the pages. For listeners, the extensive catalog of individuals necessitates careful attention and is a bit overwhelming. As with all audiobooks, it is impossible check the references and notes. Narration by John Bedford Lloyd is superb. VERDICT This volume will appeal to anyone with an interest in the Old West's myths and larger-than-life characters. ["An extraordinary account of the iconic Wild West town...as told through the experiences of legendary lawmen": LJ Xpress Reviews 1/27/17 review of the St. Martin's hc.]-Patricia Ann Owens, formerly with Illinois Eastern Community Colls., Mt. Carmel © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
Wyatt Earp has been the subject of numerous biographies and films some frivolous, some serious and even a television series. But Earp's friend and sometimes partner in law enforcement, Bat Masterson, has received far less attention, perhaps because reliable sources on his career are limited. Clavin (Reckless, 2014) offers a sweeping and often riveting account of the personalities and exploits of both men, whose paths repeatedly crossed as the post-Civil War frontier moved westward. At the center of his narrative is their supposed taming of the wicked cow town of Dodge City, which lay at the rail terminus for shipping cattle across the nation. Clavin describes the pair as unlikely friends. Earp was tall, lean, quiet, sullen, and quick to take offense. Masterson was stocky, amiable, and liked to hoist drinks with friends. They shared a wanderlust well suited to their time and place as well as an ability to navigate the political and legal shoals of emerging frontier towns. This is an enjoyable saga, appealing to both Old West aficionados and general readers.--Freeman, Jay Copyright 2017 Booklist
Publishers Weekly
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Clavin's history of Dodge City, Kans., is a wildly entertaining and informative look at the Old West and the lifelong friendship of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, two self-trained lawmen who led the effort to establish justice on the frontier. Doc Holliday, Billy the Kid, Sam Bass, Buffalo Bill Cody, and Jesse James are only a few of the multitude of colorful characters who appear as Clavin separates fact from fiction in popular portrayals of the West. The audio edition makes good use of actor Lloyd's rich, baritone voice. He strikes a balance between informative lecturer and casual raconteur of exciting tales of barroom brawls, gunfights, murders, jailbreaks, train robberies, and Indian attacks. His simple, skillful reading makes for an enjoyable and fascinating trip back to a wild time in history where the enforcement of the law often fell to the man with the quickest gun and the keenest eye. A Saint Martin's hardcover. (Feb.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Of cowpokes, desperadoes, and the law in a Western town in which it wasn't always easy to tell which was which.Dodge City, Kansas, was founded as a military outpost on the western reaches of the plains. It became a supply center, a railhead, and a stockyardall adding up to a place into which people, mostly young men, drifted. As practiced popular historian and journalist Clavin (Reckless: The Racehorse Who Became a Marine Corps Hero, 2014, etc.) notes, some of those young men were downright dumb, and many of them drowned whatever intelligence they had with alcohol. A story unfolds: one night, Wyatt Earp, renowned tough-guy lawman just this side of being an outlaw himself, grabs a miscreant by the ear, like a schoolmarm. "If his companions had been smart, the arrest would have signaled it was time to call it a nightbut they weren't very smart," writes the author. They tried to free their buddy by standoff and ambush and finally slunk off. The moment, and Clavin's description of it, is characteristic: there's kerfuffle and anticlimax, with perhaps less gun smoke than might be expected. The author paints a lively portrait of the town and its denizens, particularly those well-known enforcers. Along the way, he reveals a few lesser-known aspects of their characters, such as Bat Masterson's Huck Finn-ish qualities, and he explicates the rules of faro, always helpful for understanding why the gaming table was often a flashpoint. There are even hints of revisionist history, as when Clavin notes the disproportionate number of African-American and other minority victims of violence: "The first recorded killing in the new Dodge City was that of a man known as Black Jack, because he was indeed a black man." There's some rehashing of the old but much that is new, making this a must-have for buffsnothing world-changing but a nicely spun Wild West yarn to satisfy even the most ardent consumer of oaters. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
