25 books like A Wyatt Earp Anthology

The public was introduced to Wyatt Earp’s story by Walter Noble Burns and Stuart Lake around 1930, but the novelistic liberties taken by these two writers produced two books of fantasy. Other writers who reacted to this fiction swung to the other end of the spectrum and wrote damning indictments against Wyatt Earp. Tefertiller gives us the facts and leaves it to the reader to parse Wyatt Earp, the man.

I have visited many a Sonoran Desert site with Mr. Tefertiller—places where events in the Earp saga took place. There we have engaged in conversations and batted around ideas. I judge him to be a most reliable and dedicated researcher/writer.

Boessenecker has achieved a fine reputation for honesty and thoroughness in his research, plus he has learned how to structure his books to carry a reader forward as a novel does. His book puts into scope how major an event it was for Wyatt Earp to go up against the organized crime gang (known as the “cow-boys”) that had corrupted Southern Arizona. Many of these outlaws had drifted west from New Mexico after taking part in the bloodbath called the Lincoln County War. Ride the Devil’s Herd is more than a history book. It’s a great ride in itself.

I know Gary Roberts personally, and I have always considered him to be “the voice of reason” in debates concerning Western American history. He is, in my opinion, one of the top three most authoritative researchers in the field of Wyatt Earp. Others who know him treat his conclusions as the final word on a topic. His scholarly work is beautifully written for all levels of readers, from beginner to aficionado to expert. His book on Doc Holliday can be thought of as the companion reader to Mr. Tefertiller’s book.

Researchers/writers today make great use of the Internet, but perhaps no one does it better than Peter Brand. Living in Australia, he can make only infrequent trips to America, yet he seems to be able to mine records on the Internet to find the nuggets that others have missed. His revelations about the loyal men who attached to Wyatt Earp in his quest to avenge his assassinated brother, Morgan, have expanded our knowledge of the Earp story to a tremendous degree. Brand is also a personal friend of mine. Each new publication of his throws new light on the shadowy episodes that Earp aficionados want to better understand. It is quite an accomplishment for Peter to gain the status he has achieved among historians. Who would believe that an Aussie could become one of the vanguards of Western research?

This book is probably the closest title to my own. Doc is centered around everyone’s favorite dandy gunslinger, Doc Holliday. It is a truly entertaining and informative tale of the real Doc’s life before his legendary stand at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone. While Wyatt and Morgan Earp play important roles in the story, Doc Holliday is definitely your Huckleberry. 

If you love it like I do, the author wrote a continuation called Epitaph: An O.K. Corral Story. You won’t be sorry.

This short novel is heaps of fun! It’s another take on the Tombstone story, told from Doc Holliday’s point of view with great wry wit. This Doc is an engaging and unexpectedly kind character, with little or no hint of his reputed “mean disposition”. Weird elements include steampunk – with Thomas Edison living in Tombstone and bringing not only electric light but cyborg sex workers – as well as an undead Johnny Ringo, and supernatural justice wielded by the Native American shamans. It’s delightful!

Perhaps Arizona’s most widely recognized event, the thirty seconds of gunfight at O.K. Corral in Tombstone isn’t the main emphasis in Epitaph. That belongs to Russell’s engrossing depictions of the intensely personal relationships between the Earp brothers, their girlfriends and wives, their routines, and addictions.

As I found out in researching for my novel, if you get the accurate facts about the personalities and actions of the good and the bad people, who actually lived in the Old West, you’re well on the way to writing a novel.  

John Philip Clum started the newspaper in Tombstone and called it Epitaph, because “No tombstone is complete without its epitaph.” To complete your reading about the Old West, include Epitaph.

This is the story of Jack Crabbe. Jack was reared by both white and Cheyenne folks.

His story is a masterpiece and describes the destruction of Native Americans along with their way of life (including the bison they relied on). According to Jack, he even participated in the Battle of Little Big Horn and was the only white man who survived.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in American history and who wants to read about it in an entertaining way. There’s no way to disguise the hateful way European settlers wiped out native tribes and/or enslaved Natives and Blacks, but at least this is an engaging account thereof.

The true story of the misdemeanor arrest in Tombstone gone terribly wrong that has resounded for almost a century and a half. There are literally dozens of books on this subject, but this is by far the best. Ms. Marks accurately, and without hyperbole, researched the motivations of the men involved in the Earp-Cowboy feud and precisely documents the conflicts which arose between them. As one reads her book, one realizes that the Earp mythos which has been and continues to be touted by other authors and the film industry is erroneous. There were really no good guys or bad guys, just regular men whose political and social ambitions led to bloodshed.

This book is the perfect example of a great Western. A stern, courageous lawman, tougher than forged steel. A young sidekick by his side. A beautiful woman in town that everyone wants.

Put those elements onto the page and then throw into it a cruel, evil rancher, who’s already killed the city marshal and one of his deputies. What do you end up with? A kick-ass Western.