Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #564444 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 456 pages

Amazon.com Review
Sorting through the innumerable legends about Wyatt Earp and his brothers is a monumental task, but Allen Barra, a sports columnist for the Wall Street Journal and a lifelong devotee of western lore, has tried mightily to sort the fact from fiction to determine once and for all if the Earps were heroes or villains. Judging by the cascade of films, books, and TV shows that have portrayed the Earps and their pal "Doc" Holliday, some people simply can't get enough of the legends, and those folks will find Inventing Wyatt Earp fascinating.

The central event of the Earp story is the fabled gunfight near Tombstone's O.K. Corral, a violent eruption in a simmering feud between, believe it or not, frontier Democrats and Republicans. Barra delves deeply into the motivations of all the participants and those who would later tell their stories, and he deserves credit for conducting his prodigious research with skepticism. However, the thoroughness of Barra's approach is a double-edged sword: his relentless examination of Earp's life and the various accounts of it can at times lead the narrative into a blinding sandstorm of minor details. Nonetheless, for those with a strong interest in sorting out the truth about the legends of Tombstone, this book is a valuable source. --Robert McNamara

From Publishers Weekly
Wall Street Journal sportswriter Barra (That's Not the Way It Was) does an admirable job of discounting the stories and outright lies told by Earp's contemporaries by using firsthand accounts and newspaper stories of the time. Barra concludes that the legend we know as Wyatt Earp is really a compilation of many of the characters who frequented the streets, barrooms and card games of the Wild West. But most scholars agree that Earp was intelligent, strong and generally a just lawman. A particularly interesting section concentrates on the shoot-out at the OK Corral and the subsequent trial and lasting animosity between Earp and his associates?his brothers and Doc Holliday?and the gang of "cowboys" who forever harassed them. Barra also chronicles Earp's romantic interests, including his and marriage to Josephine Sarah Marcus, a Jewish actress from New York. Barra's writing alternates, somewhat awkwardly, between a rather folksy tone and some academic detail, but readers who grew up with the legend of Wyatt Earp, both in literature and in film, will be intrigued by Barra's comprehensive and detailed dismantling of the popular myths surrounding this figure.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The Western is a genre that seems eternal. Wyatt Earp, the hero or villain of the OK Corral affair, depending on whose book you read or film you see, is a figure of seemingly unending interest. Following Stuart Lake's 1931 classic Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal and Casey Tefertiller's fine Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend (LJ 12/97), Barra (Wall Street Journal sports columnist and author) has written an intriguing biographical and historical study of the legend of Wyatt Earp as it occurs in text and film. Barra sees Earp as very much a hero?but not for the familiar reasons offered by his mythologizers, who have often reduced the complexity of the man. A well-written and carefully documented book; highly recommended for popular biography and Western history collections.?Charles V. Cowling, Drake Memorial Lib., Brockport, NY
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Wyatt Earp; Fable of a Lawman
Allen Barra's book is a welcome extension to Casey Tefertiller's biography of Wyatt Earp. To fully understand why Earp has gripped both American movie makers and the public for the past 70 years, both books must be read.

The major strength of the book is the new perspective on the growth of Earp's legend; why writers, directors and producers chose to alter the truth of Earp's life for the various limp story lines developed during the 1940s and 50s, which most people began to accept as fact for the next thirty years.

Readers with a passing interest in Earp will enjoy Barra's detailed chapters about the impact of the Earp legend on American culture and the background information about the two new movies about Earp; "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp", which still show up regularly on television and video stores.

Another important part of the book is the investigation of Glenn Boyer and Frank Waters; two writers, who have written many books condemning Earp as the villan in the clash between the Earps and the Cowboys in Tombstone.

Several simple facts support the contention that the Earp Brothers were on the right side. When the Earps met the Clantons in the famous gunbattle; they confronted the Cowboys face to face in the light of day.

They did not plan a night ambush as the Cowboys did when they wounded Virgil Earp and killed Morgan Earp or when Stillwell met the train to California at night hoping to murder Wyatt without being seen.

Wyatt Earp lived the rest of his life refusing to discuss his Dodge or Tombstone accomplishments. Also, he did not continue to ring up felony warrants and end up shot to death by a detective; Ike Clanton did.

Boyer and Waters criticize Earp for the vendetta against the Cowboys after Tucson(the train attack) but the vendetta ride clearly shows the character of Wyatt Earp.

Until Morgan was killed, Wyatt Earp had refained from an all out attack on his enemies who were constantly planning to kill him. He realized several things: the legal system was not going to avenge his brother's death; the right thing to do was to bring the full weight of justice upon the gang; He had the deadly ability to track down the cowboys and kill them.

This is why Wyatt Earp appeals to the American public; both yesterday and today. He did what need ed to be done. He compares with other American icons: George Patton, Teddy Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson to name a few. All of whom did the right thing and were severely criticized by the more passive persons of their time.

Just read it
"Inventing Wyatt Earp" is a major contribution to the literature of Old West. It is not, nor is it intended to be a biography based on groundbreaking research, and those who come to the book with that expectation are certain to be disappointed. It is, rather, a book of first-rate analysis and assessment whose main virtue is the clear-eyed, even-handed, critically probing intelligence the author applies to the appraisal of his material. Mr. Barra is possessed of a formidable analytical mind, and the questions he poses and answers he assays, however provocative at times, are reasonably well-considered. Wyatt Earp has over the years become a figure of debate and controversy. He is likely to remain one into the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, much of that debate has more recently betrayed a tone of strident and petty hysteria--much heat, little light--a tone that Mr. Barra's book serves effectively to counter. One needn't agree with the author's every assertion to appreciate the value of his book. "Inventing Wyatt Earp" may not be the Last Word on its subject, but I suspect that Allen Barra would not want, nor did he intend it to be. Forgive the many typos. Attend to the meat of the book. There is much there to be thoughtfully digested.

Another Earp Book
"Inventing Wyatt Earp" If you are looking for the authentic story of Waytt Earp, this is not your book. But that was not the intent of the author Allen Barra. Barra, a sportswriter from New Jersey has taken on the difficult task of trying to explain the myth and legend of an American Icon. I recommend this book for collectors of Wyatt Earp literature. Not for the historical value, but for the detailed explanation of the process of myth making and legend building. Enjoy. Jim Groom