Review by Booklist Review
Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War have long been icons of the Old West. Recent movies and their TV spin-offs have brought a renewed interest in the subject, resulting in a flood of related books. This one is easily the single most important work to appear on the war and its participants in decades. It is a documentary history resulting from more than 30 years of research by English historian Frederick Nolan. One of the key protagonists in the affair was Englishman John Tunstall, whose letters home now reside in Britain. Nolan has utilized these rare documents as well as those in the U.S. relating to the entire cast of characters. Encyclopedic in scope, it presents previously unpublished sources and photographs. The book includes a 27-page chronology and a biographical section, which provides sketches of at least 100 of the major figures. Eighty-three rare photos are included. This may not be the easiest volume for a Billy the Kid neophyte to digest, but it will certainly prove to be the key source for new insights and details on this fascinating subject for the foreseeable future. ~--Fred Egloff
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
