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Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell (Frontier Lawmen)
Maybe someday
28
/100
I Index Overall Rating
Readers
51/100Critics
6/100Scholars
Author:
Tom Clavin
Publisher:
St. Martin's Press
Date:
April 21, 2020
Clavin peers behind decades of legend surrounding the story of Tombstone to reveal the true story of the drama and violence that made it famous.
What The Reviewers Say
[Clavin] does a yeoman’s job of combining original research with a knack for page-turning narrative that gives readers an exciting tour of the celebrated gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Clavin pulls the curtain back on decades of legend surrounding this fight, the town, and its key players..
As [Clavin] explains in an author’s note, he wanted to complete a trilogy he had started with his books Dodge City and Wild Bill. Moreover, he writes, 'I wanted to tell my version of the Tombstone story, to have it refracted through my lens, and along the way provide new and previously overlooked characters and details.' It’s hard to know what those new details might be, since the book includes no notes section and his bibliography lists only secondary sources, which he quotes a bit too freely in the text, sometimes producing a cut-and-paste effect. Yet his account does trot along at a brisk pace: Stressing story line over nuance, Tombstone may appeal more to casual readers curious about the Earp saga..
Tombstone is written in a distinctively American voice. Unfortunately, it’s the voice of Gabby Hayes. Attempts to evoke the period are distractingly strenuous.
... filled with biographical details, primary souces, dialog, and textual references to other works and films on the subject.
