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Title details for Dodge City by Tom Clavin - Available

Dodge City

Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and the Wickedest Town in the American West

by Tom Clavin
John Bedford Lloyd
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
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1 of 2 copies available

Dodge City, Kansas, is a place of legend. The town that started as a small military site exploded with the coming of the railroad, cattle drives, eager miners, settlers, and various entrepreneurs passing through to populate the expanding West. Before long, Dodge City's streets were lined with saloons and brothels and its populace was thick with gunmen, horse thieves, and desperadoes of every sort. By the 1870s, Dodge City was known as the most violent and turbulent town in the West.
Enter Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. Young and largely self-trained men, the lawmen led the effort that established frontier justice and the rule of law in the American West, and did it in the wickedest place in the United States. When they moved on, Wyatt to Tombstone and Bat to Colorado, a tamed Dodge was left in the hands of Jim Masterson. But before long Wyatt and Bat, each having had a lawman brother killed, returned to that threatened western Kansas town to team up to restore order again in what became known as the Dodge City War before riding off into the sunset.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Tom Clavin's Dodge City tells the true story of their friendship, romances, gunfights, and adventures, along with the remarkable cast of characters they encountered along the way (including Wild Bill Hickock, Jesse James, Doc Holliday, Buffalo Bill Cody, John Wesley Hardin, Billy the Kid, and Theodore Roosevelt) that has gone largely untold—lost in the haze of Hollywood films and western fiction, until now.

  • Creators

  • Series

    Frontier Lawmen

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 28, 2017

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781427283078
      • File size: 380055 KB
      • Duration: 13:11:46

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 30, 2017
      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.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      John Bedford Lloyd employs his resonant baritone quite well in narrating this extensively researched biography of Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson and how they brought law and order to the infamous town of Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s. Giving extensive background information about not only these two men but also their families and their lives before Dodge, the book presents a feast of history in the Mississippi area during the Civil War and the subsequent westward migration. Lloyd's nuanced voice goes well with the engaging text. He enunciates clearly, is confident in expression and tone, and makes this a delightful listening experience for those who love the history of the Old West. M.T.F. © AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      June 1, 2017

      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 Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 5, 2017
      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.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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