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| Draw: The Greatest Gunfights of the American West | 
 enlarge | Author: James Reasoner
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy New: $4.99
You Save: $9.01 (64%)
New (28) Used (28) from $4.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 101648
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5 x 1
ISBN: 0425191931
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.1092278
EAN: 9780425191934
ASIN: 0425191931
Publication Date: December 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: remainder mark
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Product Description
James Reasoner has been praised for his well-researched and lively, suspenseful novels. Now, he proves that truth can be even more exciting than fiction. Known for his ability to make history come vividly to life, Reasoner strips away the dime novel legends and Hollywood myths to show us how the gunfighters of the Old West really lived, killed-and were killed. Among the true stories he brings us:
Doc Holliday's Last Gunfight The Last Dalton Raid The End of the Notorious John Wesley Hardin Wild Bill's Tragic Mistake The End of an Earp Gunfight at Stone Corral The Doolin Bunch vs. the U.S. Marshals Rourke's Bad Luck Robbery Shoot-out at the Tuttle Dance Hall Wichita's New Year's Day Gunfight Bat Masterson and the Battle of the Plaza The Sam Bass Gang's Luck Runs Out The Long Branch Saloon's Spectacular Fray Ben Thompson and the Vaudeville Ambush The Man Who Killed the Man Who Killed Jesse James
These are the shootouts and showdowns that gave the Wild West its name...recounted here with gritty accuracy, colorful detail, and all the drama of life-and death-on the frontier.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Subtitle sums it up November 10, 2008
Breezy, lightweight recaps of the greatest gunfights of the American West, as the subtitle says. Pretty much sums it up. No detailed historical research, plenty of gunslingers gives this the feel of fiction, and Reasoner's intro does say that he (a well-known novelist) did write toward drama if there was any question about the facts.
Don't worry about it, just enjoy it.
Monitor vs Merrimack July 20, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
David Poyer has written another book that amply displays his technical knowledge of all things nautical, in this case the historic battle between the Merrimack and the Monitor, the first of the iron-clads. Navy men should love this book, others perhaps not so much, wishing that there was more about the characters than about the construction and fighting ability of these two ships. The technical aspects of this battle have probably been detailed in some non-fiction book. If not, Poyer is well-equipped to do the job. For a fiction novel we would like more on the characters, their development and interaction.
 Enjoyable March 9, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Overall this a great book, however I only read about 3/4 of it. I really enjoyed reading this book in the evenings before falling asleep. I'm a non-fiction reader and love adventure books like this. This book reminds me of Mark Twain's Roughing It. It also reminds me of a book on bear attacks I read years ago called Mark of the Grizzly which is fantastic. You get to know the various outlaws, gangs, and lawmen of the time. Each chapter is a short biography of one or more characters and tells the story of a well known gun fight involving those characters. It's interesting to see how the citizens of the American West decided that some murders were justified.
One reviewer said this book is repetitive, which is a little bit true, but what do you expect from a book that tells the story of the greatest gunfights of the West? There are only so many variations in the way bank robberies, holdups and gun fights can happen.
That reviewer also said the author should have used references to back up accuracy of these events. I'm okay with there not being references in this book since I read it for entertainment. The events in this book are hard to prove true, but I believe the author has done a good job in researching each of these stories. A little bit of story telling is fine with me.
I recommend this book even though I didn't finish reading it.
 Oh dear... September 22, 2005
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
Well the stories were interesting, but not as interesting as they could have been because the author turned them into just "stories" and not "history." The main problem is the lack of research. There's not a single primary source listed in the bibliography. It's all taken from other people's books...this isn't history, it's a book report. The lack of primary sources turns what could have been a fascinating subject into little more than a "My First Big Book of Gunfights," full of bad guys turned into a bedtime story. If you want history, look elsewhere.
My other complaint is that the writing is, frankly, repetitive. If I had to read the phrase "soiled dove," to describe prostitutes again I was going to scream. (Seriously, he uses the phrase at least 10 times.) He reuses quite a lot of other phrases and sentence constructions as well. (Lots sentences like "he had anger in his heart and vengence in his eyes.") Perhaps not a problem if you pick this up, read one chapter, and put the book down for a bit -- but when you read it over the course of a few days it gets really annoying.
 Great read about an interesting subject: February 21, 2005
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
The author, who is known for his fiction writing, has penned a very readable and entertaining history of the significant gunfights of the American West. The stories are detailed without being overly lengthy. Where disagreement exists between sources, the author points this out and opines what he feels is the most likely truth. His writing style is engaging and enjoyable. No western buff should be without a copy of this book on their shelf. If you like this subject, another must read is O'Neal's Encyclopedia of Western Gunfighters.
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