And Die in the West: The Story of the O.K. Corral Gunfight - Softcover

Marks, Paula Mitchell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0806128887 ISBN 13: 9780806128887

Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press, 1996

Synopsis

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral has excited the imaginations of Western enthusiasts ever since that chilly October afternoon in 1881 when Doc Holliday and the three fighting Earps strode along a Tombstone, Arizona, street to confront the Clanton and McLaury brothers. When they met, Billy Clanton and the two McLaurys were shot to death; the popular image of the Wild West was reinforced; and fuel was provided for countless arguments over the characters, motives, and actions of those involved.

And Die in the West presents the first fully detailed, objective narrative of the celebrated gunfight, of the tensions leading up to it, and the bitter, bloody events that followed. Paula Mitchell Marks places the events surrounding the gunfight against a larger backdrop of a booming Tombstone and the fluid, frontier environment of greed, factions and violence. In the process, Marks strips away many of the myths associated with the famous gunfight and of the West in general. 

About this title

About the Author:

Paula Mitchell Marks is Associate Professor of American Studies emerita at St. Edward's University. She is the author of Turn Your Eyes Toward Texas and Precious Dust: The North American Gold Rush Era 1848-1900. She has served on the boards of the Western Writers of America and the Texas Institute of Letters.

From Publishers Weekly:

Was it murder or self-defense when the three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday confronted the Clanton and McLaury brothers on the streets of Tombstone, Ariz.? Each side has had its partisans, and the subject is still debated by historians. Marks delivers an exhaustive account of this episode in frontier history, reviewing the political, economic and social conditions of the region, noting that other frontier communities struggled with the same issues. A succession of characters--cattle rustlers, tinhorn gamblers, law officers of questionable integrity--are introduced with biographical sketches. There is a detailed reconstruction of the gunfight, with conflicting evidence from witnesses, and a full report of the coroner's investigation and subsequent trial with Marks, a professor at St. Edward's in Austin, Tex., inclined to accept the verdict, giving the Earps the benefit of the doubt. She also recounts the bloody aftermath and follows the major characters to the ends of their lives. Diehard Western buffs will enjoy this definitive account of the affair; others may be overwhelmed by minutiae. Photos.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0806128887
• ISBN 13: 9780806128887
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480