Rating: 
Summary: Essentially an Autobiography
Review: I just finished this most interesting biography of Wyatt Earp and I found myself both fascinated and a bit skeptical. I was fascinated by the life of Wyatt Earp as it was written by a man who interviewed him over a period of time. I was impressed with the research that the author, Stuart Lake, appeared to have put into his project. He had interviewed a number of surviving witnesses to the life of Earp. He also had a number of newspaper accounts and appears to have located a number of valuable documents in the course of his research. The book wasted little time in getting to Wyatt's career in law enforcement in the American West. The bulk, and I mean just about ALL, of the book is spent on his career in Wichta and Dodge City, Kansas as well as Tombstone, Arizona. The many famous (and not so famous) outlaws and lawmen of the Old West move in and out of the story on a regular basis. Stuart lists an almost endless number of feats of daring by Wyatt Earp in the process of making his case for Earp as the greatest of all men of the American West. Many of the events are depicted in great and compelling detail. Many of the parties are quoted, presumeably, from the memory of Earp himself. There is never a dull moment in the life of our hero, especially considering that all this action took place over a relatively short period of time. The book, at times, reads like a well-researched dime novel. For a chance to re-live the wild, wild West, it has little competition.As for my skepticism, I came away wondering first of all; did all this really happen? Perhaps it did but our hero (and I am not trying to be facetious, Wyatt Earp truly is a hero) does it all seemingly with one hand tied behind his back. My other reservation has to do with the politics of the times and places. There are only good guys and bad guys and no exploration as to the motivations of either side except for good and evil. I found myself wondering if I were the only source of information about the events of my time and I had to relate to the world in 50 years or so the events I had witnessed. Take the Invasion of Iraq, the presidential election of 2000, or the impeachment of President Clinton. I certainly could make a claim as to who was the "bad guy" and who was the "good guy" while somneone else of a different political persuasion could make the opposite claim. There is no one to speak for the opposing view in this book. The author quotes frequently from the Tombstone "Nugget" but always prefacing the unreliability of the source. I found myself wondering if there might not have been something of another side to the events in Tombstone. The labor strife in mining communities of those days was very significant; just study the history of Butte, MT. Is it possible that Earp supported the powers that be and the miners looked for support from wherever they could get it? Maybe not, but it would have been helpful if the author tried to give a bit of an impartial look at the motives of the opposing side in Tombstone. That said, and realizing that this is about Wyatt Earp, not the miners, this is a book well worth the time of any fan of the American West.
Rating: 
Summary: Basically a work of fiction.
Review: I read Lake's book as a child. Wyatt Earp became a real hero to me. Later I found there was much more to the story, and much less. Lake found Earp to be uncooperative. So much so he didn't publish this book until Wyatt had been dead three years. Great portions of it were complete fiction such as the episodes in Abilene, Ks. and the arrest of Ben Thompson which never happened. But then, Wyatt Earp never claimed that it had. Lake wanted to write a tale of the old west and in the late 1920's Wyatt was about the only survivor of that breed of men who lived by their wits and survived those days. Nevertheless this book is a lot of fun. If you want a true picture of Wyatt Earp check out the latest issue of American Heritage magazine (Mar/April, 1999). He was a controversial figure and in many ways an admirable one. The story of the making of the myth is as fascinating as the man.
Rating:
Summary: A great book for complete and accurate Wyatt Earp info.
Review: It is hard finding books that tell the stories of the old west (especially of Wyatt and gang) that are free of opinion and myths. But Stuart N. Lake does just this in his wonderful book. A must for complete information on the exciting life of this Tombstone legend. I've read many books on this subject and have even been to Tombstone and Mr. Lake is an accurate author.
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling and exciting, though not true alltogether
Review: Stuart Lake describes Wyatt Earp as a perfect man with no faults, a real hero, a real angel. Though I live in Sweden, far away from Wyatt's hunting grounds, I have an opinion, and Ido not believe anyone could be that perfect. I think we all know that Stuart Lake did not stick to the truth all the time, that he made Wyatt better than he ever was. But, to be honest, so what? We want Wyatt Earp to be the kind of person Stuart Lakes says he was, don't we? We want him to be the best af all the county sheriffs and all the US marshalls, don't we? Read the book! It's entertaining and very well written. Sincerely Magnus Ekstrand, Sweden
Rating:
Summary: This book helped make Wyatt Earp a legend!
Review: This is a good beginning book on the life of Wyatt Earp. The author later admitted that Wyatt Earp did not tell him all the stories in the book. In fact, Earp was pretty silent about his life story. The Monmouth portion of the book omitted these facts: Earp lived in Monmouth, his birthplace, three different times-- 1848-50, 1856-59, and 1868-1869-- until the age of twenty-one. His grandfather was a justice of the peace in Monmouth, and his father was a constable. His family lived in town, and bought properties during the first two time periods. Wyatt was not married in Illinois, but in Missouri, by his father, then a justice of the peace. This book rivets your attention and makes you proud of Wyatt Earp, an Old West lawman, born into a family preserving the peace.
Rating: 
Summary: FANTASYLAND A LA WYATT EARP
Review: This is another half fake-Lake book. The other is UNDERCOVER FOR WELLS FARGO. Why did it take so long to discover this guy was writing fantasy fiction, not history and biography. Wyatt Earp deserves better and Casey Tefertiller's recent bio. on The Life and The Legend is the only decent factual biography we have. All the old cliches are here, The Ben Thompson standoff, THE Clay Allison affair. No wonder Hollywood can't get it right. For 70 yrs very few have. Coming in June 2000, a brilliant new book on Wyatt Earp finally at last gets the Shootout at O K Corral right. Look for DOCUMENT 94!
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