The West of Billy the Kid

Rating:
Summary: Well-researched, entertaining and finally, a fair account.
Review: A pencil drawing of my great, great, great uncle is in this book. My family knew Billy and Pat Garrett. Both spent nights at my great, great grandfather's ranch prior to the killing of Billy. My family was present during the drama, the Lincoln County Wars, and the governorship of Lew Wallace. Maybe I am not an expert on Billy the Kid, but I feel I have right to a few opinions via ancestry and old family stories. One opinion is that good solid research on the Kid is hard to come by. I have been hardily disappointed by many books that portray him either as a complete socio-path or as a half-wit misled by circumstance. This book does the best of any I have encountered in placing Billy in a mileau, a time, a place. The resultant sense of having been there and having seen the interaction of real people with complex motives is the reward. This volume has many photos and inset personals on the people whose lives surrounded Billy's. It is a study of a man in context, and therefore, is a study, too, of the time. Thank you, Frederick Nolan, thanks for giving me and my family the Billy we always knew existed, the Real Billy.

Rating:
Summary: Supurb, unbiased and factual...
Review: Frederick Nolan has researched Billy the Kid and The Lincoln County War for over 50 years, and it shows in this outstanding historical work.

The BEST and most accurate biography of The Kid there is.

James B. Mills

Rating:
Summary: Billy the Kid Lives
Review: Frederick Nolan is, by far, one of the top-notch writers living today dealing with the subject of William Bonney (Billy the Kid). Even though Nolan makes his home in England you wouldn't know it by reading his material; he's a man of the west and that west is Lincoln County, New Mexico.

I've studied the Kid's life since my first visit to Lincoln in 1969. As a young boy standing at the foot of the stairs in the Lincoln County Courthouse, I saw firsthand evidence of the Kid's desperation to live; a bullet hole in the wall. This resulted from the Kid's dramatic escape, while being held prisoner in the Courthouse, on April 28, 1881. He shot at deputy James W. Bell and missed, hence the bullet hole in the wall. The Kid's next shot found its mark and Bell stumbled out the back door before he died. The Kid's next act is pure Hollywood except it's true. Still shackled by ankle, the Kid made his way to the Sheriff's armory, grabbed a shotgun and moved toward the window facing northeast on the second floor. There he waited for Deputy Bob Olinger. I'll have Nolan tell the rest of the story.

Nolan's book is filled with many fascinating photos of the places and people during the Kid's life. Many photos are comparison shots of the places then and now. Nolan has dedicated many years researching this story and tells it with passion. I highly recommend THE WEST OF BILLY THE KID.

Rating:
Summary: The West of Billy the Kid Brought to Life
Review: The first thing that struck me upon receiving this book was the pictures. Nearly every page includes photos of the people and places in the saga of Billy the Kid that help bring his story to life. This is particularly helpful in sorting out the characters of the Lincoln County War. Putting faces with the names is a big help. Many of the characters' photos include short bios. Nolan does an excellent job telling the story from facts that are known, leaving conjecture to those of us who read his book. For example, included in one of the many photos is a picture of Telesfor Jaramillo, the son of one of Billy's girlfriends. The similarities between Telesfor and Billy are great in my opinion and Billy has long been rumored to have fathered a son. But Nolan never states this and leaves it to the reader to make or not make the conclusion that Telesfor may have been his son. The book is painstakingly researched and the wild life of Billy the Kid is well told.

Rating:
Summary: The West of Billy the Kid Brought to Life
Review: The first thing that struck me upon receiving this book was the pictures. Nearly every page includes photos of the people and places in the saga of Billy the Kid that help bring his story to life. This is particularly helpful in sorting out the characters of the Lincoln County War. Putting faces with the names is a big help. Many of the characters' photos include short bios. Nolan does an excellent job telling the story from facts that are known, leaving conjecture to those of us who read his book. For example, included in one of the many photos is a picture of Telesfor Jaramillo, the son of one of Billy's girlfriends. The similarities between Telesfor and Billy are great in my opinion and Billy has long been rumored to have fathered a son. But Nolan never states this and leaves it to the reader to make or not make the conclusion that Telesfor may have been his son. The book is painstakingly researched and the wild life of Billy the Kid is well told.