On the Back Cover
"Quite impressive. I doubt if there has been or will be a more deeply researched and convincing account." --Evan Connell, author Son of the Morning Star: Custer and the Little Bighorn
"The book to end all Earp books--the most complete, and most meticulously researched." --Jack Burrows, author John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was
"The most thoughtful, well-researched, and comprehensive account that has been written about the development and career of an Old-West lawman." --The Tombstone Tumbleweed
"A great adventure story, and solid history." --Kirkus Reviews
"A major contribution to the history of the American West. It provides the first complete and accurate look at Wyatt Earp's colorful career, and places into context the important role that he and his brothers played in crime and politics in the Arizona territory. This important book rises above the realm of Western biography and shows the development of the Earp story in history and myth, and its effect on American culture." --John Boessenecker, author Gold Dust and Gunsmoke
"The ultimate Wyatt Earp book." --Professor Richard Brown University of Oregon
About the Author
Casey Tefertiller grew up surrounded by the West in the California coastside town of Santa Cruz. His grandfather, Orie Dunlap, had been a working cowboy, then later Chief of Police in Santa Cruz near the end of Prohibition. Dunlap had heard the negative stories of Earp from the old Arizona cowhands who had drifted West, and he passed them along to his grandson. At the same time, the local TV station carried reruns of "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, " portraying him as a hero. From his youngest years, Tefertiller desired to know the truth, not the legend, about Earp. Tefertiller graduated from UC Berkeley with honors in political science, then embarked on a career in journalism that carried him trough California, eventually to the "San Francisco Examiner." He served as beat writer for the San Francisco Giants, then the Oakland Athletics. When the two Earp-related movies of the early 1990s were being prepared, Tefertiller wrote an article for the Examiner's Sunday magazine on the contradictory legends of Wyatt Earp. This would begin the process that led to his book, "Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend" (Wiley, 1997). It would be named a Notable Book of 1997 by the New York Times. He also co-authored "Mental Toughness: Baseball's Winning Edge" with Karl and John Kuehl (Ivan R. Dee, 2005)
