Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hel

Today's nonfiction post is on Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell by Tom Clavin. It is 386 pages long and is published by St. Matrin's Press. The cover is a illustration of Tombstone and the Earp party. The intended reader is someone who is interested in the real history of the Wild West. There is some mild foul language, no sex, and descriptions of violence in this book. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- On the afternoon of October 26, 1881, nine men clashed in what would be known as the most famous shootout in American frontier history. Thirty bullets were exchanged in thirty seconds, killing three men and wounding three others.
The fight sprang forth from a tense, hot summer. Cattle rustlers had been terrorizing the back country of Mexico and selling the livestock they stole to corrupt ranchers. The Mexican government built forts along the border to try to thwart American outlaws, while Arizona citizens became increasingly agitated. Rustlers, who became known as the cow-boys, began to kill each other as well as innocent citizens. That October, tensions boiled over with Ike and Billy Clanton, Tom and Frank McLaury, and Billy Claiborne confronting the Tombstone marshal, Virgil Earp, and the suddenly deputized Wyatt and Morgan Earp and shotgun-toting Doc Holliday.

Bestselling author Tom Clavin peers behind decades of legend surrounding the story of Tombstone to reveal the true story of the drama and violence that made it famous. Tombstone also digs deep into the vendetta ride that followed the tragic gunfight, when Wyatt and Warren Earp and Holliday went vigilante to track down the likes of Johnny Ringo, Curly Bill Brocius, and other cowboys who had cowardly gunned down his brothers. That "vendetta ride" would make the myth of Wyatt Earp complete and punctuate the struggle for power in the American frontier's last boom town.

Review- Clavin takes the reader from the beginning of Tombstone and the man who found the silver veins. The reader gets a well rounded look of the world that the shoot out happened in. From the cowboys and the ranchers who used them to the law and order side trying to protect people and livestock. Clavin is a good writer, he knows how to add details without overwhelming the reader or boring them. He gives his research and the books his used, so the reader can investigate more, if they wish to. Where there is no evidence for a legend, Clavin will discuss the legend but give the reader the best factual information. If you are curious about the real shoot out at the OK Corral, then you should give this book a read. 

I give this book a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.