Gunfighters

This collection of text and paintings of 20 of the most famous gun-packers of the American West captures the essence of the frontier as depicted in the lore of the television western. I am not so sure that the reality matches the text. Men are depicted as killing other men for sport and then going elsewhere and putting on a lawman's badge. While the west was wild and serial killers will always be among us, the depiction of these men as somehow being glorious is incorrect. However, the paintings are excellent, depicting the men, and one woman that make up a great deal of the legend of the American west. The sole female is Calamity Jane, a woman that in the modern era probably would have had a sex-change operation. If you can get past the hype and glorification of what was often simply one man killing another man, then this book will interest you.