Legends and Lies: Great Mysteries of the American West

by Dale L. Walker

Book Overview

"All of history is mystery," Dale L. Walker says, and he proves his point in this lively, humorous--and rational--approach to the West's greatest puzzles. Did Davy Crockett, for example, go down... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312868480
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Forge Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.7" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Outstanding popular history book...

...that allows the reader to make up his own mind. Author Walker is a fabulous writer; I finished this book wishing for more. Each of the twelve chapters focuses on a mystery or collection of mysteries clustering around a person or event. Before going into the mystery or mysteries proper Walker sets the stage by recounting what *is* more or less definitively known. For example, Walker tells us exactly who Sacajawea was and why she was so instrumental in the success of the Lewis and Clark expedition so the reader grasps why the mystery of her death arouses so mush interest. Walker also realizes that loose ends need to be tied up even if they don't impact the mystery. We are given a brief synopsis of the life of Sacajawea's son, for example, because he figures prominently in the narrative. Walker doesn't reveal exactly where he stands on the various mysteries but the reader can usually guess. As far as I'm able to tell the author is fair to all sides of any given controversy. There is a very extensive bibliography if the reader wishes to pursue his interest further. All in all, a very interesting and satisfying read.

Legends and Lies (Walker)

In twelve chapters, Walker touches on a dozen great mysteries of Western lore. He does not set out to solve any of them, but think again if you expect this book to do nothing but regurgitate old facts. You may have heard of many of the stories in this book, since more than a few of them have been subjects of documentaries, especially on The Discovery Channel. The "real" death of Davy Crockett, what happened at the Battle of Little Big Horn, and who is buried in Jesse James' tomb have all been covered on television, too, which lends credence to Walker's research. But what about some cases you learned about in school, and find out later things may not have happened the way your teacher said? I am writing of the strange suicide of famed explorer Meriwether Lewis in Tennessee in 1809. All my life, I was told he killed himself, and that was that. Reading Lewis' book, we find he killed himself after being attacked by an unknown assailant. He was shot in the head (exposing his brain), and offed himself before anyone else could come back and finish the job...um, yeah. A move is on to dig up Lewis and do an autopsy (since he slashed himself to death (!)), and that might be a wise decision. You may know that writer Ambrose Bierce wandered into revolutionary Mexico, and was never seen alive again, but did you know Boston Corbett, the man who killed John Wilkes Booth, also vanished in the American heartland? Or Black Bart, the famed stagecoach robber, also disappeared somewhere on the west coast? What about the strange two deaths of Lewis and Clark's guide, Sacajawea? Or next time those nice missionaries from the Mormon Church come to your door and interrupt your supper, ask them about the Mountain Meadows Massacre, where Church militia members and local Native Americans wiped out close to one hundred and fifty members of a wagon train, all because of lies and rumors spread about these people all over Utah? Was Jesse James really shot in the 1880's? Did Billy the Kid really die in Arizona? Or did both men live into their nineties, getting to know each other in their new lives, and reluctantly coming out in the 1930's and 1940's? Okay, according to DNA testing, that is Jesse in his grave, lending little help to Brushy Bill Roberts' claims that he was Billy the Kid. Living in North Dakota, I have always had an interest in Western history. George Custer left his house near present day Mandan and died in Montana. Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea spent winters up here, also near Mandan, on their great trek west and back. Teddy Roosevelt, after his mother and wife died on the same day, came to ranch near Medora, claiming he never would have had the courage to become president if it was not for his trials and tribulations in North Dakota. Walker's book is interesting, even to laypeople who just have a passing interest in American history. The twelve chapters are evenly paced and never dull. There is an immense bibliography at the back of the book. A kind foreword by J

Great for the history buff

This book is great for reading as you are driving out West. There are so many stories that saturate our folk history of the Old West, it is hard to know what is true and what is legend. This book systematically takes a look at what is true and what is bogus, and what is grey in the areas of many old legends from the Old West.My Dad made our family stop at every historical marker in the entire West, well at least that is what it felt like, but in doing this he instilled in me an interest in the West and how it was won, etc. This book gave me a fun, entertaining look at what is true and what is not true, I would recommend it for enjoyable reading.

strikes a fine balance, well researched

What makes _Legends & Lies_ so attractive is that, as the book's foreword points out, it avoids the two traditional pitfalls of Western historical writing. Typically what we get is either fanciful types whose mantra is 'I don't care if it's true or not, that's the way I want it to have been' or cold-hearted sorts who assume that if it's being repeated as a legend, it could not possibly be true. It's hard to find authors who truly love the West and respect both legend and fact, with no desire to tear down either, and Walker is that rare type.I like the breadth of the sources he considers. He blindly accepts no one, always putting effort into evaluating the source's credibility. The stories in the book (Sacajawea, Billy the Kid, and Custer to name a few) are ones known to anyone with a nodding acquaintance with Western history; in some cases I hadn't even realized there was a question as to what happened. He doesn't pander to political correctness, but he does recognize that it took two genders and a lot of colours to make the history of the West, and writes accordingly.Highly recommended (by a lifetime Westerner, if it matters) to anyone interested in Western history.

A masterful look at some great mysteries

This is an absolutely fascinating book. Walker brings massive research to his task, which is to look at all facets of some unsolved mysteries. For instance, did Davy Crockett survive the fight at the Alamo, at least for a brief while? Was Meriwether Lewis's death murder or suicide? And whatever became of Ambrose Bierce, the author who ventured into revolutionary Mexico and never returned?Walker gathers evidence from surprising sources, some of them overlooked by historians, and leaves it to his readers to draw conclusions.I heartily recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the history of the American West.