First published 2025
Bryan Burrough examines the American West's most dangerous period, when murder rates peaked across a vast frontier. The author traces how Texas became the epicenter of violence, shaped by conflicts with Mexico and the Comanche, the introduction of Colt revolvers through the Texas Rangers, and the transformation of Southern dueling culture. After the Civil War's end, the cattle boom spread this trigger-happy culture throughout the West. Burrough separates myth from reality in the stories of Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid. He shows how newspapermen turned real violence into popular entertainment, creating legends that persist today. The book follows this era from its Texas origins through its final chapter, when Butch and Sundance fled to South America as railroads and settlers closed the frontier. Burrough argues that understanding this period reveals something crucial about America itself.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, crime, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: America, South America, Texas
Period: 19th Century, Civil War, Frontier Era
448 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press