Mark L. Gardner

What do you know about Pat Garrett?

Probably not much more than that he killed Billy the Kid. (Some would even argue that, but Gardner is decidedly not in that camp.) Billy is one of the key foundations of New Mexico tourism. He's the subject of novels, songs, movies, and a ballet. Every jail break of the Kid's is commemorated with a plaque, his grave well maintained. Garrett's grave isn't. People do DNA tests more than 100 years after the event to prove the Kid didn't die in 1881. No one show more much remembers Garrett's murder, a far more mysterious and interesting death than the Kid's. The Kid had imposters. Garrett never did.

Part of that may have been the name. If William Bonney aka William Antrim aka the Kid aka Henry McCarty hadn't been rebranded as Billy the Kid seven months before his death, both men would have ended up as obscure historical figures. The Kid was already famous but, when Garrett instinctively shot him in that dark room, he was dragged into history's spotlight with Billy.

Frankly, I almost didn't read this book. The Kid has never been that interesting to me. However, I thought there might be some coverage of the Lincoln County War. There is - but only in relation to Billy's role. The subtitle, vaguely hinting at a detailed look of Garrett's pursuits of Billy, isn't all that tempting . And, fortunately, it isn't all that appropriate either. This is, in fact, the first dual biography of both men.

Gardner concisely, clearly, with just a dash of folksy prose and wry humor, presents both lives. Both men killed at early ages - Garrett before he was ever a lawman. Both were attractive to women. And while Billy attended Garrett's second wedding, the men were not friends - or enemies - before Garrett went after the Kid in an official capacity. And both were, of course, cool under fire.

With a lithe frame better suited to climbing up chimneys than the rigors of punching cows, the Kid comes across as neither a psychopathic killer nor an innocent driven to outlawry by the Lincoln County War. But, as Gardner argues, he developed an increasingly casual attitude toward dealing out violence as time went on. But he was generous - he stopped to pay for some rope after riding out of town in the wake of a double murder he committed breaking out of the Lincoln County jail.

But it was Garrett I found more fascinating, especially his life as a man on the make in the 26 years between shooting the Kid and his own violent death. Besides manhunting, he tried real estate, horse breeding, collecting custom dues, orchard development, and ranching. He was a gambler at heart whether with cards or business speculation. Nothing seemed to work very well though. The bills piled up. The debt collectors, oddly, didn't - perhaps intimidated by his potential for violence and his law license. He loved his wife and eight children but spent a great deal of time away from them often with a woman only known as Mrs. Brown.

And just as fascinating as Garrett and the Kid are the other lives woven with theirs in a state where theft and killing were a path to high office. New Mexico at this time was a place where complex, shifting alliances waged literal and figurative war on each other with money, lawyers, and often bullets. Men went from assassin to lawmen and back, where the military was corrupted (the Posse Comitatus Act forbidding military enforcement of civilian law comes out of the Lincoln County War), where a governor turned bestselling author reneged on a promised pardon, where an attorney who may have hired out murders ends up as Secretary of Interior, and where a man who knew Billy as a boy ends up ghost writing Garrett's autobiography.

In short, even if you don't have any interest in the Kid, Gardner tells a good, fascinating story of a place and its people and the almost forgotten Garrett. If you are interested in the Kid, Gardner lays his life out fairly and with interest. show less

This was a very pleasant surprise. This was thought to be a history book of sorts, but it would not be unexpected if it had been a breezy and rather superficial repeat of well know Americana. Most people have seen at least some rendering of Jesse James as a notorious outlaw, but this is indeed a true history book, jammed packed with details, not at all of which are well known, if known at all. If this had been a motion picture, instead of a book, the author might well be up for an Academy show more Award in film editing, for he keeps the pace following throughout. I don't recall once finding the narrative lagging. And the book covers much more than just the infamous Northfield Raid. Details are offered for the much earlier "bad men" that sprang from the Civil War conflicts and groups such as Quantrill's Raiders, and flows all the way to the early part of the twentieth century. The level and amount of information offered is extraordinary. At first, I found myself comparing it to Hampton Sides' Hellhound on His Trail, which covered James Earl Ray, and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968. The narrative was presented in a similar way, but why was this book so much more thorough and confident in its facts? It wouldn't seem to be the fault of Hampton Sides. Then, I found myself comparing it, not just to the 1960s, but to today's news coverage, especially in light of the recent American presidential election. The reader will find a very different world back then for how news was collected, disseminated, and -- over all else -- controlled. Read this book and imagine how much differently American's would have been informed of its presidential candidates. This is not just good history of the "Wild West", but a reflection on our society's changes for anyone willing to look. show less

Until I read this book I had only read mythological accounts of Billy the Kid, which usually contain nothing of Pat Garrett’s life. Books and movies have mythologized Bill they Kid as a Robin Hood type, happy go lucky outlaw and Pat Garrett is demonized as a cowardly man who shot him down in the dark.

This book dispels those myths and gives a fuller account of the lives of both these men in a well written and documented dual biography.

The book walks through the early life of both men, with show more William Bonney’s (Billy the Kid) being much more mysterious and unclear. He documents the Kid’s rambling nature and his involvement in the Lincoln’s County wars in New Mexico, where he comes off looking not quite as narcissistic and craven as one would think. It is clear that Bonney had little few skills except with his gun, which is the only way he could really make a living. His unbelievable, daring, and bloody escapes are even more dramatic than the movies that portray them. The author does an outstanding job at using what little documentary evidence exists to bring to life, real life, Billy the Kid.

But the book also has done a great service to the ill fated Pat Garrett. I knew absolutely nothing about Garrett before reading this book and the author provides a very vivid, full biography of this misunderstood Western lawman. Far from the cowardly person often portrayed in the movies, he was a man of honor, kept his word (mostly), and was equally the epitome of the fearless, tough lawman as the more famous and renowned Wyatt Earp. He did fall on hard times and was a rather bad business man, which ultimately lead to his downfall and possibly murder. The author does a splendid job of exploring his life and the mysterious events surrounding his death.

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the history of the American West that is not based on myth. show less

This is a nonfiction account of Theodore Roosevelt, focusing mainly on his leadership of the Rough Riders regiment during the Spanish American War in 1898. It also discusses the other members of the Rough Riders, and how Roosevelt's part in the war spiked his political climb, eventually leading to his presidency.

Mark Lee Gardner shows in this book his excruciating attention to detail and skillful delivery of a well-written work. You do not need to be a fan of Roosevelt to appreciate this show more book. The book does shed a favorable light on the man, and certain aspects of the book are rather mainstream, but in general the author is simply piecing together a story by putting together as many first-hand accounts as possible, and in this he does a splendid job. Rather than boring the reading with heaps of names, places and dates, he weaves it all into an intriguing (and very non-boring) tale. Four stars, or perhaps four and a half. show less