Ann Kirschner

This is less a biography about Josephine Earp and more about the attempt to white wash the history of the old west and the part the Earps played in it. Josephine was constantly concerned about her own past and kept it buried as well.
DeBlank does a good job describing all the attempts to write a biography of Wyatt Earp by various authors as well as making television shows and movies and the role Josephine played in keeping secrets.

What makes this book remarkable is that the author's mother, Sala, was able to save all the letters from friends and family that she received throughout her five year ordeal in seven different labor camps. These letters, along with Sala's short diary, form the basis of the book and allow the reader to hear directly from the participants themselves at the time--rather than a retelling or telling many years later. The author fills in the context skillfully so that one doesn't feel jolted from show more letter to description. Altogether I was reminded of The Diary of Anne Frank. The voices of Sala and her sisters and friends reach out to us from the past in a way that is compelling, authentic, and innocent in the face of the horrors that descend upon them. show less

There were three women he had considered himself married to before her, but Josephine Marcus Earp was Wyatt Earp’s common-law wife for fifty years. She was around for the famous shoot out at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, she panned for gold by his side in the wilds of Alaska, and she tried to mold his image to her liking in the early days of Hollywood while leaving herself as far out of the story as possible.

Josephine was Jewish, but though she returned to her roots and buried show more Wyatt in a Jewish graveyard when he died, religion wasn’t a big part of her life during the years she and Wyatt were together. Her family had moved from Poland to New York City and then San Francisco while she was still young, but the limitations of city society didn’t offer Josephine the life she wanted. She left for Tombstone as a teenager seeking adventure, and she and Wyatt were living as husband and wife to other people when they met. The fact that Wyatt deserted a woman who later died as a prostitute to be with her was embarrassing to Josephine, and it was part of the reason she didn’t want the particulars of her past tainting the legend of the man she loved.

Since Josephine actively tried to suppress her own part in Wyatt’s life, author Ann Kirschner had a challenging job researching this book, but she has succeeded in making Lady at the O.K. Corral fascinating as both a biography of a spirited woman and a history of the rapidly changing American West. Though Josephine only wanted one side of his story told, Wyatt Earp was a lot more complicated than the brave, courageous and bold frontier man who cleaned up the West in the 1950’s TV show. It’s true Wyatt was briefly a lawman but he also spent time in jail himself, and he earned his living as a respected saloon owner, a prospector, a gambler and a pimp while he and Josephine moved from boomtown to boomtown, seeking their fortunes. show less

Opening Sentence: ‘…My mother had a secret…’

Sala is sixteen when she offers to take her older, and frailer, sisters place at a Nazi labour campfor a six week job to earn some money to help her family out. What no-one knew is that it was a slave labour camp, and that Sala would spend the next five years working in horrendous conditions and that it was a ruse and no wages ever were paid. The author, Anne Kirschner, does not reveal to any great extent, what those conditions are, instead show more she leaves it up to the imagination of the reader to fill in the more horrific details, of which we are all well aware. Sala lost nearly all of her family, only her and her two sisters survived.

Sala kept the secrets of her wartime experiences from her children for nearly 50 years. Only when she feared she might not recover from major surgery did she reveal to the existence of hundreds of letters, postcards and photo’s that she had received during her years in Nazi slave labor camps – amazingly, mailed right into the camps. These letters were her gift to her daughter Ann – the author of this book. It is from these mementos, Sala’s memories and a lot of research and investigation that Ann was able to write this book.

While Sala lost her family, many friends and, at times, hope, she always seem to find someone to hold her up and protect her. As the letters from family and friends stopped one by one she turned to a network of support from new friends within the camps.

This is more than a glimpse into a horrible stain on human history – this is a story of adventure, suspense, romance, danger, tragedy and bravery – this story is true. show less