Earp and Holliday - Warts and All!

Gardner, Mark Lee.  Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in 

        Tombstone.  New York: Dutton, 2025.  ISBN: 9780593471890

 

 

How well do you know the tale of the Shoot-out at the OK Corral?  How many versions of this tale have you read?  Well, get ready for another ride in the Earp vs Cowboys saga with Mark Gardner's Brothers of the Gun!  But do not let the subtitle fool you, this books is about so much more than the shootout in Tombstone!

 

Mark Gardner lays the groundwork for the tale by digging up all the background on Wyatt Earp and his family along with similar attention to detail on Doc Holliday.  The reader travels with the pair as they move west from Illinois and Georgia to Kansas and then on to New Mexico, Arizona, and California with stints in Colorado.  And the reader learns about their employment or lack thereof along with their myriad family relationships.  But Gardner's major focus is on the friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and the impact that friendship had on those around the pair whether that be Big Nose Kate, the other Earp brothers, or the Cowboys gang of thieves.  

 

Mark Gardner's Brothers of the Gun provides a look into the Old West through the lens of the Earp - Holiday partnership.  The reader gets to time travel to the past and find not a black and white world of heroes and villains, but rather a world of gray where actions and men could be good or bad depending on one's point of view.  If you are interested in visiting, do pick up a copy of Brothers of the Gun and enjoy!