The Calamity Papers: Western Myths and Cold Cases

By Dale L. Walker

Book Overview

Award-winning historian Dale L. Walker uncovers the truth about some of the American West's most famous and infamous figures. He delves deep into some of the most enduring myths and legends of the Old West to unveil the real stories beneath them, including:

*Who was the first American to make a transcontinental journey across the Western United States to the Pacific Ocean? Lewis and Clark or a Yazoo Indian who preceded them by more than sixty years
*What was the true relationship between Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane? And who was the woman who claimed to have proof she was their daughter?

Asking these and many more questions, The Calamity Papers sheds some necessary light on our nation's history by taking a closer look at some of its heroes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765308320
• ISBN13: 9780765308320
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.9" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Piercing to the heart of some mysteries

Dale L. Walker probes a number of western mysteries in this highly readable and absorbing collection. Most of these matters have never been resolved and continue to fascinate those who enjoy the American West and its unique history. One of the joys of this book is that we come away from it with new clues, new possibilities. There are examinations of Meriwether Lewis's death and the question of murder or suicide; why Sam Houston's marriage apparently blew apart on his wedding night; the question of whether Montana's acting territorial governor Thomas Francis Meagher fell off a riverboat or was murdered; the enduring mystery of the murder of New Mexico attorney Albert Fountain and his son, and the unusual death of Pat Garrett, the man who shot Billy the Kid. There is also an examination of Calamity Jane and her alleged relationship to Wild Bill Hickok, and the strange case of the woman who claimed to be her daughter, and not least, the questions of whether Jack London's death was suicide or the result of an overdose of morphine and whether his great California home was torched by an arsonist. Walker is the best historical researcher in the business, and probes all these cases with a bulldog determination, which takes him into realms scarcely touched by other researchers. Add to that his judicious and careful construction of events, his avoidance of inserting his own intuitions into the narrative, and his remarkable gifts of narrative prose, and you have here a book of uncommon power and depth, written by a master detective and historian. This is absorbing literature, and strongly recommended.