Audiobook9 hours
Billy the Kid: The Endless Ride
Written by Michael Wallis
Narrated by Todd McLaren
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
From the bestselling author of Route 66 comes this long-awaited biography of one of America's most legendary folk heroes.
Award-winning historian Michael Wallis has spent several years re-creating the rich, anecdotal saga of Billy the Kid (1859-1881), a deeply mythologized young man who became a legend in his own time and yet remains an enigma to this day. With the Gilded Age in full swing and the Industrial Revolution reshaping the American landscape, "the Kid," who was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the New Mexico Territory at the age of twenty-one, became a new breed of celebrity outlaw. He arose amid the mystery and myth of the swiftly vanishing frontier and, sensationalized beyond recognition by the tabloids and dime-store romances of the day, emerged as one of the most enduring icons of the American West-not to mention one of Hollywood's most misrepresented characters.
This new biography separates myth from reality and presents an unforgettable portrait of this brief and violent life.
Award-winning historian Michael Wallis has spent several years re-creating the rich, anecdotal saga of Billy the Kid (1859-1881), a deeply mythologized young man who became a legend in his own time and yet remains an enigma to this day. With the Gilded Age in full swing and the Industrial Revolution reshaping the American landscape, "the Kid," who was gunned down by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the New Mexico Territory at the age of twenty-one, became a new breed of celebrity outlaw. He arose amid the mystery and myth of the swiftly vanishing frontier and, sensationalized beyond recognition by the tabloids and dime-store romances of the day, emerged as one of the most enduring icons of the American West-not to mention one of Hollywood's most misrepresented characters.
This new biography separates myth from reality and presents an unforgettable portrait of this brief and violent life.
Author
Michael Wallis
Michael Wallis is an award-winning historian of the Old West and author of Route 66: The Mother Road and several other books, and the co-author of Mankiller: A Chief and Her People. He lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Related to Billy the Kid
Related audiobooks
Bonnie and Clyde: The Lives Behind the Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Story Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gotti's Boys: The Mafia Crew That Killed For John Gotti Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Prez Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History of Billy the Kid Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hell's Angel: The Life and Times of Sonny Barger and the Hell's Angels Motorcycle Club Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Darkest Hour - John Alite: Former Mafia Enforcer for John Gotti and the Gambino Crime Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mountain Man: John Colter, the Lewis & Clark Expedition, and the Call of the American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5True Crime Philadelphia: From America's First Bank Robbery to the Real-Life Killers Who Inspired Boardwalk Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Earth Is All That Lasts: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Bourbon King: The Life and Crimes of George Remus, Prohibition's Evil Genius Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gangster Squad: Covert Cops, the Mob, and the Battle for Los Angeles Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Hawk Down Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wicked Women: Notorious, Mischievous, and Wayward Ladies from the Old West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Gangster, John Dillinger: Public Enemy #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Last Good Heist: The Inside Story of the Biggest Single Payday in the Criminal History of the Northeast Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood and Honor: Inside the Scarfo Mob - The Mafia's Most Violent Family Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whitey Bulger: America's Most Wanted Gangster and the Manhunt That Brought Him to Justice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Top Hoodlum: Frank Costello, Prime Minister of the Mafia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The First Family: Terror, Extortion, Revenge, Murder, and the Birth of the American Mafia Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaspipe: Confessions of a Mafia Boss Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Outlaws of the Wild West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Murder For You
While Idaho Slept: The Hunt for Answers in the Murders of Four College Students Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mindhunter: Inside the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Cruel: The Chilling True Story of America's Most Sadistic Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blood on Their Hands: Murder, Corruption, and the Fall of the Murdaugh Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Serial Killer Files: The Who, What, Where, How, and Why of the World's Most Terrifying Murderers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghosts That Haunt Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stranger Beside Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Obsession: The FBI's Legendary Profiler Probes the Psyches of Killers, Rapists, and Stalkers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Deliberate Cruelty: Truman Capote, the Millionaire's Wife, and the Murder of the Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House of Gucci: A True Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whoever Fights Monsters: My Twenty Years Tracking Serial Killers for the FBI Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If You Really Loved Me Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Murderer Next Door: Why the Mind Is Designed to Kill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In the Name of the Children: An FBI Agent's Relentless Pursuit of the Nation's Worst Predators Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Little Shoes: The Sensational Depression-Era Murders That Became My Family's Secret Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trigger: Narratives of the American Shooter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Angel Makers: Arsenic, a Midwife, and Modern History’s Most Astonishing Murder Ring Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Death's Acre: Inside the Legendary Forensics Lab--The Body Farm--Where the Dead Do Tell Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5After Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doomsday Mother: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Killing in Amish Country: Sex, Betrayal, and a Cold-blooded Murder Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Billy the Kid
Rating: 3.7916666354166666 out of 5 stars
4/5
48 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Not exactly a page turner, but interesting enough. Best parts of this book were the extensive bibliography, the detailed endnotes, and the collection of historic photos.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wallis worked very hard to dispel myths surrounding the Kid. So much of his early life is unverifiable, sources are called into question. What was interesting was that Wallis very casually mentions near the end of the book that Paulita Maxwell may have been pregnant with Billy's child, which is why he stuck around Old Fort Sumner instead of skinning out for Old Mexico like any smart person would have done after he escaped from prison. No one seems to know for sure, though, I went online and the birthdate given for her first daughter was 1884, so clearly not his, since he died in 1881. Ah, history's mysteries.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The first problem with writing a book about Billy the Kid is that most of what is known about Billy is myth. The second problem is that what *is* known about Billy (myth included) can barely fill a hundred pages, much less close to 300. In the beginning the author acknowledges that facts about Billy are sparse and so he spends most of the book presenting many of the possibilities surrounding Billy's life in an effort to debunk myths about the man. His father could have been this guy, or that guy. His mother could have come from New York or Ireland. The early chapters are slowed by the presentation of all the "possibilities" concerning Billy's early life. And under the guise of 'context', the book presents a lot of inconsequential information about the time of Billy the kid, spending pages on topics such as the New York gang wars and P.T. Barnum's role in romanticizing the Wild West. Combined, these two factors make for a slow read.The book helped me realize that perhaps what I love about the Billy the Kid story is that it is all a myth and the facts (or possibilities) aren't terribly interesting. Since most of Billy's story is myth anyway, I'd recommend skipping the history books and tracking down a copy of Elizabeth Fackler's novel, Billy the Kid: the Legend of El Chivato.