This is the first book on the battles in the Dardenelles that I've read. I found it to be complete and compelling. Michael Hickey covers the battles on land and at sea. He sets the stage incredibly well. He goes over the grand strategy that led to the battles and covers life in the trenches for Brits, Aussies & Kiwi's that fought the battle. In short, this is one of the best WWI books I've ever read.

I couldn't recommend it more.

Eleven interviews with Irish people all aged over 75: from an 82 year old in Tipperary who still lives where he was born to an ex-High Court Judge. All walks of life are caught candidly on the page. Eamon Kelly talks about becoming an actor with the Abbey Theatre; Michael-Joe Tarpey worked all his life for the forestry department, but still managed to be a musician, builder, naturalist, maker of musical instruments and custodian of local history and folklore; Bridget Dirrane, now 106 years old, was an active member of Cumann na nBan, the women's branch of the Irish independence movements in the 1920s. Against a background of world-shattering events at home and abroad, Margaret Hickey's subjects lived lives of extraordinary diversity and recount them with the poetry for which their country is renowned.

In this gargantuan volume, Michael Hickey presents a conspiracy theory in the aftermath of the death of Warren Earp (Wyatt's brother) that would perhaps do credit to a JFK assasination buff, but hardly qualifies as good history. To accept his conclusions, in my opinion, requires the reader to discard logic and common sense. There is a wealth of primary source material presented, and for that I will give the book two stars, but I do not advocate that anyone read this book in the expectation of learning the truth.

Recent years have seen the emergence of someone who has proved to be a relentless pursuer of the truth, an historical researcher of the first order: Michael M. Hickey. In the early 1990s, Hickey published no less than three books looking in great detail at the thirty-second "O.K. Corral" gunfight and then, in 2000, produced a volume that has really given Earp historians something to think about. "The Death of Warren Baxter Earp: A Closer Look" puts forward the proposition that, subsequent to the shooting down of Wyatt's youngest brother, Warren, in an Arizona saloon in the summer of 1900, Wyatt went on yet another "trail of vengeance" and killed all those whom he held responsible.

This enormous book of 759 pages is the most exhaustively researched book yet on the doings of Wyatt Earp - and in an area of his life about which little is known. Aided by a small army of field investigators from all over the States, Hickey has come up with an extraordinary story which, if true, puts a whole new light on the character of Wyatt Earp. This is a truly fascinating read and is the sort of history we Earp enthusiasts want, packed full of primary source material, expertly, and entertainingly, edited.

David Ashford, England

There have been numerous books published about Wyatt Earp and his brothers, "The Fighting Earps", over the years. A few of them are very good. Most of them are very bad; being either a repitition of the well-known facts or a distortion of them to present Earp in a particular way.

Michael M. Hickey's "The Death Of Warren Baxter Earp" is one of the very good books on this subject. Yes, of course, this massive (over seven hundred pages) work on the strange death of Wyatt's younger brother in 1900 can be labled a "conspiracy theory", but with such persuasive evidence it is an intriquing one. Hickey and his team of researchers have discovered an impressive amount of new information on a very familiar topic. All of this primary source material is reproduced on the page so that the reader can judge for themselves. Perhaps Wyatt Earp's vengance against his enemies did not end when he rode out of Arizona in 1882.

If you think you have read everything about Wyatt Earp then this fascinating and provocotive work about a little known part of his life will surprise you. Anyone with an interest in the Earp brothers, western lawmen and outlaws or justice (and the lack of it) in the old west will find this book hard to put down. It is highly recommended.

This was an interesting theory on the fight and it is plausible. It falls short because the author uses secondary sources, not original for his documentation. Also, he should have edited out the hyperbole in his descriptions of the participants. it would have been a better read, as well as better scholarship, if he had toned down his persons biases and let the reader form his own opinion. At the very least, he should have separated "facts" from his opinion.

Tombstone is one of my favorite movies

Mr. Hickey has written an interesting and information filled account of the most famous event in the history of the American West. While I don't agree with all his theories, I have to commend him on a thorough (some may say too thorough) take on the shootout behind the O.K. Corral. He gives you a shot by shot account of his take on what happened. Even if you don't agree with his conclusions, there is enough information to draw your own. The illustrations are excellent, also. All in all, a great read for anyone as fascinated as I am about this "disagreement" on the streets of Tombstone.

Michael Hickey's book has been promoted as being an in-depth analysis of the death of outlaw John Ringo which provides a final answer to who killed him. In my opinion, this massive book fails utterly to do this. The "analysis" seems little more than speculation and the evidence presented is absurdly thin, especially considering Hickey's reliance upon the discredited memoirs of Josephine Earp as "edited" by Glenn Boyer. Some of the maps and photographs are marginally interesting, but the authenticity of some of the latter must be questioned in light of the minimal information given their provenance. Students of Tombstone know that phony photographs have long bedeviled this topic.

The first half of Hickey's book is written in what can only be called a "novelistic" form, and it seems that this really should have been published as a novel rather than history. Many of the details given have no possible real source, and the rest are built upon very shaky ground.

I cannot recommend this book to anyone who expects to learn who (if anyone rather than Ringo himself) killed John Ringo.

A Treasure Chest of Earpiana

"John Ringo: The Final Hours" is yet another superb volume on Earpiana from Michael M. Hickey and a must for all true enthusiasts. Like his earlier book which delved into the mystery surrounding the killing of Warren Earp, this work centres on another controversial death, that of John Ringo. Also, like the other book, it is as big as the great outdoors, exhibiting a remarkable generosity in the vast amount of information it has to offer pertaining to the Earp saga. In fact, basically, here is yet another Hickey treasure chest of Earp lore for those of us who just cannot get enough of the doings of Wyatt and Co.

The book is well written and immensely readable. Hickey has the knack of keeping the reader enthralled, never quite sure along which trail he is going to be taken next. His writing style reminds me of the classic whodunit crime writers who always loved to surprise their readers. Such a style is particularly appropriate here for Mr. Hickey is, as he says, telling a "Tale of the Old West", and the first third of the book is a vivid dramatisation of the events immediately leading up to Ringo's assassination as the author sees it.

Michael Hickey has not been afraid to use contemporary hearsay and local legend as a starting point for his theories but he is always determined to find documentary evidence to back it up if at all possible. This is clearly proved by reading the final two thirds of the book which is described as the "Author's Working Notes and Documentation". Here the reader will revel in a veritable cornucopia of reference material: maps (including Wyatt's own map of the Ringo killing), documents of all kinds, letters, newspaper reports, excerpts from other authors' work and, of course, a myriad of photos, each with a detailed caption. Even here, in the "documentary" part of the book, Hickey keeps us guessing, keeps the tension going for the reader as, little by little, he feeds us more and more information about that time and that place.

For this book is far more than just the story of how one notorious outlaw came to meet his end. It is a detailed analysis, told with extraordinary insight, of how Wyatt Earp and his posse put an end to the Cowboy depredations in Cochise County with the backing of Wells Fargo, the Pinkertons, various national and local government agencies and even the U.S. and Mexican governments.

As an author, Michael M. Hickey combines an imaginative and intellectual grasp of the Arizona milieu of the late nineteenth century, the intellectual fervour of a detective determined to ferret out the truth, together with a vivid and most entertaining writing style. Long may he continue to give us these treasures of Earpiana.

The information, footnotes and research contained in Michael Hickey's book, "John Ringo - The Final Hours" are compelling evidence that Ringo did not commit suicide. It is indeed the "story behind the story."

Michael Hickey, a Colonel in the British Army, has written a revealing military, but not political, history of the Korean War.
From the start, the US government had larger aims than its stated one of 'defending South Korea from aggression'. As early as 28 June 1950, its planes bombed roads, railways, industries and troops in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. In September 1950, they bombed towns and cities in the People's Republic of China and in the Soviet Union.
Later on, President Eisenhower ordered the bombing of all the hydroelectric and irrigation dams in the DPRK ﷓ major war crimes. In spring 1953, he threatened to drop nuclear bombs, but the PRC and DPRK did not allow this to affect the peace talks. As in World War Two, the US leaders thought strategic bombing would make ground fighting unnecessary, but as usual, bombing was damaging not decisive.
The US and British governments had the gall to accuse the Communists of respecting no language but force, of having no respect for human life and of committing the most appalling atrocities. But these were all projections: whenever the Soviet Union and the PRC made diplomatic efforts to end the war, the western governments called this 'Communist trickery'. US and South Korean soldiers slaughtered prisoners of war - 177 in one POW camp alone in 1952. They committed the most dreadful mass murders: after they entered the North, South Korean forces massacred 150,000 people. By contrast the Chinese forces behaved humanely, for example, as Hickey writes, "the Chinese never knowingly fired on the Red Cross flag, nor did they interfere with the work of the medical orderlies and bearers."
As it became increasingly obvious that the US government could not win this war, it became more and more isolated. The American historian Burton Kaufman wrote that the US government finally "changed its stand on the armistice talks" and signed the Armistice in July 1953, only under the 'unrelenting' pressure of its allies to end the war, backed by the 'worldwide demand for compromise and peace in Korea'.

Given the tremendous social upheaval that took place as a consequence of the American involvement in Vietnam, the domino theory has fallen into disfavor. While most likely not true in the sixties, at the time of the Korean war it was probably true. Eastern Europe had fallen under the Soviet grip and a civil war was fought in Greece that could have ended in a communist victory. The Marshall plan gave Western Europe new hope , but elsewhere communism appeared to be an attractive alternative to capitalism. The forces of Mao Zedong had just emerged victorious in China and colonialism was on its deathbed.
When it appeared that the United States had no security interests in Korea and a quick armed victory by the forces of North Korea seemed certain, the attack came. Faced with the strength of the attack and the weakness of the South Korean forces, the choices were to accept a fait accompli on the Korean peninsula or commit huge amounts of American men and material. Fortunately for the world, the US and other western leaders chose to fight. However, the ultimate stalemate, which was in fact a victory, could easily have gone the other way. As is explained very well in this book, there were two points of crisis, the months right after the initial attack and the months after the massive Chinese entry into the war.
A US response limited to diplomatic outrage would have emboldened many other moves by the communist forces around the world and other countries would have no doubt fallen into the communist orbit. However, while they were fighting it, the soldiers in Korea generally had no such grandiose thoughts. Their cause was to stay alive and to fight for their units and their pride. While the author does spend some time on the greater geopolitical considerations, most of the book describes the life and struggle of the ground forces. The chronicle of the incredible endurance and tenacity of the men who fought it out is an excellent account of what determined men can do.
The author is a British veteran of the Korean campaign and that is no doubt the reason for the most glaring weakness of the book. While it is true that the British, Australian and other Commonwealth troops fought very well, they are portrayed as being the near saviors of many battles, never wavering in the face of enormous numbers of the enemy. Given that US losses were over 33,000 killed and over 100,000 wounded while the UK suffered slightly over 1,000 killed and nearly 3,000 wounded, it is clear who did the bulk of the fighting and dying.
Some commentators have been presumptuous enough to argue that Ronald Reagan won the cold war as a consequence of his building up the US military. Such statements are absurd and neglect the courage and resolve of the architects of the Marshall Plan and the military forces commited to Korea. For subsequent events have clearly indicated that communism is an ideology that is all or none. It will either dominate the world or essentially cease to exist. Had the North won a resounding victory, it may have gone the other way, a thesis made clear in this generally excellent book.

A good introductory text to the Korean War. This book will be especially interesting for American readers (like me,) as he focuses on the experience of the Commonwealth and other non-US/S. Korean forces. He also takes an even-handed look at the American military and government in the late forties/early fifties. The poor decision-making and ideology driven policy is well described. When it comes to the Commonwealth side, he is tends to wear rose colored glasses. To be fair he also praises US elite units as well.

I liked the way he blended international relations, battle description and domestic political action (in many countries) into a cohesive narrative. Some familiarity with Cold War history is helpful.

There is one,and only one reason to look at this book: the illustrations. They are really quite good. But the narrative is flawed in the extreme.
The author has a real flair for misinterpreting the actual evidence and then coming to completly insupportable conclusions about the way the famous fight took place. For example: he contends that as the fight began Doc Holliday drew his "nickle plated" revolver and began blasting away with it--even though he was holding Virgil's Greener shotgun under his coat. Even the author admits that it was odd for Holliday to draw a pistol and begin shooting while holding a much deadlier weapon under his coat, in what had to be a very awkward position. But he dismisses all reasoning, testimony and criticism to the contrary by simply saying "...but that's what he did." Apparently Hickey thinks Holliday did such an unnatural and counter-intuitive thing for no better reason than to make his theory of the gunfight come out right. There are several other examples of the same sort of invalid reasoning throughout.
In short, there is no real insight in this book; the evidence is misstated, the reasoning is strained--to say the least--and the conclusions are clearly erroneous to anyone who has devoted any time at all to the study of the event. But the pictures are nice.

This book is a strange mishmash of other authors beliefs about the Gunfight at the Ok Corral mixed in with some really corny drivelings from the author (My God, where did we get such men?).

It's quite apparent that the author Hickey merely rewrote the works of Ben Traywick and therefore the works of Glenn Boyer.

Nothing original here, no primary research-all sources appear secondary.

The author also has a rather arrogant way of presenting himself to his readers which merely makes him less likeable.

What happened on Oct. 26, 1881, when Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday walked down to confront the Ike Clanton, his brother and the McLaury brothers? It's something every 'Earp buff' would like to know. In this book, Hickey gives the 30 second blitz a shot-by-shot, who-stood-where, who-shot-who fresh new look. His conclusions are based on documents and written facts. In addition, he offers rare and recent unpublished photos and beautiful oil pantings which gives the reader an idea of what happened on Fremont Street those few and precious seconds.This is the first of three books in a trilogy series and no library should be without it!