The first edition of this book changed my life. Back in the sixties I was a teenage Wild West nerd, reading all I could about Western gunfighters. But I was frutstrated. No serious historian was writing about them so I had to settle for highly fictionalized versions. Then Joseph Rosa came along with this wonderful book and established the standard for what a well researched bio of a western gunfighter should be. It taught me the value of looking for the truth even if it's not as pleasent as I would like it to be. There's been few gunfighter bios since that can come close to this one for quaility characterization. The Hickock he creates is flesh and blood and very sympathetic as well as truly flawed. The second edition is even better. This book is a treasure. Thank you, Mr. Rosa.

This is a very interesting and fun book to read. Serious Wild Bill fans will enjoy all of the excellent pictures that help bring Wild Bills life alive. The limited text explains each picture well. People with just a passing interest in the Old West will enjoy this book for all of the original pictures. The pictures diffently speak a thousand words. The book also follows Wild Bills life in a step by step process so you get a good feel for the order of things that happened in his life. This is a must have book for all Wild Bill fans and any Western fan who enjoys period pictures.

I haven't read this particular edition, but I read an older edition, so it's possible the racist bias of the author has been discussed in the foreward, or perhaps even eliminated. But in the edition I read, the author seemed to applaud the cold blooded murder of blacks committed by a gunslinger who would today be considered a serial killer. In spite of the author's unsavory sympathy with the racist motives of the murders, I think it's wonderful that he recorded the racism of the old west. Popular culture has pretty much overlooked the presence of black folks in the old west and the rabid racism they had to live with. In this book innocent black men are murdered by a crazed killer who I had never heard of before (his name escapes me at the moment). He killed more people than any other western outlaw, according to the author, mainly because his murder of black people was condoned and even applauded by the white populace. These weren't gunfights in the standard sense, but cold blooded assasinations. The author neglects to villify this killer with the same passion he villifies other gunfighters in the book, but if you can overlook the distaste his attitude leaves in your mouth, the book can be very informative about one of the dark secrets of the old west.

A look at the old west is best done in Triggernometry. This book tells the real (if not short) stories about the well known gunfighters. It gives no glamor to what they did, just the facts. If you are a fan of Westerns or one who studies the old west, this book is a must.

After reading several books on the Old West outlaws, I was curious to the content of their footnotes, and bibliographies, using this book. Which is the reason I bought and read it.

This is a great western book. Copyrighted 1934.
This not only has short histories on several gunfighters, but there is also a nice section on how to perform the flashy moves with the six-shooter. If you've tried these spins, twirls and shifts, you've no doubt found them difficult to perform. Yet John Wesley Hardin was a master at it, and it was Hardin, who taught Ringo the tricks. ( Hardin also told the guards, to get that psychopath--Ringo---out my cell. They shared the same cell in prison)

I would consider this a mandatory book for a Old West gunfighters library. You have the primary sources for many of the other later books.

Very nice displays of guns and accoutrements, but the text suffers. Accounts are often presented in isolation, and the book seems to only follow a loose chronological order. Probably worth the photos, but the book is far from resembling any kind of scholarly undertaking.

It is true that should you buy this book, you will be referring to it again and again for its wonderful pictures of 19th century American firearms which it presents in beautiful plates. All the pictures come from the Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Los Angeles (for Colt firearms) or the Cody Firearms Museum in Wyoming (for all others).

You will not be referring to its text by Joseph Rosa, the author most famous for his biography of Wild Bill Hickok. His writing style is surprisingly and infuriatingly cumbersome. He is difficult to read, and he seems incapable of consistently putting together sentences that flow. I found myself saying over and over, "this would have been a lot clearer if he had put a comma here, or taken this one out, or broken this long sentence into two, or re-phrased this differently." One has to re-read his paragraphs two or three times very often to follow his narrative. His Hickok biography has the same problem.

One additional problem is that this is really two separate books. One is Rosa's narrative, and the other is the firearms pictures. The index deals with the narrative only. The excellent firearms pictures are not indexed, a handicap when one uses this book as a reference.

Although there may be minor flubs in the narrative this is still a great book. For firearms afficionados or Cowboy Shooters like myself the really stocked displays of firearms photos are a great way to study the evolution of 19th century firearms as well as see the wide variations as well as pieces owned by notably figures. The text is a nice introduction to the era of the gunfighter. It's a book that you'll pick up over and over to look at and enjoy.

About the only reason I finished this book was to learn more of the fascinating life Hickok led. I had given up on finishing it up twice. It was really hard to follow as Jospeh G Rosa would jump around in time to much. You'd would lose of when things happened and what order they happened in. The sense of time and place was missing. It was more organized in terms of themes rather then a straight forward chronological account of Wild Bill's life. Nothing wrong with this if your already familiar with Wild Bill's life, but very confusing to somebody that doesn't know anything about it.

Having only legend and folklore to base my opinion on, I have always had one thought concerning Wild Bill. After reading this book I have opened my mind to new ideas with regards to him. The author's use of eyewitness accounts of what his life and times really were like, I found to be credible. After finishing this book I now have a new respect for Mr. Hickok and what he stood for.

Makes this an interesting read. However, I would recommend reading Rosas THEY CALLED HIM WILD BILL before undertaking this biography. Much of the prior information in Hickoks life is not dealt with in great detail here. But the new information is well worth it. Rosa is a meticulous researcher who writes with great passion on this subject.