BANDIT HEAVEN - Tom Clavin


 I am fascinated by the American West. I'm not sure when this started - quite possibly it began with the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie of 1968, followed by my reading of The Wild Bunch by James D. Horan in the mid-1970's. But it's not just the history that attracts me, but the landscape as well. Add to this my appreciation for non-fiction literature, and you have a book that seems tailor made for me in Bandit Heaven by Tom Clavin.

I recognized Clavin's name from other books I've read, including the well-researched Tombstone. Bandit Heaven picks up on the same theme (the rugged Old West) but focuses on the lawlessness of the era. Rather than making this yet another book about Butch Cassidy and/or the Sundance Kid, Clavin cleverly provides us a look at a larger circle of (in)famous, as well as a few lesser-known (whoever heard of Isom Dart?), criminals who took advantage of the slow-moving progress in the West.

Butch and Sundance do get a lot of attention here, but so does Kid Curry, George Currie, Tom Horn, and a few others. Clavin brings them together not through their criminal activities, but through place ... outlaws needed a space to hide out and wait for the posses to lose their interest in the search.

The last part of the subtitle of the book, "The Final Chapter of the Wild West," brings about something that hadn't really occurred to me before reading this book. While we hear and read a fair amount about Butch and Sundance, it's only partly because of their exploits and the myths surrounding them. They were also among the last of the Wild West outlaws as technology and better organized lawmen spread west.

Clavin's research is impeccable. The bibliography has provided me with a number of books to put on my 'to read' list. Clavin acknowledges a lot of research help from various libraries and historical societies.

Something I really like about Clavin's approach to history is that he manages to pass along a lot of information while making it exciting, but manages to do so without putting words into the mouths of the people he's writing about.  So many 'history' books these days include dialog based solely on what the author 'presumes' the subjects would say, as though it were factual. These books can also be exciting, but I tend to close the covers thinking, "Would they really have said that?"

Looking for a good book? Tom Clavin provides good historical perspective and character analysis of well-known, and lesser-known Old West outlaws in Bandit Heaven.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Bandit Heaven

author: Tom Clavin

publisher: St. Martins Press

ISBN: 9781250282408

hardcover, 304 pages

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