Product Description

Outlaw, hoodlum and killer, and slain at the age of 21 by Pat Garrett - Billy the Kid has become one of the icons of America's Wild West. This account tells the story of his brief and bloody life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207802 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

An extremely informative read.
Being a huge fan of Billy the Kid, I recently purchased this book and I can truly say it is one of the most interesting and informative reads on this interesting and historical event, that I have come across. The book is packed full of information, key dates and events, photographs and written statements of people who were witnesses during the life of the Kid, including some of the people who rode with him. Robert Utley also deals with alot of background information about Lincoln County, its politics, its economy, and people who played a part in billy's life, which builds an amazing picture of life in the late 1800's. This book is an historical biography about one of the most famous outlaws in the world and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone. Nice one Mr Utley!

Detailed, yet accessable
I used this text when researching a college project on the nature of the 'outlaw' and found it to be the most user-friendly yet infomrative of all the information available on the Kid. It is valuable as both an entry point to accademic work on the subject (it references most of the authors you should be reading if studying the Lincoln County war and the Kid, mythologically and factually, and as enjoyable bed-time reading. Highly reconmended.

A satisfying and informative read
Away from all the folklore and hype about Billy the Kid, this was an extremely informative read. I understand a lot better the ways of the "wild west" as it was in those days, so much so that I can't wait to go to New Mexico to visit those places familiar to Billy. He appears to be not so much the "baddy" as he has been made out to be.This was a book which I thoroughly enjoyed especially as the "western genre" seems to be out of fashion. Strictly his death seems to have been untimely and one wonders what the story might have been had Billy settled down on a ranch and tended cattle as the author advises he would have most like to have done. If there is a criticism it is that there were many names involved in the various gangs mentioned and I did sometimes find it difficult to keep track of who was who. This, however, is probably more symptomatic of the reader's lack of concentration.