Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal

As I researched my mother's (Jessie I Houston) ancestors "The Houston's" I confirmed one of my ancestors is Louisa A. Houston-Earp the wife of Morgan Earp one of the younger brothers of Wyatt Earp. Louisa is my 3rd cousin. I have a picture of Louisa at a younger age and my mother taken at the same age. They favor each other. This book by Stuart N. Lake inspired a movie called "Wyatt Earp's Vendetta" starring Val Kilmer as 27 year old Wyatt Earp. "Val Kilmer" also portrayed "John 'Doc' Henry Holliday" with Kirt Russell as Wyatt Earp in a movie called "TOMBSTONE" based on another book by Stuart N. Lake called "The OK Corral An Inquest" an accurate book about the Gunfight Between the Cowboys and the Earp's in Tombstone Arizona.

A tremendous amount of research went into this book and it shows. Very well done.

I have always been facinated with the old west and its heroes. This book by Stuart Lake was very well written and exceptionally entertaining. I am in the middle of reading it for the second time. Especially interesting are the quotes from Wyatt Earp himself. The legends own words bring a sense of realism and authenticity to the writers story. I would recomend this book to anyone and hope the publisher puts it back in print.

This is a good beginning book on the life of Wyatt Earp. The author later admitted that Wyatt Earp did not tell him all the stories in the book. In fact, Earp was pretty silent about his life story. The Monmouth portion of the book omitted these facts: Earp lived in Monmouth, his birthplace, three different times-- 1848-50, 1856-59, and 1868-1869-- until the age of twenty-one. His grandfather was a justice of the peace in Monmouth, and his father was a constable. His family lived in town, and bought properties during the first two time periods. Wyatt was not married in Illinois, but in Missouri, by his father, then a justice of the peace. This book rivets your attention and makes you proud of Wyatt Earp, an Old West lawman, born into a family preserving the peace.

It is hard finding books that tell the stories of the old west (especially of Wyatt and gang) that are free of opinion and myths. But Stuart N. Lake does just this in his wonderful book. A must for complete information on the exciting life of this Tombstone legend. I've read many books on this subject and have even been to Tombstone and Mr. Lake is an accurate author.

Stuart Lake describes Wyatt Earp as a perfect man with no faults, a real hero, a real angel. Though I live in Sweden, far away from Wyatt's hunting grounds, I have an opinion, and Ido not believe anyone could be that perfect. I think we all know that Stuart Lake did not stick to the truth all the time, that he made Wyatt better than he ever was. But, to be honest, so what? We want Wyatt Earp to be the kind of person Stuart Lakes says he was, don't we? We want him to be the best af all the county sheriffs and all the US marshalls, don't we? Read the book! It's entertaining and very well written. Sincerely Magnus Ekstrand, Sweden