Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal

by Stuart N. Lake, Doug Grad (Editor), Loren D. Estleman (Foreword by)

An authorized biography of the legendary marshal describes the Old West exploits and law enforcement career of Wyatt Earp, his brothers Morgan and Virgil, and his sidekick, Doc Holliday. Reprint. Movie tie-in.

Genres: History, Biography, Westerns, Nonfiction, American History, Classics

416 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1931

Reviews

[Howard · Rating 1 out of 5]

As Western legends go, Wyatt Earp was a latecomer. The general public did not become aware of him until 1931 when Stuart Lake published Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal. It became a best seller and it established the O.K. Corral in the public consciousness and created the image of Earp as an incorruptible paragon of saintly morality who fought for truth, justice, and the American way (No, wait, that was Superman. No matter. Lake’s Earp successfully fought the same battles, but without the benefit of super powers.) What Lake began, Hollywood finished. Four movies were based on the novel as well as a popular TV series that ran from 1955 to 1961. Lake served as screenwriter and/or adviser on all four movies and the TV series and thus profited financially from his book right up until his death in 1964.

Lake wrote in the foreword of the book that “Wyatt Earp was a man of action. He was born, reared, and lived in an environment which held words and theories of small account, in which sheer survival often, and eminence invariably, might be achieved through deeds alone.”

Furthermore, “[t]he man won from contemporaries who were his most competent judges – from intimates, from acquaintances, and from enemies alike – frontier-wide recognition as the most proficient peace officer, the greatest gunfighting marshal the Old West knew.”

Okay, but if that recognition was frontier-wide why was Earp virtually unknown in 1931? The answer is that not only was he not known frontier-wide during his days as a peace officer and, with the exception of some old-timers in the southwest, very few people had even heard of him fifty years after the showdown at Tombstone’s O.K. Corral in 1881. It was Lake’s book that made him famous – and legendary – and mythical. As with all mythical legends some of what Lake wrote was based on fact, but much of it fell into the category of tall tale.

However, what made it believable to so many readers for so long is the fact that Lake had the co-operation of Earp in writing the book. Not only was Lake able to interview Earp on several occasions and quotes him verbatim in long passages that go on sometimes for pages, but he also claimed that “[s]cores of eyewitnesses to the scenes portrayed have been interviewed to verify circumstantial details; thousands of miles have been traveled to unearth substantiating material; hundreds of time-worn documents and files of frontier newspapers have been examined for pertinent content; literally thousands of letters have been exchanged with competent old-timers in developing this work.”

Then why in light of all that conscientious research described above is the book today shelved in the fiction section? The answer is because that is where it belongs.

My reprint copy of the book, published in 1994, has this blurb on the front cover: “The only authorized biography of the legendary man who inspired two of the year’s biggest movie events!” That would be Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell, and Wyatt Earp, starring Kevin Costner. Both films are fictional of course, but even at that they are more historically accurate than Lake’s authorized “biography.”

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a popular novelization of the Wyatt Earp story. It’s fast-paced, flashy and full of action. Some of it may even be accurate. Who knows!? As I remember, it was an enjoyable read. If you are looking for something less pretentious than Kevin Costner’s portrayal, and more sober than the vaudevillian film Tombstone, you might enjoy this novel.

Incidentally, as film adaptations go, I recommend John Ford’s masterful My Darling Clementine. In this case, the filmmaker wisely decided history wasn’t compelling enough, and produced a heavily fictionalized version that made no serious attempt at accuracy. The result was a great movie. If you want to turn Wyatt Earp into a western version of the Greek hero, that’s what you have to do: fictionalize.

[K VALIS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally written back in the 1930's when the author spoke to Earp's surviving friends, relatives and acquaintances, this is kind of true action-adventure biography that just couldn't be written now.
It is pointless to speculate about how accurate or exaggerated the stories and anecdotes presented here are. What is obvious is that the character at the center of them had acquired an almost mythical status within his own lifetime - as the hardest man in a very, very hard place.
My dad bought this edition when it was published in the '50's and I know it made a huge impression on him - I remember him telling me some of the stories twenty years later when the western had become unfashionable. I've read it several times since, and lent it to friends, and I'll be passing it on to my son when he's older.
None of the film versions of Earp's life are a patch on this - strangely, I think the only film to come close to the spirit of it is 'The Big Country' which makes no reference to Earp at all.
Great stuff - highly recommended.

[Arthur Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stuart Lake was the first biographer of Wyatt Earp, and wrote this 1931 book with the participation of his subject, who lived until 1929. It has since been determined that WYATT EARP, FRONTIER MARSHAL has inaccuracies, but the value of having input from Wyatt Earp himself, as well as some of his contemporaries, cannot be overestimated. Because of these inaccuracies, some internet sources are now regarding this as a novel, which is absurd, as it is constructed nothing like a novel. This book was the basis for three movies (including John Ford's MY DARLING CLEMENTINE) and one television series to date, and its romanticized portrait of Wyatt Earp is responsible for the way this character is presented to this day. (Incidentally, the author, who became a prominent screenwriter of westerns, is from my home town, which is another reason for my interest in this book.)

[Debra Diggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but slow.

[Dennis O'Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book on his life. Clarifying a lot about his life. An enjoyable read.

[Jerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I now have a new appreciation for Wyatt Earp. This was a fantastic read.

[Judy Tarver · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read about the life of Wyatt Earp but in all honesty, the parts about Doc Holliday were a lot more interesting about his friendship with him and how Doc was loyal and always had his back.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

My short review for Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal is: I liked it. I have no idea about the historical accuracy of the Earp story and, for the sake of the book, I'm not concerned about it. Since Wyatt Earp has been a regular feature of films and television for years, he has always seemed to me to be more of a fictional character than a real life person anyway. Certainly the saint-like man portrayed in this book does not provide a complete picture. In these pages, you will learn the Wyatt was the toughest, smartest, and most moral person in the Old West. He solved problems with his guns, fists, and brains and is basically a superman who was idolized by those that loved him and begrudgingly respected by his enemies. In the end, Earp is more Sherlock Holmes than history education and that's okay. I'll leave it to others to debate the relevancy of the story. For me, it was a fun popcorn book.

[Stephen Rynkiewicz]

"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please," Mark Twain quipped to Rudyard Kipling in 1899. Western fans have had their choice of facts about Wyatt Earp long before the film roundups of Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and Hugh O'Brian. In 1996 I visited Tombstone, Ariz., 30 miles from the Mexican border and scene of Earp's 1881 OK Corral gunfight, to tell Twain's frontier journalism tales and dedicate the Tombstone Epitaph newspaper office as a Historic Site in Journalism. (The Epitaph still covers local news as a University of Arizona journalism project.) There I sampled the Republican Epitaph, published by the mayor who backed the Earp brothers, and the Democrat Nugget, owned by the sheriff sympathetic to the Clanton clan. Stuart Lake's own findings backed the Earp narrative 50 years later but would be unlikely to resolve their debate, as he was punching up Earp's unpublished autobiography to duel with Billy Breakenridge's unflattering "Helldorado." Lake is charged with embellishment, and his prose certainly shows plenty of embroidery: Boot Hill victims are "buried with their footgear in place," and there's no need for horse or jail when words like cayuse or calaboose are available. Newspaper prose of the day was just as purple though, and twice as opinionated. Much of the fun therein lies. Lake is skeptical of elements of the Earp legend, noting for example that keeping Dodge safe was a job limited to the more prosperous side of the tracks, but does not plumb dark corners of his subject's resume as peace officer, law student, surveyor, teamster, buffalo hunter, politician, miner and owner of casinos and racehorses. Earp ranged widely, which makes this a satisfying survey of frontier life, and the author comes as close to capturing cowboy cadence as any writer before David Milch. Out of print and pricey on Amazon, I picked up the paperback for a buck at a Newberry Library book fair.

[C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paradoxically, Stuart Lake's explicit purpose in writing this biography (and Wyatt Earp's in agreeing to be interviewed for it) is to debunk the myth of Wyatt Earp. The larger than life lawman whose feats astounded the west.
I say 'paradoxically' because this book, either from Lake's admiration of Earp, the admiration of those close to him, or Earp's own fascinating life, creates the exact opposite. The novel simply creates a new myth of Wyatt Earp, a knight of the old west. A humble but noble lawman who was slow to violence because of his own understanding of his lethal skill. This portrayal not only influenced most of the portrayals of Earp across film (Henry Fonda, Burt Lancaster, James Garner, Kurt Russell) but it creates the character type that persists across western fiction. The noble lawman, the knight of the west, often contrasted with the more grey gunslinger or bounty hunter or the numerous outlaws.
The books major weakness is it's writing style, Lake cannot commit to a journalistic interview heavy style or a descriptive mythical style (albeit with contemporary language) and just flips flops between the two in a way that clashes and thematically confuses the book. Readers may find the early sections dull but they are important to characterizing Earp and his reputation before the events at Tombstone start.

[Michael P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books I picked up for information, but ended up loving. Lake interviewed every one he could find who knew Earp as well as Earp himself. The result seems a very fair and accurate account. As a scholar myself, I did not expect this degree of rigor from someone who is essentially a fan. I know that the book has been questioned by (usually) non-professional history buffs who find something to pick at then frame a theory that usually discredits Earp. Either a lot of people lied to Lake, or these revisionists are silly. All recorded history is something of a creative act, and I'm sure this is no exception, but the book seems more solid than its reputation suggests. This is the perfect book for someone who wants to believe the legends, and they may very well be true.

[G.R. Williamsom · Rating 1 out of 5]

For a long time this book was thought to be the best biography of Wyatt Earp.

Shoot, the author interviewed the legendary lawman, so it had to be the straight poop on Earp.

Then, as others researched the life of Earp, they found many inaccurate accounts as presented in the book. After awhile, it was discovered that Earp died before the author could finish his book. So, then he interviewed Earp's wife, Josie. Researchers found that most of Josie's accounts were circumspect.

All-in-all, the book is short on factual information and long on mythology.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book.
A good place to start a study of the old west.
Then move on to the many more recent excellently researched books to separate the fact and fiction in Lake. Much of this book has been found to be absolutely true.
The quotes attributed to Earp, however, have been shown to be made up by Lake.
Lake later admitted that Earp was very difficult to interview.
He said Earp was" delightfully laconic" and he had to pry every word from him.

[Laynie D. Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up a 1950s copy in a used bookstore. The price printed on the cover is 35 cents. The book is old a just shy of falling apart.

I didn't have great expectations but found the writing surprisingly good! I would recommend it to any reader with an interest in western literature and/or Wyatt Earp fans.

[Steven jb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wyatt Earp was an amazing fellow, and the basis of this book is a series of interviews with Mr. Earp in the late 1920's before his demise as well as documents and statements from people who witnessed the events. The book is a classic. Loved it.

[K.C. Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of the movie Tombstone, so I wanted to read this. What a story! What a legend! Thank you for writing it, Mr. Lake. I'm afraid you're as well know in death as in life, Mr. Earp, though it's true you'd probably really like some peace.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best biographies of the western lawman there is. While some of the accounts in this book are disputed, it gives you a very good feel of Wyatt Earp and the world that he lived in.

[Mystery Theater · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly doubt this bio is historically accurate, but it is a heckin good read.

[Brannon Burks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read although I'm willing to bet it isn't very historically accurate.

[Rob Sobieck · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[Karen Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book dry and hard to read. This man led an exciting and interesting life, but you wouldn't know it from this book!

[Christopher Westley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this many years ago when I was in the Army. This is a quintessential must read for the cowboy/country reader. More than just a view of the legend. Entertaining and satisfying.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you enjoy US history, this one is worth reading.

[Patrick Burner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Have an original copy from the 40's

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book.

[Melody · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this... seems like the most detailed and probably of most of the books purporting to be about him.