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Wild Bill Hickok

The Man and His Myth

Joseph G. Rosa

New in Paperback: May 2007
xxiv, 280 pages, 30 photographs, 6 x 9
Paper ISBN 978-0-7006-1523-0, $17.95 (t)

Also available in cloth
ISBN 978-0-7006-0773-0, $29.95

Book Cover ImageEulogized and ostracized, James Butler Hickok was alternately labeled courageous, affable, and self confident; cowardly, cold-blooded, and drunken; a fine specimen of physical manhood; an overdressed dandy with perfumed hair; an unequaled marksman; a poor shot. Born in Illinois in 1837, he was shot dead in Deadwood only 39 years later. By then both famous and infamous, he was widely known as "Wild Bill."

Excavating the reality behind the myth, Joseph Rosa delves into the exploits and ego that defined Hickok and shows how the man was overtaken by his own legend. Rosa exposes a controversial and charismatic man--army and Indian scout, wagon master, courier, frontiersman, gunfighter, lawman, prospector, addicted gambler, and short-time actor--who was elevated from regional fame to national notoriety by inadvertently being in the right place at the right time.

Aggrandized in an 1867 Harper's New Monthly Magazine article, Hickok reluctantly embraced his exaggerated role in a far-fetched but exciting story that has inspired writers, folklorists, and movie moguls. Dime novelists sensationalized him. Biographers praised and criticized. Gary Cooper portrayed him sensitively, Douglas Kennedy villainously, and Charles Bronson laconically. Howard Keel played him romantically (albeit historically incorrectly) against Doris Day's Calamity Jane.

Culminating four decades of research by one of the top authorities on Wild West legends, Wild Bill Hickok is a highly readable, fun, and accurate account of the larger-than-life character whose reported accomplishments--both real and imaginary--in Kansas, Missouri, and the surrounding territory frequently brought him unwanted publicity. Setting the record straight, Rosa exposes some of the deliberate lies that vested Hickok with a "man-killer" reputation he didn't deserve. In fact, Rosa shows, the number of men he killed is probably a lot closer to ten than to the more than 100 he is often credited with.

Establishing the role an overzealous press and fortune-seeking dime novelists played in immortalizing Wild Bill, Rosa reveals a great deal about how myths were initiated and perpetuated to glorify the nineteenth-century frontier. He also illuminates why imaginative accounts of unorthodox heroes continue to skew our understanding of this important era in American history.

“Rosa knows more about western gunfighters than almost anyone. In this interesting and carefully researched work he has corrected the myths and legends about Hickok, explained why they occurred and endure, and, in the process, contributed to the new western history. Rosa has artfully crafted a book that will be of interest both to professional historians and to history buffs.”—Journal of American History

“Highly recommended to anyone seeking a greater understanding of the creation of the myth of the Wild West.”—H-Net Reviews

“A highly recommended portrait by an undisputed authority on Hickok.”—Western Historical Quarterly

"A wonderful account of the myths that followed Wild Bill wherever he went. Rosa has solved some mysteries and spiced his text with new tales and many delightful illustrations."--Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

"No one knows more about Hickok than Joe Rosa. Here he sets to paper the fruits of a lifetime of diligent study."--Robert M. Utley, author of The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull

"Pathbreaking. This book will delight everyone fascinated by the fact and fiction of the Old West."--Brian W. Dippie, author of Custer's Last Stand: The Anatomy of an American Myth

"A fresh, fascinating, and highly readable work with broad appeal."--David Dary, author of Seeking Pleasure in the Old West

JOSEPH G. ROSA is the author of They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok, Alias Jack McCall, The Gunfighter: Man or Myth?, The West of Wild Bill Hickok, Guns of the American West, Colt Revolvers and the Tower of London, and Age of the Gunfighter: Men and Weapons on the Frontier, 1840–1900. He is coauthor of Buffalo Bill and His Wild West, The West From Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee: The Turbulent Story of the Settling of Frontier America, The Pleasure of Guns, Gun Law: A Study of Violence in the Wild West, Cowboy: The Man and the Myth, and Rowdy Joe Lowe: Gambler with a Gun.