Book Description
Acclaim for Doc Holliday
"Splendid . . . not only the most readable yet definitive study of Holliday yet published, it is one of the best biographies of nineteenth-century Western 'good-bad men' to appear in the last twenty years. It was so vivid and gripping that I read it twice."
--Howard R. Lamar, Sterling Professor Emeritus of History, Yale University, and author of The New Encyclopedia of the American West
"The history of the American West is full of figures who have lived on as romanticized legends. They deserve serious study simply because they have continued to grip the public imagination. Such was Doc Holliday, and Gary Roberts has produced a model for looking at both the life and the legend of these frontier immortals."
--Robert M. Utley, author of The Lance and the Shield: The Life and Times of Sitting Bull
"Doc Holliday emerges from the shadows for the first time in this important work of Western biography. Gary L. Roberts has put flesh and soul to the man who has long been one of the most mysterious figures of frontier history. This is both an important work and a wonderful read."
--Casey Tefertiller, author of Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend
"Gary Roberts is one of a foremost class of writers who has created a real literature and authentic history of the so-called Western. His exhaustively researched and beautifully written Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend reveals a pathetically ill and tortured figure, but one of such intense loyalty to Wyatt Earp that it brought him limping to the O.K. Corral and into the glare of history."
--Jack Burrows, author of John Ringo: The Gunfighter Who Never Was
"Gary L. Roberts manifested an interest in Doc Holliday at a very early age, and he has devoted these past thirty-odd years to serious and detailed research in the development and writing of Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend. The world knows Holliday as Doc Holliday. Family members knew him as John. Somewhere in between the two lies the real John Henry Holliday. Roberts reflects this concept in his writing. This book should be of interest to Holliday devotees as well as newly found readers."
--Susan McKey Thomas, cousin of Doc Holliday and coauthor of In Search of the Hollidays
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable--History At Its Best!.......2007-10-08
Wild West aficionados will appreciate this excellent book. The hero is supposed to be Wyatt Earp, but Doc always steals the show. Gary Roberts has created a triumph of historical research and writing, drawing largely from primary sources. Roberts analyzes Wild West mythology by comparing legend to historic records. This is how western history should be presented--no baloney, just fact.
Writer and author.......2007-06-08
`Doc' Holliday, or, John Henry Holliday, a cold-blooded killer, or a man just trying to stay alive? Author, Gary L. Roberts did extensive research on Holliday, and many of those `Doc' came in contact with. From that research Roberts has put together a book that gives the reader a much better idea of whom `Doc' was, why he was like he was and the impact he had on history. The book, for me, dispelled faulty information I'd received about `Doc.' It also answered some of the questions I'd always had about `Doc.'
At the time I write this review I'm fifty-seven years young. During those fifty-seven years I've seen `Doc' portrayed as a bad guy, a good guy, a mysterious acquaintance of Wyatt Earp and all those things between. `Doc' was always an enigma in my mind. I just finished reading "Doc Holliday" by Gary L. Roberts and I must say I feel I now know the man, as much as he could be known by someone never having talked with him.
I was born just outside Kennett, Missouri; a state that harbored and made heroes out of people like Jesse James. I also spent twenty years as a `peace officer.' I think this added to my curiosity, and infatuation, with `Doc.' Gary L. Roberts has helped fill that void left by lack of information about `Doc' and therefore `quenched my thirst' concerning what he was really all about.
Do yourself a favor and read this book.
Richard Neal Huffman - the author of, Dreams In Blue: The Real Police (just another legend?) Confessions of a Serial Killer's Son
Getting to know the man behind the legend, March 22, 2007 .......2007-05-18
In "Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend" Gary Roberts immediately establishes his credentials in historical research and although he comes from a life in academia, that never inhibits his storytelling ability. Roberts tells about a young Atlanta dentist, his family conflicts, the relationship with his catholic cousin Mattie Holliday, contracting tuberculosis and then moving west. Doc continues his dental practice in Dallas where he is attracted to saloon life and becomes a skilled gambler. In Ft. Griffin, Texas Kate Elder sets her sights on Doc and when trouble comes and a noose is about to be tied around Doc's neck Kate executes a daring escape plan and the two of them ride north to Dodge City, Kansas where they begin a tumultuous relationship.
Doc sets up a dental practice in the cattle town and establishes good relations with the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and Eddie Foy. When a wild bunch of drunken cowboy's corner assistant city Marshall Wyatt Earp Doc hurries to his rescue. Wyatt is grateful to Doc for saving his life, and that was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
Later they both wind up in Tombstone, Arizona. A corrupt political ring runs Cochise County and uses a cowboy faction as muscle. Wyatt's intent to run for Cochise County Sheriff on a ticket of law and order opens up a hornet's nest. When the showdown comes Doc joins Wyatt and his brothers on the side of law and order in the shootout at the OK Corral.
Ring lawyers accuse the Earps and Holliday of murder and take them to court. A twenty-eight day hearing, before Judge Spicer, frees Doc and the others but the cowboy's won't quit. They harass the mayor and Judge Spicer, ambush and wound Virgil Earp and assassinate Morgan Earp.
Roberts continues the post Tombstone story with Jail time for Doc in Denver and a shooting episode in Leadville. Then on November 8, 1887 Doc succumbs to tuberculosis and is buried in Linwood Cemetery at Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
You'll enjoy this engaging and informative book while at the same time you're getting to know the real man behind the legend.
Tom Barnes Author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Also "The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle."
The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
Good book for the Western Interested Reader.......2007-04-12
This is a good book for an individual interested in the history of the American West. Doc Holliday is recognized by many to be the gunfighter icon of all. This book lays out the truth about Doc Holliday and how the legend got started. What you learn in the book is that Doc was an individual who never backed down from a fight, but he wasn't an individual who provoked fights. His claim to fame had to do with his support of Wyatt Earp during the OK Corral fight and more importantly afterwards when he and Wyatt pursued the bad guys in Southeastern Arizona and provided their own form of justice when the law of the land was flawed. His courage and his sense of justice and the need for law and order is commendable. But, Doc was not perfect. He was a drinker and often a troublemaker. Because of this, the Tombstone events pursued him more than they did Wyatt. And, the forces in that area, who wanted him, tried to get him in Denver, Colorado. These events, while he was in a jail there, were played out in the press - with both sides emphasizing either his good sides or his bad sides - and over exaggerating the bad in many instances. This is what resulted in his legend. The book pieces this together sharing all the different sources and then providing an analysis on why one source is a better one than the other. What we get is a thorough analysis of the man and the times. But, this is really only for the reader who is really interested in the American West. Others, as you'll note in the reviews below, will probably not be interested in this book. However, I was, I enjoyed, and I recommend it.
Getting to know the man behind the legend.......2007-03-23
In "Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend" Gary Roberts immediately establishes his credentials in historical research and although he comes from a life in academia, that never inhibits his storytelling ability. Roberts tells about a young Atlanta dentist, his family conflicts, the relationship with his catholic cousin Mattie Holliday, contracting tuberculosis and then moving west. Doc continues his dental practice in Dallas where he is attracted to saloon life and becomes a skilled gambler. In Ft. Griffin, Texas Kate Elder sets her sights on Doc and when trouble comes and a noose is about to be tied around Doc's neck Kate executes a daring escape plan and the two of them ride north to Dodge City, Kansas where they begin a tumultuous relationship.
Doc sets up a dental practice in the cattle town and establishes good relations with the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and Eddie Foy. When a wild bunch of drunken cowboy's corner assistant city Marshall Wyatt Earp Doc hurries to his rescue. Wyatt is grateful to Doc for saving his life, and that was the beginning of a lifelong friendship.
Later they both wind up in Tombstone, Arizona. A corrupt political ring runs Cochise County and uses a cowboy faction as muscle. Wyatt's intent to run for Cochise County Sheriff on a ticket of law and order opens up a hornet's nest. When the showdown comes Doc joins Wyatt and his brothers on the side of law and order in the shootout at the OK Corral.
Ring lawyers accuse the Earps and Holliday of murder and take them to court. A twenty-eight day hearing, before Judge Spicer, frees Doc and the others but the cowboy's won't quit. They harass the mayor and Judge Spicer, ambush and wound Virgil Earp and assassinate Morgan Earp.
Roberts continues the post Tombstone story with Jail time for Doc in Denver and a shooting episode in Leadville. Then on November 8, 1887 Doc succumbs to tuberculosis and is buried in Linwood Cemetery at Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
You'll enjoy this engaging and informative book while at the same time you're getting to know the real man behind the legend.
Tom Barnes Author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Book Description
In Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait, Karen Holliday Tanner, a distant cousin, reveals the real man behind the legend. Shedding light on Holliday's early years in a prominent Georgia family during the Civil War and Reconstruction, she examines the elements that shaped his destiny: his birth defect, the death of his mother and estrangement from his father, and the diagnosis of tuberculosis, which led to his journey west.Using previously undisclosed family documents and reminiscences as well as other primary sources, Tanner documents the true story of Holliday's friendship with the Earp brothers and his run-ins with the law, including the climactic shootout at the O.K. Corral and its aftermath.
Customer Reviews:
Great book and well written........2007-09-26
I really enjoyed this book. The author did a wonderful job on researching the family tree.
Very Shallow.......2007-05-26
I was very disappointed in this book. It is not well written nor does it have much, if any, depth. Tanner uses the word "probably" way too often. "Doc 'probably' shot Old Man Clanton" or "Wyatt 'probably' killed John Ringo." Doc "probably" did quite a few things, but Tanner does not quote any source information for much of this, although she does have several pages of notes.
Tanner races through many moments in Holliday's life, skipping over important details. A lot happened between the infamous gunfight in Tombstone, the attack on Virgil Earp and the murder of Morgan Earp; but Tanner tells of all three incidents within a matter of a couple of paragraphs. Tanner barely mentions Curly Bill Brocious and does not mention Fred White at all.
Tanner goes into great detail about how Holliday was born with a cleft palate, but many doubt he ever had such physical challenge. Also Kate Elder is a source for much of the latter part of the book, but Elder is not a very reliable source of information, having claimed to have married Holliday in the 1870's. (No record of Holliday ever getting married exists.)
Tanner is related to Holliday and that seems to have softened her view. Gary L. Roberts' biography is much better, much more detailed.
For the big Holliday Picture, April 11, 2007 .......2007-05-18
Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait is well researched and written. Karen Holliday Tanner draws on family history, papers, albums and oral stories to augment hard research.Through her exhaustive efforts, Ms. Tanner puts to rest some of the wild exaggerations of killings, life of a con man, and criminal schemes supposedly perpetrated by Doc during his life.
Young John Henry Holliday's early days were spent in Griffin, Georgia with his father Henry Holliday and mother Alice.
Henry Holliday was a prominent Griffin citizen, first clerk of the court of Spalding County, and was involved in real estate and land speculation. The elder Holliday had a military background and had fought in the Mexican War. Early in the Civil War he served in the Confederate Army in Virginia. However, camp life and cold weather conspired to damage his health and he was discharged and sent home. After Henry Holliday regained his health he purchased a large parcel of land in South Georgia near Valdosta and moved his family there in 1864.
Alice Holliday contracted tuberculosis and died in September of 1866. John Henry mourned the loss of his mother and felt that his father had betrayed her name when he married Rachel Martin less than three months after the death of mother Holliday. The marriage caused a schism between father and son that never quite healed.
John Henry was a bright student and eventually chose dentistry as a profession. He graduated from The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872 and returned to Atlanta where he practiced dentistry until he contracted tuberculosis and traveled west in search of a dryer climate.
While in Dallas John Henry stayed with the dental profession, but added another to augment his income. He spent time at the gaming tables and eventually became a skilled Frontier Gambler. After several years in Dallas he joined the gambling circuit and traveled to Denison, Denver, Deadwood and points in between.
He became known as Doc Holliday and using his charm, wit and gambling skills Doc made a name for himself and collected an array of friends Kate Elder, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and Eddie Foy just to name a few.
While in Dodge City Doc saved Wyatt Earp from an angry mob of drunken cowboys and Wyatt never forgot it. Doc and Wyatt were both well known in gambling circles, but the incident that turned them into legends was the shootout at the OK Corral.
Doc stood with Wyatt and his brothers on the side of law and order against Cochise County's political ring muscle known as cowboys. The Earps and Holliday won the gunfight, but ring outlaws caused a bloodbath that eventually, in order to get out of the line of fire, Doc and Wyatt moved to Colorado.
Wyatt dug for silver in the Gunnison and Doc played the tables at Leadville. But due to failing health Doc eventually quit the games and retired to Glenwood Springs, Colorado where he died of tuberculosis on November 8, 1887.
A must read to get the full Holliday picture.
Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Also "The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle."
The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
For the big Holliday Picture.......2007-04-12
Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait is well researched and written. Karen Holliday Tanner draws on family history, papers, albums and oral stories to augment hard research.Through her exhaustive efforts, Ms. Tanner puts to rest some of the wild exaggerations of killings, life of a con man, and criminal schemes supposedly perpetrated by Doc during his life.
Young John Henry Holliday's early days were spent in Griffin, Georgia with his father Henry Holliday and mother Alice.
Henry Holliday was a prominent Griffin citizen, first clerk of the court of Spalding County, and was involved in real estate and land speculation. The elder Holliday had a military background and had fought in the Mexican War. Early in the Civil War he served in the Confederate Army in Virginia. However, camp life and cold weather conspired to damage his health and he was discharged and sent home. After Henry Holliday regained his health he purchased a large parcel of land in South Georgia near Valdosta and moved his family there in 1864.
Alice Holliday contracted tuberculosis and died in September of 1866. John Henry mourned the loss of his mother and felt that his father had betrayed her name when he married Rachel Martin less than three months after the death of mother Holliday. The marriage caused a schism between father and son that never quite healed.
John Henry was a bright student and eventually chose dentistry as a profession. He graduated from The Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery in 1872 and returned to Atlanta where he practiced dentistry until he contracted tuberculosis and traveled west in search of a dryer climate.
While in Dallas John Henry stayed with the dental profession, but added another to augment his income. He spent time at the gaming tables and eventually became a skilled Frontier Gambler. After several years in Dallas he joined the gambling circuit and traveled to Denison, Denver, Deadwood and points in between.
He became known as Doc Holliday and using his charm, wit and gambling skills Doc made a name for himself and collected an array of friends Kate Elder, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and Eddie Foy just to name a few.
While in Dodge City Doc saved Wyatt Earp from an angry mob of drunken cowboys and Wyatt never forgot it. Doc and Wyatt were both well known in gambling circles, but the incident that turned them into legends was the shootout at the OK Corral.
Doc stood with Wyatt and his brothers on the side of law and order against Cochise County's political ring muscle known as cowboys. The Earps and Holliday won the gunfight, but ring outlaws caused a bloodbath that eventually, in order to get out of the line of fire, Doc and Wyatt moved to Colorado.
Wyatt dug for silver in the Gunnison and Doc played the tables at Leadville. But due to failing health Doc eventually quit the games and retired to Glenwood Springs, Colorado where he died of tuberculosis on November 8, 1887.
A must read to get the full Holliday picture.
Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Husband Loves the book.......2007-02-10
I bought this book for my husband. He loves to study information on Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. I have not read the book yet but I know it must be good as my husband has thanked me more than once over the past week for giving him the book.
Book Description
John Henry Holliday steps off the train at Atlanta's Union Station, fresh out of the Pennsylvania Dental College, and into Mattie's arms. But the storybook romance between the young dentist and his cousin is cut short by disease and family strife. Some close relatives are grousing at the couple to break off their relationship, but they are unwilling to bow to family pressures. However his financial reverses and physical health conspire to make that happen. John Henry is diagnosed with tuberculosis and doctors suggest a dryer climate in the West. Mattie pleads to go with him but John Henry says no and travels to Dallas alone. The dry climate stabilizes his condition, but he is unable to make a living from his dental practice. Dispirited and alone he is eventually attracted to saloon life where he takes a new name and calling -- Doc Holliday -- frontier gambler. Kate Elder, a spunky little saloon girl, sets her sights on Doc. And when trouble comes at Ft. Griffin and a noose is about to be tied around Doc's neck Kate executes a daring escape plan and the two ride north, through Indian territory, to Dodge City, Kansas. Doc sets up a dental practice in the cattle town and becomes acquainted with the likes of Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Luke Short and Eddie Foy. When a wild bunch of drunken cowboy's corner Wyatt Earp Doc hurries to his rescue with a 38 in one hand and a 44 in the other. That moment was the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Wyatt Earp would never forget that day at Dodge City when Doc Holliday using courage and grit saved his life. Doc's tenuous relationship with Kate dragged along simply because he was beholden to her for saving him from the hangman's noose at Ft. Griffin. Their tumultuous relationship continued though as they follow the migration of the Dodge City crowd south to Tombstone, Arizona. A corrupt political ring backs the cowboy-outlaw faction with the complicity of the Cochise County Sheriff. Doc has friends in both camps, but joins Wyatt and his brothers on the side of law and order, where his courage and loyalty are once again tested, when he stands with the Earps, in the shootout, at the Ok Corral. Doc survives the gunfight, but death from tuberculosis is never far away. Mattie, desperate in her loneliness, writes that she had become a nun, and with those vows has taken a new name -- Sister Mary Melanie. Doc is stung by the news, but he is quick to realize that it was his own neglect that had placed Mattie in the nunnery. He is fully aware that his days are numbered, but he never wavers in his love for the girl back home. Following Doc's death Wyatt Earp spoke of his friend and said, 'Doc was the most skillful gambler and the speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever knew.'
Customer Reviews:
Well researched and entrancing tale........2007-07-06
Tom Barnes truly captures the real-life story behind this historical legend. Follow Doc Holliday from his childhood, to his eventual and unlikely friendship with Wyatt Earp, and of course the famous gunfight at the OK corral. This book is rich with descriptive detail of Griffin, Georgia, his place of birth, his close relationship with his mother and the attitudes that fueled his hot temper and led him to a life of practiced dentistry, gambling, gun fights and saloon altercations. Definitely a must read for old west buffs. Mixed Nuts
Doc Holliday's Downward Spiral.......2007-06-28
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone
By Tom Barnes
Who would have thought the legend of Doc Holliday could be connected in any way to Margaret Mitchell's Gone With The Wind.
When Doc Holliday went west after he discovered he had tuberculosis, which caused the death of his mother, he left behind a sweetheart who thought he would return after his cure in the warm, dry climate of the west. During his incredible research for the life of Doc Holliday the author, Tom Barnes discovered that this sweetheart, besides being a cousin of Doc Holliday was a distant cousin of Margaret( Peggy) Mitchell. This beautiful, girl, Mattie Holliday, wrote letters to Doc for several years and then after his death became a nun in the order of Sisters of Mercy. Margaret Mitchell used to visit her in the decade before Gone With The Wind was published. If you read the letters which appear in Doc Holliday's Road To Tombstone, you will know almost immediately which of the main characters of GWTW was inspired by Mattie Holliday.
John Henry Holliday was born in Griffin, Georgia and as a young boy moved with his family to Valdosta, Georgia just before the end of the Civil War. In 1872, John Henry was graduated with honors from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery. Thus when he went west he became known as "Doc" Holliday. Starting his career as a dentist in Texas, Doc soon learned he could make a better living as a gambler.
The author, Tom Barnes, uses his talent and skill in scriptwriting to portray the downward spiral of John Henry Holliday, He brings to life Doc Holliday's escapades which involved outlaws as well as famous law officers like Wyatt Earp. Those interested in the O K Corral may be more fascinated by the trial which took place afterwards. This book is a great reference for that whole period of the Old West.
Lenora Smalley
California Writers Club
Director at Large
Good story, but reads more like a script instead of a novel..........2006-05-09
Ever since I saw the movie Tombstone I have taken a fancy to the legendary gambler Doc Holliday. I was very pleased to find that Tom Barnes based his stroy more around the historical facts instead of the western myth that surrounds this interesting character. I enjoyed this book, but found the writing style to be that of a television or motion picture script. The narrative focused mostly on the verbage of the characters or the action they took part in. The times when the author took us into the characters mind and thoughts were few and not very deep when they did occur. I kept wondering when I was reading the book if the author wrote this book with hopes of later seeing it turned into a show or movie. This book also suffered from some editing errors with a few typos that should have been caught before publishing (see page 20 & 178). While this is a bit of a critical review, I would recomend this book to anyone wants to enjoy a good story and learn a little more about Mr. Holliday. This was a good story I was just hoping for something a little more...
Excellent!.......2006-02-03
Author Tom Barnes has meticulously written this factual account of the life of Doc Holliday in such a way that you feel as though you are actually right there, experiencing all the excitement and ambience of the era in which Doc's life unfolded. Furthermore, the author provides surprising aspects which only make the story that much more interesting. A great read.
Terrific.......2006-02-01
Doc Holliday's Road To Tombstone is a page turner from beginning to end. From growing up in Griffin, becomming a Dentist his romance with Matti and his affair with the Firey Kate to the very interesting courtroom scene after the shooting.
Terrific book you will want to read it more then once.
Customer Reviews:
The Good and the Bad of Doc Holliday.......2007-09-13
John Myers Myers had the verbal swagger and style to fit the material he wrote about. His documented research alone leads us to believe the story of Doc Holliday is authentic. However, early in the book Myers Myers made an educated guess that John Henry Holliday's dental college education was acquired in Baltimore. He was just as wrong as many others at the time. For a number of years the two most popular sites named for Doc's dental training were Charleston, South Carolina and Baltimore, Maryland. Several years after the printing of the Myers Myers book actual records turned up in the library at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. John Henry Holliday graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dental Surgery at Philadelphia in 1872.
Following dental college Holliday returned to Georgia and had a short dental practice in his hometown of Griffin, Georgia and another in Atlanta.
His stay in Georgia and relationship with his cousin Mattie Holliday were cut short when he was diagnosed with consumption.
John Henry's doctors urged him to seek a dryer climate in the west and as a practical matter he took their advice and moved to Dallas, Texas.
Alone and far from home Doc Holliday took to the saloon and gambling life. A short article in the Dallas Weekly Herald of January 2, 1875 confirmed that fact. `Dr. Holliday and Mr. Austin, a saloon keeper relieved the monotony of the noise of firecrackers by taking a couple of shots at each other yesterday afternoon. The cheerful note of the six-shooter is heard once more among us. Both shooters were arrested.'
Shortly after that shooting incident Holliday moved west and joined the gambling circuit. Doc had some history in both Ft. Griffin and Jacksboro, Texas. His reputation grew along with his gambling proficiency and many of his problems grew out of his ability to win at both faro and poker.
Doc met two people at Ft. Griffin that would have a profound effect on his life, Big Nose Kate and Wyatt Earp. Wyatt was on the trail of a couple of outlaws and Doc provided him with a tip as to where they might be heading.
Kate had her eye for Doc, but he didn't respond until he got into a scrape during a poker game. Doc defending his life killed Ed Bailey.
Bailey's friends didn't see it that way and were about to hang Doc when Kate made her move and executed a daring plan to save Doc from the hangman's noose. They got out of town in a hurry and headed north to Dodge City, Kansas.
Wyatt was a city marshal at the time and got himself into a life-threatening situation and Doc came to his rescue. Wyatt never forgot Doc's life saving move and from that day forward they became lifelong friends.
In less than two years many of the Dodge City crowd found their way to Tombstone, Arizona and that included Doc, Kate and Wyatt.
Both Doc and Wyatt had their difficulties in Tombstone and several of them were caused by Kate and her problem with the bottle.
The day that made Tombstone famous was October 26, 1881, when the Clanton's and McLowry's took on the Earps and Holliday in the shootout at the OK Corral.
The shootout killed three of the cowboy outlaw faction while none of the Earps and Holliday law and order group was killed.
The shootout didn't end the violence on the streets of Tombstone and at some point Doc figured he had seen enough killing and decided to go to Colorado. Wyatt eventually followed but so did the Tombstone faction that wanted to kill Doc and Wyatt. They cornered Doc and had him jailed in Denver but were unable to get him extradited to Tombstone.
Doc remained in Colorado and had one shooting incident in Leadville. There were no charges filed and Doc was not arrested.
However, his old nemesis that had followed him from Georgia, tuberculosis finally caught up with Doc Holliday November 8, 1887 and he died peacefully in his hotel room.
Western readers will enjoy this old Holliday story written by John Myers Myers.
Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
Seems to be mostly ' made up ', a la Stuart Lake.......2006-12-22
Myers did not get the streetfight ( gunfight ) parts even close to being correct.
Into the West.......2006-05-02
I am not an Old West buff, more of an historian's interest in the subject but I don't seek out every possible book I can, I get ones that interest me. So I picked up John Myers Myers book on Doc Holliday. It's a small text, just over 220 pages, originally published in 1955, and is purportedly the first biography of Doc Holliday. However, the book isn't necessarily about John "Doc" Holliday; it's more about the era of Doc. There is lots of flavor text throughout the early part of the book that makes you almost forget this is about Doc Holliday. We follow Doc from Georgia and into Texas where begins his life of gambling and 'outlawry'. Doc meets Wyatt Earp and, of course, ends up in Tombstone. From here, the next section of the book is more about the history of Tombstone within we have the cowboys/outlaws vs Earps who happen to have Doc on their side. Don't get me wrong, it's really quite well done and interesting, but the focus is once again drifted away from Doc. Thereafter we travel to Colorado and the aftermath of Tombstone politics. This is where I learned the most about Doc, the dirty crud that continued to plague Doc and the Earps after they got away from events in Arizona.
Overall, very good book on the life cycle of a colorful character but not necessarily a biography so much as an observer-peeking-at-an interesting-fellow. Maybe that's what separates this biography from others, Myers sets it up so you can see the events through details rather than giving the outline of point by point presumed facts in a lifeless text. Good book, definitely belongs on any Old West bookshelf.
good work.......2005-12-13
a real effort has been made to separate fact from fiction. This is uncommon where histories tend to be factionalized.
A good read.
Strong on Detail, Weak on Excitement.......2005-10-11
I enjoyed reading this book, but I guess I have seen too many movies about Doc Holliday and expected great excitement. The book is very detailed and details are important for the historian's point of view. On the other hand, sometimes too many details can be boring. Please do not pick up the book expecting great thrills and excitement, or you will be disappointed. Still, reading details about the life of this outlaw and gambler, which turned good guy and loyal friend to the Earp clan, certainly has interesting moments. If you are into the wild west, it is worth your time.
Book Description
He came from the American South, a gentleman by breeding, a dentist by training, a gambler by vocation. But as Dr. John H. Holliday, a man fleeing his tragic past, drifted across the West, living among some of the roughest men on the frontier, word spread quickly he never walked away from a fight, and he never drew too late.Now, from Dodge City to Denver and Cheyenne, from boomtown to sinkholes, "Doc" Holliday was driven by the demons of his past, a skilled gambler and a seasoned mankiller--his name was known and feared long before the O.K. Corral. The story of a man who spoke softly and carried a lightning gun, this is Matt Braun's extraordinary chronicle of the West's most complex and legendary figure.
Customer Reviews:
A Different Treatment.......2006-12-19
The book offers a sideways glance at Doc Holliday without any pretence at pure biography. Many of the historical facts about the towns, hotels, streets, etc. added a very nice element to this very different treatment of Doc. I enjoyed the book for exactly for its lightness. It captured the gentillity and education of Doc in a way that was neither snobbish or condescending.
I enjoy Matt's books immensely though I am a harsh star rater. I would have assigned the book 3.5 stars if the option had been available.
Proficient if superficial biographical novel.......2004-06-14
Many Matt Braun novels are biographies of notable Western figures and they have become less revisionist and debunking in tone with the passage of time .Earlier works like Tombstone and Manhunter were quite savage in their treatment of men like Wyatt Earp but time has seemingly mellowed Mr Braun and the works have become more respectful ,while thankfully never becoming mere hagiographies . They have however become more formulaic and less interesting in tone .
This is an instance for the book romantices Holliday the shootist and gambler whom we first encounter when he is diagnosed with the consumption that was eventually to kill him .Leaving his native Atlanta and his betrothed , his cousin Mattie ,he sets out for the West hoping the climate will prolong his life .From town to town he drifts building a reputation as a mankiller and a gambler and Braun is at pains to point out his killings were always in self-defence and at the expense of cardsharps and cheaters .
The novel develops a repetitive quality as the incidents are remarkably similar and the middle part of the books is laboured and faintly tedious enlivened mainly by his sparky relationship with the saloon girl Katie Elder ,an unregenerate prostitute and with the loyal Lottie a faro dealer whose love and regard for Holliday are neatly and unsentimentally etched .There is an effecting passage dealing with the severing of his engagement to Mattie that is quietly moving .
Overall while the setting changes --Cheyenne .Texas , Dodge City -the pattern of building a reputation , killing in self -defence and moving on ,does not and eventually becomes a tad wearisome .
In the final part of the book we read of his growing friendship with Wyatt Earp but the book ends before he links with Wyatt in the most famous incident of his careeer ,the O K Corral shootout .It ends with Doc in transit for Tombstone and that notable if over hyped fight .
Doc is well drwan by Braun -a romantic ,doomed and erudite man with a penchent for Shakespeare ( a scene where he defends a classical actor from the drunken saloon patrons is pure My Darling Clementine ) .The dry sardonic graveyard humour of the man is compelling and the aura of death surrounding him comes from within as well as being based on his proficiency with guns
Plain and unfussy style is placed at the service of a fictionalised chronicle rather than a novel
Its okay but too long and the author has done better.
Couldn't put it down........2003-11-05
I found myself not wanting to put it down. Page after page I felt like I was there watching the poker game, and smelling the smoke from the gun that just went off. I liked the way that Matt made you think about how each day Doc suffered with his illness and he kept on going. I highly recomend this book. A must read. I bough it three years ago and have read it several time.
Fact or Fiction?.......2003-02-06
Although some of what is contained within the pages of "Doc Holliday: The Gunfighter" is fact, most of the book's 312 pages contain fiction. I would equate Braun's book with the Hollywood tales told over the past several decades: truth hidden within "dramatic license" including the great film Tombstone. It is unfortunate that Braun does not tell readers that this is a work of fiction because, much like in the 1880s, people will believe that what is detailed-yet-not-substantiated is true thereby continuing the "legend" of Doc Holliday being a cold-blooded, gambling killer.
Braun's novel is a great read for those who have researched Doc Holliday (read the Holliday Tanner book) and know before opening the book that the forthcoming tales were drawn from a Wild West imagination and sources of long ago that did not verify the facts before being printed.
Just one example of miscontrued facts is the infamous sanatorium. Braun says in the closing chapter that Doc admitted himself to a sanatorium in Glendwood Springs (as is also referenced in the Tombstone film); however, a sanatorium never existed in Glenwood (Doc died at the Glendwood Hotel).
A good book to escape the real world..........2002-08-17
This is the first Matt Braun book I have ever read and I just loved it. I do not however know much about the historical background of Doc Holliday but I did find the book enjoyable. Matt Braun is a wonderful author.
Book Description
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was Southern gentry by birth, a dentist by training, sharp shooter and lawman by design, and gambler by default, being by disposition and circumstance -- he contracted tuberculosis soon after graduating from dental school -- unable to practice dentistry formally. In this remarkable historical novel, Paul West breathes new, thrilling life into Doc and his cohorts, including "Big Nose" Kate Elder and the infamous brothers Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp. He recounts in heart-stopping detail the events leading up to the shoot-out at the O.K. Corral -- those thirty seconds of terror and confusion -- and the weeks of bloody retribution that followed, which Doc survived only by the grace of his good luck and notoriously quick trigger finger.
In West¹s Old West, the thin line between the lawless and the lawmakers is lethal, and the tragic inevitability of these legends¹ lives is touched with pathos and unsentimental poignancy. West stunningly evokes the shadow of death that is never far from the young gunslinger, racked by coughing fits that will kill him if a bullet does not. But Doc Holliday¹s image as cold-blooded, gun-toting cowboy belies his profound intelligence. Years of correspondence between Doc and his cousin Mattie, a nun, have long since been destroyed. In West¹s re-creation of their intense epistolary exchanges, a reflective and passionate Doc Holliday emerges, a man acutely aware of the madness of his world.
Since the days of the Wild West, Doc Holliday and his contemporaries have been immortalized in our collective consciousness. In O.K., Paul West turns inside out our long-cherished assumptions about who these bold and deadly men were, using his chameleon-like ability to absorb larger-than-life figures and an historical era and make them his own. West displays here his masterful ability to transcend time and place in a characterization of Doc Holliday as timeless as the legendary man himself. Hailed by the Chicago Tribune as "possibly our finest living stylist in English" and considered "one of the most original talents in American fiction" by The New York Times Book Review, West proves yet again why praise for his work is so richly deserved.
Customer Reviews:
Paul West -- Not OK.......2003-03-16
According to the fly-leaf, the Chicago Tribune considers Mr. West "possibly our finest living stylist in English." Well, that may be but buddy he was way out of his genre with this book. The only reason I struggled through the entire book is that I finish what I start. Verbose, convuluted, complex and dry are some of the words I can muster up to describe this book. Reading one of the Greek tragedies that West continually refered to would be easier than getting through this horrid work of historical fiction.
West is a second-rate Faukner. At least Faukner lived in Mississippi. I got money that says West has never even BEEN to Arizona. I will say that this book had a LOT in common with Doc Holliday. Reading it was about as much fun as going to a dentist -- and did you about as much good as a dentist with a consumptive cough and a shaky hand.
Bottom Line: Don't waste your time.
Doc is no holiday.......2001-05-28
Paul West is an accomplished writer whose best work--The Tent of Orange Mist, Ratman of Paris--may, judging by this abortive, muddled misfire of a novel,regrettably be behind him. Aside from any nits re: historical accuracy, "O.K." simply fails to cohere as a fully-realized work of mature fiction. Intended to evoke the psychic life of the the tubercular frontier dentist Doc Holliday, "O.K." is a badly fumbled, badly jumbled and, for West, disappointingly shallow exercise in logorrhea. Lifeless, pointless, clumsily executed, it is a novel bereft of West's customary grace, wit, insight or energy. The author so clearly failed to connect with or inhabit his subject that "O.K." can only be judged his least successful work to date. Too bad. Holliday is an infinitely fascinating figure deserving of better.
O.K., So What?.......2001-02-06
I saw a very positive review of this novel and being an avid reader of books about the West, and Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp in particular, I had to pick it up. I was sorely disappointed. So what if the author is considered a great writer and novelist -- the book is neither insightful nor realistic. Worse it is simply really, really boring.
The "novel" takes us through the adult life of Doc Holliday, mostly from his point of view, and attempts to dig very deeply into his psyche. For the life of me I cannot figure out why West wrote the novel in the third person. Given the deepness and detail he tries to convey about the introspective thinking of Holliday, it would have worked better written in the first person. Writing it in the third person made the style and substance seem distant.
Second, the novel just does not feel realistic. It's hard to believe anyone thinks so constantly upon their life in such an abstract fashion. And the conjectures about Holiday's personality don't feel right either -- based on what I've read of his life. Sure, West can conjecture whatever he wants about someone's inner self, but this just didn't "fit" Doc in my opinion.
After begrudgingly finishing the novel, the question I had of the whole exercise was so what?
I knew what I was getting into when I bought the book because I had read a prior review. I feel sorry for those who bought the book on impulse looking for a Western and the story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Those who did so I'm sure were even more disappointed than I.
I just cannot recommend this novel.
A Hard Read of a Great Weastern Story.......2000-08-01
As an avid reader of the Old West and the Earp story in particular, I found this book a major dissapointment. A different type of story to say the least. The central charater is of course John Henry Holliday the "Fighting" Dentist. I found the work as presented by Paul West hard to swallow when he has the main charaters talking as if they were dolts and that they treated the towns people as if they were the same. Eg. "We could be racin dogs," Wyatt told him. "They does that in some countries." Wyatt Earp never spoke like that. It made the novel that much harder to read. It was a shame that such a great story as the Tombstone Gun fight is ruined by useless verbage as the above. Better luck next time for Mr. West
True to West's Vision.......2000-07-21
In response to readers who've bemoaned a lack of historical accuracy-- Paul West, as I perceive him, is an interpreter of culture, an artistic revisionist and a master of mapping out the psyches of some of our most iconic figures in social history. I think he remains true to form with "O.K," and that those readers who are expecting an action-packed, factual treatment of the Old West would be better served by somebody else's novel. If you are interested in careful psychological portraits, however, this is a good read even for those who, like me, haven't the faintest interest in the goings-on of the wild, wild West!
Customer Reviews:
Ah Yes Kate Remembers It Well.......2007-07-27
Jane Candia Coleman's "Doc Holliday's Woman" is well researched and well written.
Kate's basic story comes from Professor A.W. Bork's research and interviews with Mary Katharine Haroney during the 1930's. Ms. Coleman had access to volumes of notes and interviews. She traveled to Texas to search the archives at Stephens County and Shackleford County, did archive work in New Mexico and actually rode parts of the Western Cattle Trail to get a sense of place.
From the time of her mother's death in 1866 Kate became a lonely figure moving from one tragic affair to another. Episodes with a riverboat captain, St Louis and the convent gave her a background and eventually the name Kate Elder.
As Kate moves west through the bustling cattle towns of Kansas we get a first hand account of the girls and madams that occupied the bawdy houses. Later in Griffin, Texas Kate spends time at Shaughnessy's saloon with Doc Holliday.
Wyatt Earp shows up on the trail of an outlaw. Doc points Wyatt in the right direction and once Wyatt hits the trail Kate gives a glimpse into the future. `Doc and Wyatt; Wyatt and Doc. Two men, each part of the other's destiny, each part of mine.'
During a poker game Doc called Ed Bailey for sneaking a look at the deadwood. The offended Bailey pulled his gun; Doc deflected the shot and planted a knife in Bailey's gut. It was a defensive move on Doc's part but when Ed Bailey died of the wound his pals planned to hang Doc in spite of the circumstances. The sheriff put Doc in protective custody but Kate took things into her own hands and pulled off a dandy escape. Next stop Dodge City, Kansas.
Kate got her man and the two of them spend time in a tumultuous, on again, off again relationship. After spending time in Dodge City and Las Vegas, New Mexico Kate and Doc wind up in a silver mining camp called Tombstone.
1881 was a year of chaos in Tombstone, killings stemming from gambling disputes, a gang of outlaws called cowboys intimidate the citizens, but a botched stagecoach robbery and the killing of Bud Philpot and a passenger got the most attention. Doc was accused of being in on the holdup and hauled into court. A note signed by an inebriated Kate prompted the charge against Doc. However, in court Kate recanted her signed statement and the judge threw out the complaint. Even though the case fell apart Doc felt that he had been betrayed by Kate and wanted nothing more to do with her.
Kate took a stage to Globe, Arizona and went to work in a hotel. Kate tells the rest of the Tombstone saga from a distance, the shootout at the OK Corral, Judge Spicer's Hearing, the shooting of Virgil Earp and the murder of Morgan Earp.
Order a copy, you'll enjoy Kate's story.
Tom Barnes author of "Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone."
Also "The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle."
Doc Holliday's Road to Tombstone: The Life and Times of John Henry Holliday
The Hurricane Hunters And Lost in the Bermuda Triangle
An unbelievable read!.......2006-10-05
I was absolutely transported to the time and became friends with the people in this book. I don't remember when I've been so thoroughly engrossed in a book as much as this one.
Dull, sterile historical novel.......2006-07-30
Very disappointed in this novel. So much so I cancelled the pending order for "Allie Earp Remembers". No atmosphere or sense of the times or the terrain. Trite dialogue on the level of a sub-B western. Reading a good historical novel one has to continually remind oneself that it is fiction and not history. Examples are Pete Dexter's "Deadwood" or Robert B. Parker's "Gunman's Rhapsody".
Watershed Western.......2005-09-25
I was impressed most by how this story shows that history can be made fascinating by the dramatic genius of a novelist, without taking liberty with the facts, while blowing life into long gone actors and creating full sensory appreciation of their time and place. Author Jane Candia Coleman, has been recognized for her special touch in this respect, with three Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame (more than any other woman has received) two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America and five Pulitzer nominations, to say nothing of numerous grants for research. Her twenty-two books all disprove the knee jerk presumption that academics are dull writers, since she is a mentor in the MFA in writing program of Carlow University at Pittsburgh, where she co-founded the Women's Writing Program and initiated a unique program called Madwomen in the Attic.
Here novelist Coleman has brought to truly magnificent fruition the earlier work of research that finally revealed to the public the true identity of Doc Holliday's Woman, familiarly known either as Big Nose Kate or Katie Elder. The facts derived from that research not only included Kate's own thumbnail biography, but her letters and recollections of family and friends who knew her.
In 1976, a noted Earp writer and researcher turned his sleuthing genius to Big Nose Kate. His discoveries up till that time and in fact until this day have made available to the public most of the new information uncovered since 1965 about Wyatt Earp and his coterie of associates. Most notably this was the source of all that was new and authentic in the two most recent Earp movies. His trailing of Big Nose Kate started when a college history student asked him if he knew more about Kate than had been published up till that time. Which is to say more than the highly speculative pictures drawn by several pseudo-biographies of Doc Holliday, which contained little about Doc, but a lot about his era. In fact one of them, unaware of even Kate's real name, nonetheless confidently dashed off a few pages of psycho-biography of Kate as an ignorant, bonbon eating strumpet of the variety portrayed in movies by a varied cast of female stars, including Linda Darnell, Jo van Fleet, Faye Dunaway, and Isabella Rosellini with Italian accent intact - bless Hollywood for sterling work here in repairing America's notorious, lamented but uncorrected deficiency in historical knowledge. Pray they don't turn to mathematics in similar sturdy resolve, or future generations will puzzle over the sum of two and two.
The above researcher stuck his neck out and told the curious college student he might show her something they didn't teach in academic history courses. Here serendipity rushed to his rescue and he was actually able to do that. He fortuitously encountered a lead to Dr. Albert William Bork, who as a graduate student at the University of Arizona had attempted Kate's life story due to her request through a mutual friend. She was at that time spending her sunset years in the Arizona Pioneer's Home, where she died in 1940 as Mary Katherine Cummings, and lies at rest today in their cemetery. Other writers had approached her, and as Kate told Bill Bork, "They don't pay so I don't talk." One of them resentfully cooked up the story that never dies about how Kate was fatally shot in Bisbee, Arizona's Brewery Gulch The bullet entered in an unusual physical locale that rendered the location of the wound hard to find. In this vicious canard, the bullet hole is finally located through an examination by Doc Holliday (now a surgeon instead of a dentist). Aside from this lesson in forensic medicine, there was no "fundamental" connection to reality in the fabrication. This was about par for the course regarding what was known about Kate. Wyatt Earp, who knew her, and most likely had done his own youthful examination of her physique, went to the grave mum on the subject. He also didn't know her real name. One wonders if Doc did. If so he never said. In fact he said nothing about her in print.
As a result of finding Dr. Bork, a mutual effort resulted in telling the world for the first time the true identity of Big Nose Kate. The news broke in an article in "Arizona and the West," the Quarterly of the University of Arizona.
Among the more startling revelations - and it is dramatically told in this book - was that Kate, far from being a frontier floozy, had been born into minor Hungarian nobility in the city of Budapest. Moreover, her father had been a physician to Maximilian, and accompanied him on his ill-fated attempt to become Emperor of Mexico. His name was Michael Horony, and he exercised greater discretion than Maximilian and fled Mexico before the collapse of the condemned expedition from which the French army withdrew support. (The close of the American Civil War freed troops to overawe the chicken French Emperor, Napoleon III, and cause him to drop his meddling project in Mexico.)
Michael Horony settled among the numerous Hungarian refuges in the city of Davenport, Iowa. He and his wife died within a year, leaving Kate, age sixteen, and her four siblings as orphans, and county wards. Kate fled her foster home, where her foster father apparently was attempting to examine her physique in a manner that disgusted her. She decamped on a Mississippi River steamer, and disappeared from the pages of history as Mary Katherine Horony, to reappear as Big Nose Kate, feisty consort of Doc Holliday.
If the reader thinks he or she knows exactly, or even approximately, what happened after that they are apt to be much mistaken. This book tells the story as historical fiction that is close to biography and it is indeed a fascinating drama. Of course some of it is speculative, which is a matter accepted artistic license. But not to worry - we may look forward to Hollywood uncovering, as a public service, whatever errors appear. I hope they spell her name right. If this author and the aforementioned researcher, on whose findings much of this book is based, make as much `moola' on a `moom-picher' as he did from the recent two Earp movies (that appropriated his research through piratical surrogates), they won't be able to buy a sack of potato chips with their take.
I note only one disappointed reviewer here, "coming to foretell" the necessary book "that finally tells the full story." Due to my own experiences I conjecture that another aspiring psycho-biographer whose "crystal ball" fantasies were pre-empted by the earlier appearance of this book, will grant an awe-stricken world with that "full story." As is usually the case in these epiphany-books, I predict that Coleman will one day be asked by a puzzled friend if she rewrote this book under a pseudonym and offer to loan her money if she's that badly in need of it.
Looking through Kate's eyes..........2005-09-15
There are books that make you use your imagination about a character than there are books that sit you in the character's boots. And that is this book. The book is written where you can sense and feel what she felt and what it was like to be real. Not to mention a woman immigrant who had to make it on her own.
I have been studying Kate for over a year and this book was a suggested read. A novel? I am not so sure that title fits what to me is more the less a biography.
In my research I have toyed with the idea of following Kate's paths and visting the places she was known to have been, just to prove she was more than Doc Holliday's woman or some prostitute.
Here is a woman who was not a US Citizen and is buried in an Arizona Pioneer Home Cemetery. Thanks Ms. Coleman for bringing to light what a true Pioneer and entreprenaur Kate really was.
And thanks for the awesome read!
Average customer rating:
- Doc Holliday's Gone...
- HISTORICAL NOVEL BEATS MOST NONFICTION ON THIS SUBJECT
|
Doc Holliday's Gone
Jane Candia Coleman
Manufacturer: Leisure Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Westerns
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0843949589 |
Customer Reviews:
Doc Holliday's Gone..........2003-01-21
The title of the book says it all Doc Holliday is Gone. In fact he is so far gone that you won't find him in this book. It is a great story, very well written story about Big Nose Kate, but nothing tangeable about Doc Holliday. Look elsewere for the Doc Holliday story.
HISTORICAL NOVEL BEATS MOST NONFICTION ON THIS SUBJECT.......2002-07-04
This story, is more creative/nonfiction than historical novel in view of the weatlth of primary sources on both subjects of this two novella book: Big Nose Kate Elder and Viola Slaughter, wife of famous sheriff John Slaughter.
Author Coleman, has also written the historical novel on Big Nose Kate, Doc Holliday's Woman. This book is of the same quality and with the same historical insights from the family of Big Nose Kate. She was of minor Hungarian nobility, rather than the frontier floozie as which she is usually portrayed, such as by Fay Dunaway. Prior writers didn't even know Kate's real name, except for Glenn Boyer who discovered her family and real identity.
Well worth reading both for Coleman's captivating style and characterization and for historical insights.
Book Description
They weren't born in Colorado and only Doc Holliday died in Colorado. However, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp (whose lives were very closely intertwined) spent a considerable portion of their careers in Colorado. Bat and Doc were involved in the Royal Gorge Railroad War in 1978-79. Bat was a peace officer in Trinidad, Colorado. Wyatt and Doc came to Pueblo, Colorado just a few months after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. Doc was arrested in Denver, then the trio traveled their various ways all over Colorado's mining towns including Silverton, Leadville, Gunnison, Trinidad, Pueblo, and Aspen. Doc died November 8, 1887 at Glenwood Springs, but Bat was back in 1892 during the Creede mining boom and continued to hang around as a gunfighter and fight promoter before leaving Colorado for good in 1900.
Book Description
Eaten by tuberculosis, sustained by alcohol, John Henry “Doc” Holliday walked the streets of Dodge City, Dallas, Denver, Leadville, Deadwood, and Tombstone in their roistering heydays. The frail-looking dentist could be deadly when the drink wore off and someone crossed him. Doc Holliday was a paradox: respectable citizen and notorious gambler, gentleman and murderer, married to a prostitute called Big-Nosed Kate but devoted only to the memory of his mother. Pat Jahns includes a full and exciting account of the shootout at the O.K. Corral.
Customer Reviews:
WASTE OF VALUABLE TIME.......2006-01-12
OSTENSIBLY THIS IS A BIOGRAPHY OF DOC HOLIDAY. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE FASHIONS OF THE DAY - MALE AND FEMALE AND THE COLOR OF THE WINDOWS IN THE SALOONS THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU. IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT DOC READ THE FUNNY PAGES BECAUSE THEY ARE MORE ACCURATE. AS A BIOGRAPHY THIS BOOK IS SO BAD IT NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED. I WOULD AVOID IT. SHE DOES ALMOST NO IN DEPTH INVESTIGATION OF HOLIDAY, ALL SHE DOES IS TELL WHERE HE HAS GONE OR WHAT HE THINKS. I THOUGHT ALL THE MIND READERS BELONGED TO THE X-MEN. SHE DOES A GREATER DISSERVICE TO WYATT EARP. SHE WRITES AND REPRINTS ALL THE BAD PRESS HE GOT AFTER THE OK CORRAL AND DUMPS ON HIM ENDLESSLY. SHE OBVIOUSLY DOES NOT LIKE HIM AND MAKES NO ATTEMPT TO INVESTIGATE IF WHAT SHE PRINTS ABOUT HIM IS TRUE OR NOT. SHE JUST WANTS HIM TO LOOK BAD.
Poor writing.......2005-07-23
While the subject of the book is indeed interesting, the author is not the best writer I've ever read. It's as if she thought she were going to be paid by the word and truly goes overboard with her descriptions. She writes from Doc Holliday's point of view, which I find extremely irritating. I'd much rather she just tell the story of his life rather than try to figure out what he was thinking. My advice is to choose a different title and different author.
Doc Holliday.......2005-03-29
Born a Catholic near Atlanta, Holliday went to dental school in Baltimore, but because of consumption gave up on that career (except for a while in Denver). He became a professional gambler (and drunk), and was in Tombstone for the fight at the O.K. Corral. Johns tells Holliday's story in a non-scholarly, conversational manner, and can be quite sardonic at times. This makes the book entertaining and pleasurable to read. She also offers lots of quotes from contemporary newspapers. Factually it's accurate; a more modern biography might get into more psychobabbling over Doc's motives and behavior, but I don't miss any of that at all. A well-written, straight ahead biography.
Worth reading, but there are better Doc books out there........2003-03-26
If you're interested in the life of Doc Holliday, than you will probably want to read this book.
It is definitely filled with some historical truths, but at the same time the author tries to tell the reader what Doc might have been feeling when relating things that happened to him. I found that to be slightly annoying, because it's just based on pure conjecture. Sometimes it seems more like a fictional story rather than factual information.
It also seems like more information could have been put into the book regarding the relationships between him and Kate and him and Wyatt Earp.
All in all a worthwile book, but one not too put too much credence into. "Doc Holliday: A Family Portrait," by Karen Holliday Tanner is a better choice for the Doc Holliday fan. It has a good deal more factual information information about Doc, and much of it is based on family records, letters, etc.
The author overreaches herself.......2000-07-30
While this book is certainly an entertaining read, and covers Holliday's life quite fully, I consider the scholarship somewhat suspect.
The problem is that, rather than confine her account to the facts, the author often states how Doc felt, or what he thought about various things, people, events, etc. throughout the book. There is just no way she could possibly have such detailed and complete knowledge about such things, since Holliday never kept a diary, and indeed the only written accounts directly attributable to him were some letters written to his cousin, a Catholic nun - none of which go into the level of detail that would be required for Ms. Johns to know all of the things she appears to know. Most of what we know about Holliday comes from what others (many of whom disliked him cordially) said or wrote about him. Yet Ms. Johns writes as though she has an inside track on his innermost thoughts.
If she actually qualified such statements with words like "It seems probable that...", "it is very likely that...", or "the evidence clearly indicates that..." this would solve the problem; after all, it is a historian's job to present possible explanations for things the bare facts may not explain sufficiently, and to try and see past events to the causes and motivations behind them. But speculation and supposition MUST be labelled as such. To present it as though it were incontrovertible fact is poor scholarship. As a historian myself, I know this would never fly if the author were presenting this as a graduate thesis.
Ms. Johns is also inclined to make some pretty wild claims, such as Wyatt Earp's and Doc Holliday's "...friendship, may have caused many deaths, even Doc's own."(p.134) How Holliday's death from tuberculosis, several years after he parted company with Wyatt could, in any way, be attributable to Earp is a complete mystery to me. And this is only one example of some of the author's questionable assertions.
If your looking for entertainment, you'll enjoy this book. But I consider much of the information contained herein to be highly suspect, given that the author's scholarship is often very sloppy.
Books:
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- Einstein: His Life and Universe
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- Forever Lily: An Unexpected Mother's Journey to Adoption in China
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