John Wesley Hardin--From Hell Part 1. By Goliath Edited by K. Staton
I have always been a fan of the Wild West. It likely comes from my boyhood coinciding with the era in television and cinema when Westerns reigned supreme. I got steeped in the lore and legends. TV shows like Bonanza , The Rifleman , Rawhide , and Gunsmoke made a big impression, and as a consequence, surely, their impact on my young imagination kicked off what became an enduring interest in the gunfighters of the Old West. What I read furthered my interest too; I recall that Time-Life Magazine around that time published a great series on the Old West. And I came into possession of a book entitled The Gunfighters , which I think was the first Old West history book I collected. I became a big fan of Billy the Kid, was entertained by Wild Bill Hickock, and I read about many of the more notorious gunmen of the period. Once you dig in and pursue this history, it doesn't take long to sort out just how fictional the Hollywood versions of these stories tend to be. But Clint Eastwood did ...
