Ride the Devil's Herd

Wyatt Earp's role in the 1882 border conflict with cattle thieves, smugglers, and stage robbers known as the 'Cowboys' has been controversial, but John Boessenecker does a masterful job of unraveling the story and giving it a carefully crafted reconstruction that immediately moves this book to the first rank of books not only about the Earps but also about outlawry in the Southwest. Using fresh material, mature analysis, and well-paced writing, Boessenecker adds yet another major work to his growing shelf of splendid histories. -Gary L. Roberts, author of Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend Ride the Devil's Herd is a marvelous book. By means of meticulous research and splendid writing John Boessenecker has managed to do something never before attempted or accomplished, tying together the many violent clashes between lawmen and outlaws in the American southwest of the 1870-1890 period and showing how depredations by loosely organized gangs of outlaws actually threatened Manifest Destiny and the successful taming of the Wild West. -Robert K. DeArment, author and historian Wyatt Earp, arguably the most iconic of all American lawmen, is carefully examined by master Western historian John Boessenecker in Ride the Devil's Herd. Written with an astounding grasp of his subject, Boessnecker has realigned Earp as a man against an incredible foe: the cow-boys of the southwestern borderlands. Using newly-discovered archival records, Ride the Devil's Herd is one of the most important volumes in Earpiana in decades. -Erik J. Wright, National Tombstone Epitaph and author of Phil Foote: Lawman, Outlaw... Hell-Raiser One of the first lessons when you begin researching Tombstone is that the outlaws are far more interesting than the lawmen. John Boessenecker makes that abundantly clear in in telling their story of the legendary conflict in Cochise County. This engrossing book is a major addition to the literature of Wyatt Earp history. -Casey Tefertiller, author Wyatt Earp: The Life Behind the Legend