Book Review: True Tales of the Wild West

Included are standard Westward Movement and History of the West fare, like the California Gold Rush, Lewis & Clark, the Pony Express, the Showdown at O.K. Corral, and even the Klondike Gold Rush. But Walker also includes some other stories that are just as compelling but aren't usually talked about in the same breath as the others. Among these are the story of Jedediah Smith, the man who walked across the great Western Desert in search of a fabled river that didn't exist, and the story of The Grattan Fight, a bloody episode involving Native Americans and American soldiers that set off the series of battles that Americans are more familiar with, such as the Battle of Little Bighorn (also included in this book, by the way).

Reading this book will give you an excellent introduction to these topics if you have only heard of them in passing. And as for the more familiar subjects, well, you get the facts, not the fiction. If you think you know what really happened at O.K. Corral, read this book and find out if you're right. As the author proves time and again in this book, the facts in some cases are stranger than the legends that surround them.