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Doc Holliday

The Life and Legend

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Doc Holliday

Written by: Gary L. Roberts
Narrated by: Arthur Flavell
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In Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend, the historian Gary Roberts takes aim at the most complex, perplexing, and paradoxical gunfighter of the Old West, drawing on more than 20 years of research - including new primary sources - in his quest to separate the life from the legend.

Doc Holliday was a study in contrasts: the legendary gunslinger who made his living as a dentist; the emaciated consumptive whose very name struck fear in the hearts of his enemies; the degenerate gambler and alcoholic whose fierce loyalty to his friends compelled him, more than once, to risk his own life; and the sidekick whose near-mythic status rivals that of the West's greatest heroes. With lively details of Holliday's spirited exploits, his relationships with such Western icons as Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson, and the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, this book sheds new light on one of the most mysterious figures of frontier history.

©2006 Gary L. Roberts (P)2019 Tantor Adventurers, Explorers & Survival Old West Wild West Heartfelt
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There is a clear love for the subject material present within the research that won’t affect you at first but by the end of the novel you’ll feel it pull you into the world, the legend and ultimately the life of one of the most compelling men on the frontier. A sincere thorough foray into the gunfighters life that once you start its hard to stop and once you finish you don’t forget.

Thoughtful and heartfelt

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It was incredibly long full of useless information that plays no part in the actual story and like many so called doc holiday books, about 75% of it is about wyatt earp, not doc holiday

A very long and rambling

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The life of John Henry "Doc" Holliday is really just an excuse to paint a reliable but vivid picture of life in the lawless "Territories" of post-Civil War America. To be sure, historian/author Gary L. Roberts puts in an admirable effort ensuring that the legendary events in the dentist/gambler/gunslinger's life - including the infamous OK Corral/Fremont Street confrontation with the Clantons & McLaurys - are backed up with documentation (and sticks closely to his subject) - but ends up creating a palpably realistic look at life on the Frontier in the late 1800s. Saloons, Brothels, Gold & Silver Mining Operations.. outlaws, posses, barroom brawls, shootouts.. Roberts makes it clear that the cinematic clichés of Hollywood are actually pretty accurate at times.
The author carefully points out what can be confirmed and what is likely apocryphal - leaving me with an impression of impeccable accuracy - but unfortunately also remains so clinically adherent to what can be proved that the book often feels overly-academic (the direct transcription of courtroom testimony, for example, is straight-up yawn-inducing). Roberts should have just given in and posted the Footnotes and Citations that he clearly intended.

Similarly disappointing, reader Arthur Flavell reads the book with a pedantic expository tone. Flavell exhibits great diction, timbre, cadence, and timing - but is pretty obviously reading a factbook lying open on his lap. His "collection-of-a-paycheck" performance could have been delivered by any professional reader. Tantor Audio Inc. cast the project "adequately".

Altogether, 'Doc Holliday: The Life and Legend' merits 6 stars out of 10. It's a reasonable investment of time if you can get it as part of the 'Plus' catalog.. but save your Credit for something else should they ask for one.




Punctiliously Factual Wild-Wild-West Narrative

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First half of the book is speculation. The whole thing is dragged out to the point of being annoying

Not very good.

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