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In discussing Wyatt Earp -- as a
matter of fact, in discussing any historical figure of any importance -- one needs to
consider both the man/woman and the events in which he/she was involved. An obvious
question becomes: How did they become involved? Pondering the enormity and impact
of the events in relation to their time often answers the overall question: Why was
this person great? Because Earp is one of those figures who, as I think most historians
will agree, achieved fame out of sheer guts in a time and at a place when he was called
upon to have sheer guts...or run...he then becomes a more interesting study if you regard
the three as a unit: Man/Time/Place. Wyatt Earp is a study in reaction to spontaneous
occurrences that popped up around the next corner in the next cattle town. In short,
some people want fame and go after it. Some spend the weight of their life balancing pros
and cons, then making the right choice. Earp has these people beat because by instinct
he knew what to do when and where.
The following books and articles offer great insight into either Wyatt Earp or the
times in which he lived, or both. When read as a compendium, they provide a topography of
a great man.
* * * * *
Glenn
Boyer The Earp Curse. Listing of this author's many books on
Earp, his
life and times, can be found by clicking on the blue-underlined text of the author's name.
Lake, Stuart N.  Wyatt
Earp: Frontier Marshall.
Earp, Josephine Sarah Marcus (ed. Glenn G. Boyer),  I Married Wyatt
Earp: The Recollections of Josephine Sarah Marcus
Earp
Marks, Paula Mitchell,  And Die in the West: The Story of the O.K. Corral
Gunfight
Time-Life Books, editors of  Gunfighters
of the Old West.
Trayich, Ben T., "The Real Doc Holliday," article in Wild West
magazine, issue October 1997.
Waters, Frank (with Addie Earp),  Earp
Brothers of Tombstone: The Story of Mrs. Virgil Earp
Watts, Peter, Dictionary of the Old West. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977.
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