Full name: Billy the Kid: A Short and Violent Life

Author: Robert M. Utley Rank: Rating: Original Rating: Pop Rating: Genres/categories: Purchase/reserch links: Goodreads ISBNs: 9780803295582 0803295588

“It’s certain to remain the authoritative biography that at last makes the Kid’s life whole and understandable.” — San Francisco Chronicle Robert M. Utley does what countless books, movies, television shows, musical compositions, and paintings have failed to he successfully strips off the veneer of legendry to expose the reality of Billy the Kid. Using previously untapped sources, he presents an engrossing story—the most complete and accurate ever—of a youthful hoodlum and sometime killer who found his calling in New Mexico’s bloody power struggle known as the Lincoln County War. In unmasking the legend Utley also tells us much about our heritage of frontier vigilantism and violence.