Book Review: The Last Gunfight - WSJ.com

The WSJ reviews a new book on Wyatt Earp and the OK Corral gunfight. But final answers remain as elusive as ever. The point that the Old West was not as violent as it is depicted in movies and old TV shots is not new by any means.

I recommend Robert Dykstra, The Cattle Towns. If I recall correctly, he shows that Dodge City and other cattle towns were relative peaceful. The gunfight image is a movie myth.

Since my graduate school past, I've learned that most of what I learned in graduate history courses about the late nineteenth century was nonsense.

With some exceptions, most shootouts did not involve middle-of-the-street gunfights as depicted in movies.  Ambushes were more in vogue, naturally. Safer that way, LOL.