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  • Ride the Devil's Herd

  • Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang
  • By: John Boessenecker
  • Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
  • Length: 14 hrs and 17 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (331 ratings)

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Ride the Devil's Herd  By  cover art

Ride the Devil's Herd

By: John Boessenecker
Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
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Publisher's summary

The little-known story of how a young Wyatt Earp, aided by his brothers, defeated the Cowboys, the Old West’s biggest outlaw gang.

Wyatt Earp is regarded as the most famous lawman of the Old West, best known for his role in the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. But the story of his two-year war with a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys has never been told in full.

The Cowboys were the largest outlaw gang in the history of the American West. After battles with the law in Texas and New Mexico, they shifted their operations to Arizona. There, led by Curly Bill Brocius, they ruled the border, robbing, rustling, smuggling, and killing with impunity until they made the fatal mistake of tangling with the Earp brothers.

Drawing on groundbreaking research into territorial and federal government records, John Boessenecker’s Ride the Devil’s Herd reveals a time and place in which homicide rates were 50 times higher than those today. The story still bears surprising relevance for contemporary America, involving hot-button issues such as gang violence, border security, unlawful immigration, the dangers of political propagandists parading as journalists, and the prosecution of police officers for carrying out their official duties. Wyatt Earp saw it all in Tombstone.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2020 John Boessenecker (P)2020 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited

What listeners say about Ride the Devil's Herd

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Enlightened

Impressive.
Especially the warning at the end, confirming the old saw about those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

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2 people found this helpful

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Long but good

A little long, but it's a great, easy listen that I found fun to listen to bit by bit over a couple of months.

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1 person found this helpful

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Fascinating……

This book filled in a whole lot of blanks for me. If you’re interested in forming your own opinion of this story…. There is a whole lot of valuable perspective here. Enjoyed it greatly.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fascinating

Mr. Boessenecker has outdone himself again. After his masterpiece on Frank Hamer, I was really hoping this would compare. It did. He, once again, struck a fair balance of the heroic with all their warts. In doing so, he proves that true history, i.e. stories backed by facts and logic, is more interesting, entertaining and fascinating than the legend that has been passed down.
The only downside to listening is the narrator’s inexcusable mispronunciations of certain towns (along with my petty hang-up of the way he says “county”; which is repeated a hundred times over). You will not regret listening to/reading this book. Bravo!

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7 people found this helpful

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Great as always

Last few minutes is very true. Flawed hero’s and justice often go hand in hand.

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1 person found this helpful

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thumbs up

great book. it puts you right into the actual gunfight's. very pleased. If you're into western history this book will put you there.

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5 people found this helpful

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They don't make men like these anymore....

I was hooked from the get go... What a time and way of life all of the people in this book endured. How far we have fallen in some respects and how far we've come in others...

A great listen for anyone..

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Solid historical, well researched

The Earps were a lot of things. This book doesn’t sugar coat any of it.

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Objectively Inform, Timely and Highly Entertaining

Boessenecker tells the well researched raw truth about the Earp brothers and their place in American history. The good, the bad and the ugly are all placed out in the open to help us understand the utility and perhaps even the necessity of the type of men that brought law and order to the frontier. The author does the tough job of presenting documented facts in a style as gripping as a gripping tale of fiction.

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4 people found this helpful

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A great deal of the real history.

The Earp's are betrayed as villain's and hero's in certain titles today, this book explains why that is. The media had taken political sides then just as today. I would recommend this read for the unbiased history of the Arizona southwest.

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