Thunder in the West

The Life and Legends of Billy the Kid, Volume 32 (The Oklahoma Western Biographies)

By: Richard W. Etulain

Narrated by: Jack de Golia

Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Billy the Kid - born Henry McCarty in 1859, and also known as William H. Bonney - emerges from this audio in all his complexity, at once a gentleman and gregarious companion and a thief and violent murderer. Tapping new depths of research, Etulain traces Billy’s short life from his mysterious origins in the East through his wanderings in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. As we move from his peripatetic early years through the wild West to his fatal involvement in the Lincoln County Wars, we see the impressionable boy give way to the conflicted young man and, finally, to the opportunistic and often amoral outlaw who was out for himself, for revenge, and for whatever he could steal along the way.

Against this deftly drawn portrait, Richard W. Etulain considers the stories and myths spawned by Billy’s life and death. Beginning with the dime novels featuring Billy the Kid, even during his lifetime, and ranging across the myriad newspaper accounts, novels, and movies that alternately celebrated his outlaw life and condemned his exploits, Etulain offers a uniquely informed view of the changing interpretations that have shaped and reshaped the reputation of this enduring icon of the Old West.

The book is published by University of Oklahoma Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2020 University of Oklahoma Press (P)2021 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

“Offers the gold standard in the fields of history and lore on Lincoln County, New Mexico, and Billy the Kid.” (David V. Holtby, author of Forty-Seventh Star)

“Richard W. Etulain is one of the best known writers of the Wild West. Highly recommend!” (Tombstone Epitaph)

“Solid, carefully researched, and well written. It also serves as a guide to areas for western historians’ further research.” (Southwestern Historical Quarterly)

Thoroughly Entertaining

I loved this biography and appreciate that Etulain put the story of Billy the Kid in part one and the historiography of Billy in the second. It's a fascinating read and I have found many more books to read!

Too much repetitiveness, and more than half the book essentially the repeats itself

Half the book Chronicles the short life of Billy the kid, and the other half basically repeats the same things but from the perspective of others. The book should’ve just been half as long and only had the first part.