Shot All to Hell

May 27, 2013
In this true-life tale of the infamous Jesse James and his outlaw gang, historian Gardner (To Hell on a Fast Horse) crafts an elegant narrative that’s as entertaining as it is historically accurate. Led by the “unquestionably charismatic” Jesse and his Shakespeare- and Bible-quoting brother Frank, the criminals are a “bunch of good ol’ boys” whose “fearless efficiency” in their capers and their penchant for stylish horses, clothes, and pistols made them celebrities in their own day. The book’s focus is a 10-minute bank heist and shootout in Northfield, Minn., in 1876, which leaves two gang members dead and the survivors on the lam. Gardner conveys the mayhem wonderfully, shifting focus from within the bank to the men on the street to townspeople taking up arms in defense, providing a rich visual and rhythmic dimension to the story and shedding light on a bygone era’s drastically different approach to law enforcement. The ensuing manhunt is fraught with tension as the James gang, with “various wounds seeping blood and pus,” roams the wilderness, evading numerous mobilized vigilante forces made up of a panoply of characters with rich histories all their own. A must-read for any western fan. Agent: Jim Donovan, Donovan Literary.

July 1, 2013
There are, of course, many books and films, some serious and some fanciful, on the exploits of the James-Younger gang. Unlike most of them, Gardner, an authority on the American West, has shed considerable light on a neglected aspect of the gang's life of crime, the escape of Frank and Jesse James from several posses after the debacle of their attempted robbery of the bank in Northfield, Minnesota. In his description of the origins of the gang and their careers before Northfield, Gardner provides a useful background for novices on the topic. His narrative picks up steam in his detailed, almost bullet-by-bullet account of the failed robbery. In the planning, the James brothers failed to realize that the well-armed citizens of Northfield would resist the attack on a bank that held their savings. Those who escaped the carnage in the town were the subject of a massive manhunt covering hundreds of miles, and the escape of Frank and Jesse was both exciting and remarkable. This is a well-done reexamination of an episode that has become enshrined in Western lore.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
An action-packed, admiring portrait of the James-Younger gang that robbed people, banks and trains for a decade before retiring, dying or stewing in prison. Western historian Gardner (To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West, 2010) has done impressive research in the Old West's abundant but relentlessly unreliable sources (lurid newspaper articles, jailhouse interviews, self-serving memoirs by elderly gang members) to deliver a colorful portrait of men who do not deserve his admiration. Jesse James (1847-1882), Frank James (1843-1915) and the Younger brothers grew up in the Midwest. Confederate sympathizers, most participated as "bushwackers" in the nasty partisan insurgency that wracked Missouri during the Civil War. Inured to violence, they later coalesced into a criminal band that traveled widely and became national news. Gardner summarizes their lives and early depredations before settling in to describe their last, spectacularly bungled 1876 robbery of a Northfield, Minn., bank. The clerk refused to open the safe. By the time the gang lost patience and killed him, the citizenry had gathered whatever weapons they could find, killed two gang members and wounded the rest before the robbers fled. There followed a massive, disorganized manhunt from which only Jesse and Frank escaped. Jesse later recruited another gang and committed several robberies before one member killed him for the reward. Written in the breathless prose that seems obligatory for this genre and with more sympathy to the subjects than seems necessary, the book is still a gripping read and probably tells all there is to tell about a legendary group of psychopaths.

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