Wild Bill Hickok
Richard O'Connor
Mass Market Paperback
(Ace Books, March 15, 1970)
As anyone knows, it is nearly impossible to separate fact from imagination from myth when writing about one of these famed heroes of the Old West. O'Connor's effort has been known for years, and although clearly embellished in places, it is considered the most authoritative of a bad lot. Hickok's story begins in 1861, with a young man of 24 working for pittance wages in Nebraska. It ends 16 years later, in Deadwood, with the hanging of his murderer. In between are enough gunfights and quests to fill a dozen western novels.