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Review Quotes:
Well-researched and compelling . . . Beyond his portrait of Starr's life, Wallis does an excellent job of sorting through and correcting myths and legends about her.-- "Library Journal"
Review Quotes:
A dazzlingly written and copiously researched biography of that flamboyant outlaw from Missouri.... Stealing horses, befriending rogues, and mastering firearms, the real Belle Starr, as documented by Michael Wallis, is far more beguiling than the pulp Westerns, Woody Guthrie folksongs, and Hollywood portrayals anchored around her notorious high-stakes antics.... Highly recommended!--Douglas Brinkley, author of The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
Review Quotes:
Thoroughly researched, vibrant, and well written so as to keep one's attention, at the same time dispelling and correcting previously believed 'facts' that were little more than legend. 'Definitive' is the word for this new book!--Roy B. Young, coauthor of Chasing Billy the Kid
Review Quotes:
An annoyance of history is our tendency to accept myth more readily than documented fact. Michael Wallis's excellent and thorough analysis of the legend of Belle Starr explores this theme with rare insight into the lawless West of the nineteenth century.--Rinker Buck, author of Life on the Mississippi: An Epic American Adventure
Review Quotes:
A wild romp where we ride shotgun with the West's most fascinating and mythologized outlaw heroine. It may be the sizzle that sells the steak, but this new biography is just as good as it sounds.--Matthew Bernstein, author of George Hearst: Silver King of the Gilded Age
Review Quotes:
Exhaustive research and much-needed context make Michael Wallis's
Belle Starr essential reading. The truth about Belle--and, through her many escapades and tragedies, the nature of the emerging American West--is finally here.--Jeff Guinn, author of The Last Gunfight
Review Quotes:
A measured but fascinating account of a mythical outlaw.-- "Booklist"
Brief Description:
"In the annals of legendary Wild West desperadoes, Belle Starr is remembered to this day as the Bandit Queen. ... Now ... Michael Wallis parses over a century of mythmaking to reveal the woman behind the renegade legend. Wielding compelling research, including correspondence, official records, and contemporary newspaper accounts, Wallis traces Starr's beginnings to Carthage, Missouri, where she was born Myra Maibelle Shirley in 1848 and was classically educated to be a Southern belle. Myra's early years were characterized by the chaotic violence of the Civil War. ... From then on, she swore revenge against all Yankees and became a willing 'friend to any brave and gallant outlaw.' The crimes committed by Starr's innermost circle--stagecoach stickups, bank robbery, horse theft--would take her from war-torn Carthage to rollicking Scyene, Texas, until she finally settled in Indian Territory (present Oklahoma). And although Starr indeed ran in the same circles as notorious outlaws Jesse James and the Younger brothers, the crimes ascribed to her were greatly embellished--including the fact that the allegedly bloodthirsty Starr more than likely never killed a single person"--
Review Quotes:
The lurid reputation of a famed outlaw is energetically fact-checked by historian Wallis (
The Best Land Under Heaven) in this diligent account. In his attempt "to unravel the... legend" of Belle Starr (the so-called "female Jesse James"), Wallis retires many baseless falsehoods while rendering a sympathetic portrait of a woman hardened by conflict and loss.-- "Publishers Weekly"
Publisher Marketing:
In the annals of legendary Wild West desperadoes, Belle Starr is remembered to this day as the Bandit Queen. Shortly after her murder in 1889, a highly romanticized, sensational book titled
Bella Starr ... The Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James was published--the first in a series of high-profile portraits to brand Starr as a villain. Now, celebrated author Michael Wallis parses over a century of mythmaking to reveal the woman behind the renegade legend.
Wielding compelling research, including correspondence, official records, and contemporary newspaper accounts, Wallis traces Starr's beginnings to Carthage, Missouri, where she was born Myra Maibelle Shirley in 1848 and was classically educated to be a Southern belle. Myra's early years were characterized by the chaotic violence of the Civil War--she was traumatized by the death of her brother, who was killed riding with "bushwhackers," one of the many insurgent guerilla groups supporting the Confederate Army. From then on, she swore revenge against all Yankees and became a willing "friend to any brave and gallant outlaw."
The crimes committed by Starr's innermost circle--stagecoach stickups, bank robbery, horse theft--would take her from war-torn Carthage to rollicking Scyene, Texas, until she finally settled in Indian Territory (present Oklahoma). And although Starr indeed ran in the same circles as notorious outlaws Jesse James and the Younger brothers, the crimes ascribed to her were greatly embellished--including the fact that the allegedly bloodthirsty Starr more than likely never killed a single person.
Turning a redemptive eye to Belle Starr's tarnished legacy, Wallis crafts an illuminating portrait of a woman demonized for refusing to accept the genteel Victorian ideals expected of her, a woman who chose instead to live her life outside the law, riding sidesaddle with a pearl-handled Colt .45 strapped to her hip.
Review Citations:
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Library Journal 04/18/2025 pg. 9 (EAN 9781631494772, Hardcover)
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Kirkus Reviews 04/15/2025 (EAN 9781631494772, Hardcover)
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Booklist 05/01/2025 pg. 18 (EAN 9781631494772, Hardcover)
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Publishers Weekly 07/14/2025 (EAN 9781631494772, Hardcover)
Contributor Bio:Wallis, Michael
Michael Wallis, author of
The Best Land Under Heaven and the best-selling
Route 66 and
Billy the Kid, has published nineteen books and won numerous awards and honors. He is a popular public speaker and voice actor and lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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