Description
In this definitive biography of the most infamous female American outlaw of the nineteenth century, Michael Wallis challenges a notorious legacy
In the annals of Wild West desperadoes, Belle Starr is remembered as the Bandit Queen. Now Michael Wallis parses over a century of mythmaking to reveal the woman behind the renegade legend.
Starr was born Myra Maibelle Shirley in 1848 and was educated to be a Southern belle. Her early years were characterised by the chaotic violence of the American Civil War—she was traumatised by the death of her brother while riding with a guerilla group supporting the Confederate Army and she swore revenge against all Yankees, becoming a “friend to any brave and gallant outlaw”.
Turning a redemptive eye to Belle Starr’s legacy, Wallis crafts portrait of a woman demonised for refusing to accept genteel Victorian ideals, who chose to live her life outside the law, riding with a pearl-handled Colt .45 strapped to her hip.
Starr was born Myra Maibelle Shirley in 1848 and was educated to be a Southern belle. Her early years were characterised by the chaotic violence of the American Civil War—she was traumatised by the death of her brother while riding with a guerilla group supporting the Confederate Army and she swore revenge against all Yankees, becoming a “friend to any brave and gallant outlaw”.
Turning a redemptive eye to Belle Starr’s legacy, Wallis crafts portrait of a woman demonised for refusing to accept genteel Victorian ideals, who chose to live her life outside the law, riding with a pearl-handled Colt .45 strapped to her hip.
Also By: Michael Wallis 
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Paperback, 2018
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award
A Publishers Weekly Holiday Guide History Pick“A book so gripping it can scarcely be put down.......
The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny
E Book, 2017
Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence
Finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award
A Publishers Weekly Holiday Guide History Pick“A book so gripping it can scarcely be put down.......
The Best Land Under Heaven: The Donner Party in the Age of Manifest Destiny
Hardback, 2017
Named “Best Book of 2017” by the Wild West History Association
Cutting through 160 years of mythmaking, best-selling historian Michael Wallis presents the ultimate cautionary tale of America’s...
David Crockett: The Lion of the West
Paperback, 2012
"Vivid, Comprehensible . . . cuts through decades of mythmaking." —Texas Monthly
Pretty Boy: The Life and Times of Charles Arthur Floyd
E Book, 2011
"This engaging biography exactly and vividly catches the tone of a region, a time, and a man."—Larry McMurtry
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