America loves the Western. Stories about frontier towns, outlaws and lawmen, and—most of all—killing. How did the myth and legend of the gunfighter come to permeate the U.S.? Were there rules to gunfights? How did you become famous by killing people? Did Texas, yes Texas, make all this possible?
We’ll answer those questions in this episode of the show as we discuss the new book The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild. It’s the work of returning guest (and Texan) Bryan Burrough.
Texas is both the West and the South
What made Texas so violent
What, exactly, is a gunfighter?
The rules of the duel
“Boys, I’m killed”
How to win friends while killin’ people
“What is more equalizing than a man alone with a gun?”
Historiography of the gunfighter
Modern bank robbers are boring
The cattle business is the perfect vehicle for violence
The future belongs ... to pirates?
Buy The Gunfighters from an independent bookstore or from Amazon
Lies, Damn Lies, and the Alamo
When I was a kid I learned about the Alamo. It’s 1836. Houston said to Travis, fortify the Alamo. Volunteers came from across the continent to fight and die for the dream of a free and independent Texas.
