David Fisher’s Legends & Lies: The Real West, an oversized book of 285 pages of text and historical photos, was published in 2015 as a companion piece to a television series of the same title. As such, I’m sure it provided much more detail and context than the television shows could have possibly offered. However, readers picking it up at this point, especially those who know even the basic history of the American west are likely to be at least a little underwhelmed by the book.

That said, Legends & Lies does have separate chapters on the people that most of us so readily identify with the history of America’s westward expansion. Too, the chapters help the reader separate fact from myth even if they do not always provide enough context to explain effectively the motivations of everyone involved. This is very far from being the whole story, but I don’t think it pretends to be that. Legends & Lies, for the most part, delivers what it promises: a brief look at the “characters” that Hollywood and early television programming turned into mythical American heroes, be they “good guys” or “bad guys.” And, many times, they were both.

The twelve chapters are these:

Daniel Boone: Traitor or Patriot?
David Crockett: Capitol Hillbilly
Kit Carson: Duty Before Honor
Black Bart: Gentleman Bandit
Wild Bill Hickok: Plains Justice
Bass Reeves: The Real Lone Ranger
George Armstrong Custer: A General’s Reckoning
Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley” The Radical Opportunists
Jesse James: Bloody Politics
Doc Holliday: Desperate Measures
Billy the Kid: Escape Artist
Butch Cassidy: The Last Man Standing

Bottom Line: Legends & Lies is a good place to start for readers wanting to learn more about a period of American history that still fascinates so many people all over the world. The book is both a primer and a decent jumping off spot for more focused histories on the same topic. There is certainly nothing new here, and that is likely to disappoint readers hoping to learn more about the “lies” referenced in the book’s title. Frankly, this is pop-history and it is probably more suitable for a Middle School audience than it is for an adult audience. ( )

O'Reilly has fooled me again. As previously with Killing Patton, the title is a come on. He simply rehashes all previous stories not some new insight as he would have you believe. ( )

I found this as an audiobook at a library book sale. I've read other O'Reilly works including the "Killing" series and at least one other Legends & Lies entry. This was kind of a bittersweet read for me as there were times I thought how much my late stepfather would have enjoyed some of the entries.

Many of the well known names from the wild west are included: Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Frank & Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, the Earps, Doc Holliday, and The Lone Ranger. I learned many interesting facts. ( )

Excellent book on the history of our nation. Very well written. ( )

While I have loved O'Reilly's books on Kennedy, Patton, and Lincoln, this one fell far short of those works. This book contains a brief overview of 12 western outlaws; however not much more information was provided than what I had learned in elementary school, Black Bart being the exception. ( )