The gunfight at the O.K. Corral has excited the imaginations of Western enthusiasts ever since that chilly October afternoon in 1881 when Doc Holliday and the three fighting Earps strode along a Tombstone, Arizona, street to confront the Clanton and McLaury brothers. When they met, Billy Clanton and the two McLaurys were shot to death; the popular image of the Wild West was reinforced; and fuel was provided for countless arguments over the characters, motives and actions of those involved.
And Die in the West presents the first fully detailed, objective narrative of the celebrated gunfight, of the tensions leading up to it, and of the bitter, bloody events that followed. Paula Mitchell Marks places the events surrounding the gunfight against a larger backdrop of a booming Tombstone an the fluid, frontier environment of greed, factions, and violence. In the process, Mark strips away many of the myths associated with the famous gunfight and of the West in general.
"Diehard Western buffs will enjoy this definitive account of the affair". -- Publishers Weekly.
"(A) memorable portrait of a curious town in curious times". -- New York Times Book Review.
"As Marks shows us in this extensively researched book, the truth of the matter is far more complex -- not to mention interesting -- than the generally held view. In fact, the Earps were a violent bunch who probably broke as many laws as they enforced, and the Clantons and McLaurys were earnest, if not entirely law-abiding, cattlemen with fairly respectable reputations in the Tombstone area". -- Booklist.