A Good Read with Connie Cronley: 2 books that explore how the Civil War shaped the Wild West

Tulsa book reviewer Connie Cronley says two new Western reads, one from a local author, offer gripping, factual accounts of outlaw history shaped by the fallout of the Civil War.

Belle Starr’s Violent Path Revealed in Tulsa Author’s New Book

“We’re talking about two Western books today, both nonfiction, a lot of research,” said Connie Cronley, Tulsa-based author and book reviewer.

One of those books is Belle Starr: The Truth Behind the Legend of the Wild West, written by Tulsa author Michael Wallace. “She has a fascinating story. It is a female outlaw, the most famous female outlaw,” said Cronley. “Michael Wallace... set out to tell the truth about her and unwind and unwrap all the legends and myth.”

According to Cronley, the book reveals how Belle Starr’s background as a classically educated young woman was upended by war. “She went to a seminary, she studied Latin and Greek, piano, singing, but the violence of the Civil War... pushed her down into Indian Territory.”

“I think the choices she had as a woman were not very many,” Cronley added. “So she lived around outlaws, with outlaws, a lot of horse thiefing (stealing) going on. I think she did the best she could.”

The Civil War's Legacy in the Wild West

“What it tells me most... is the ramifications of the Civil War, how it spread beyond the battlefields,” Cronley said. “In my mind, battlefields. No. People didn’t forget it. They were so angry and so violent.”

Referencing how Belle Starr’s town was “burned... to the ground,” Cronley emphasized how much of the violence and chaos stemmed from lingering post-war resentment. “The Kansas guerrillas hated the Majorans and said, ‘I want to extinguish them from the face of the earth.’”

The Gunfighters: Fascinating, But Hard to Digest

The second book, The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild by Bryan Burrough, also explores the Wild West’s lawless legacy. “Same thing. And that’s where you saw the first play out of the standoff,” Cronley said. “Exactly. Side to side. That’s where that started.”

However, Cronley was less impressed with the book’s tone. “I really do not like the style of that book."

She cited the book’s “casual, just plain folk style” as a distraction. “Quit trying to be this macho style. Just tell us the story.”

Still, she acknowledged it had its strengths. “It is informational,” she said, referencing a New York Times review that called it “a hell of a good read.”