Wanted. The Outlaw Lives Of Billy The Kid & Ned Kelly

ROBERT M. UTLEY

Publication: Yale University Press, 2015, New Haven

First edition. 8vo. Boards, ix [blank], 223 pp., preface, illustrated, maps, bibliographic essay, index. In a dust jacket blurb Frederick Nolan says " Brilliant idea! Billy the Kid and Ned Kelly didn't have a lot in common, but together they make one helluva book. What makes this 'comparison test' fascinating is that the author gives you the facts and leaves you to decide for yourself. I'm still working on it." In his Billy the Kid section, the focus is on the Lincoln County War in New Mexico, Kid's conflict with lawman Pat Garrett and Kid's death in Fort Sumner, New Mexico in 1881. In his Ned Kelly section the focus is on his bushranger gang in Victoria; the famous Glenrowan siege; and Kelly's capture and execution in Melbourne in 1880. Utley studies how both men became national legends, discussing myth vs. historical reality; media portrayals of outlaws; frontier societies in both the United States and Australia and why societies sometimes turn criminals into folk heroes. As new, unread copy in dust jacket.