The Last Outlaws

February 11, 2013
While not the first or likely the last book to chronicle the colorful lives of outlaws Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hatch (Black Kettle) has potentially written the most authoritative. Drawing from an impressive number of sources, Hatch's multidimensional study of two of the Wild West's most famous criminals and their compatriots strives for accuracy without sacrificing entertainment value. He covers the duo's evolution from ranch hands to robbers with a reporter's eye and a novelist's sense of drama, recounting colorful anecdotes without letting the story get the best of him; each robbery, tryst, and outlaw with whom Butch and Sundance crossed paths is noted here, often with footnotes. Some escapades, like the story behind the infamous photo of the Wild Bunch, a boneheaded error that forced the group to abandon their criminal ways due to their newfound notoriety, have been told before, but Hatch's enthusiasm for the material and empathy for his subjects makes them seem new. Photos, maps, and a litany of sources that offer supplemental reading material should give armchair sheriffs plenty of material to work with in this immersive and entertaining study.

December 1, 2012
In this dual biography of celebrated bandits, a specialist in the Old West deftly separates fact from fiction. The nature of their business required Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Longabaugh to adopt many aliases, but they were best known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Raised in religious families, both men were well-read, both did a prison stretch for horse stealing, and both had a taste for the traditional cowboy pleasures of drinking, gambling and whoring. The handsome, quick-tempered, aloof Sundance was famous for his lightning draw. The gregarious, shrewd Butch was a natural-born leader, known for his meticulous execution of heists, paying special attention to the getaway plan. Together, from rough hideouts like Wyoming's Hole-in-the-Wall and Utah's Robbers' Roost, they bossed the notorious Wild Bunch, a loose confederation of ruffians and desperados that included the likes of "Kid Curry" and "News" Carver. Butch and Sundance made periodic attempts to go straight, but they always returned to their robbing ways, finally fleeing to Bolivia where the cavalry caught up with them in 1908. Though he supplies plenty of information, Hatch (Osceola and the Great Seminole War, 2012, etc.) earns huge credibility by frankly admitting that much remains unknown about these legendary outlaws, including the mysterious origins and disappearance of Sundance's beguiling paramour, Etta Place, and the precise circumstances of their deaths. He underscores his theme of Butch and Sundance as the last of a breed, reminding us that by the turn of the century, outlaws no longer faced capture merely by random individuals, but rather by an "organized system," whereby detective agencies, Pinkerton and Wells Fargo, armed with money and resources, could coordinate with all levels of law enforcement to hunt down criminals. An easygoing account of the outlaw duo whose era separated Frank and Jesse James from Bonnie and Clyde.

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January 1, 2013
Cassidy and Sundance, of course, are best known as the wisecracking and doomed comrades-in-crime from the film starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Hatch, the acclaimed western historian, succeeds in sifting out the film's embellishments in this excellent dual biography. Yet the portrait that emerges of these men is surprisingly similar to their characterizations in the film. Hatch describes in detail the upbringing of both, and each could be described as a good boy gone wrong. Cassidy, born Robert Leroy Parker, was the eldest child of a Utah Mormon couple. He grew up hardscrabble but hardworking and was described as affable and loyal to both family and friends. Sundance, born Harry Longabaugh, also was reared in a stable, religious family, in Pennsylvania. Possessed of a romantic and restless spirit, he moved westward at the age of 14. Both youths fell casually into a life of crime, moving from branding other ranchers' stray cattle to bank holdups and train robberies. The brotherly relationship between Butch and Sundance may have been exaggerated, but they did indeed die together in Bolivia. This is an interesting and credible look at their lives and times.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)