Tombstone's truth revealed in 'The Last Gunfight'

By Craig Wilson, USA TODAY

Jeff Guinn took readers down the back roads of Louisiana in his book Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde.

• 

  Jeff Guinn's The Last Gunfight delves into the true story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Jeff Guinn's The Last Gunfight delves into the true story of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

He's back in The Last Gunfight, displaying the impeccable research that is his trademark, to tell us what really happened at the gunfight at the O.K. Corral on that cold October day in 1881. Doc Holliday. The Earps. They're all here.

Those who love a good old-fashioned shoot-em-up Western might not be entirely happy with Guinn's storytelling. In short, the romance is stripped away. Guinn's story is what really happened, not what some Hollywood producer dreamed up. His research counters the myth.

That said, this is still a terrific read, just as Guinn's account of the deaths of Bonnie and Clyde was a terrific read. Sometimes the truth is just as interesting as the fiction. Maybe more so.

"What has come to be called 'the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' became a pivotal moment in American annals because misunderstandings, exaggerations, and outright lies about it provided impetus for future generations to form a skewed, one-dimensional view of frontier history," Guinn writes.

He calls the real story of Tombstone, which was then in the Arizona Territory, far more complex than a "cartoonish confrontation between good guys and bad guys."

The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral - And How it Changed the American West
* * * out of four
By Jeff Guinn
Simon & Schuster, 384 pp., $27

What readers will find is not only an interesting story of misdeeds and misbehavin' ? and a very brief gunfight ? but a story well told, a glimpse into daily life out West at the end of the 19th century.

Listen to Guinn's evocative description of the times: "Dogs ran wild through the Tombstone streets and relieved themselves indiscriminately. So did horses, and the mules pulling freight wagons?Tombstone employed a town scavenger, but there was always more rotting debris than one man could pick up. As a result, packs of rats joined the ubiquitous desert scorpions and spiders in swarming through town in alarming numbers. Even in fine new residences built of adobe and wood, people fell asleep trying to ignore the scrabbling of rodent paws nearby."

And then there's that little matter of a gunfight.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

We've updated the Conversation Guidelines. Changes include a brief review of the moderation process and an explanation on how to use the "Report Abuse" button. Read more.

Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/usatoday-LifeTopStories/~3/uyD5YiiPtuk/2011-06-02-the-last-gunfight-jeff-guinn_n.htm

Dominique Swain Malin Akerman Drea de Matteo Tricia Helfer Leelee Sobieski