Epitaph: A Novel of the O.K. Corral

Convincing and believable characters in a historical setting I believed that I knew much about, about written with an excellent use of period believable dialogue. Highly recommended and I am off to visit the back catalogue of the writer. In Corona virus lock down mode, so this was an exceptionally good read to immerse myself in. It was sitting on a bookshelf for a fair time in my study and I am so glad I finally got around to reading it. I have read many books and watched many films about this subject and characters and I so enjoyed and related to this writer's perceptive take on them. So hard to have a new approach on such well trodden territory. Kudos to Ms Russell

Having already read Mary Doria Russell's other book 'Doc' which deals with the period up to Doc Holliday's arrival in Tombstone, this book concentrates on the events leading up to the Gunfight at the OK Corral and the aftermath. Wonderfully written with insights into the characters, especially the women partners of all the Earps and Doc Holliday. Having visited Tombstone many times, this book really takes me back there to 1881 and that fateful day in October. I couldn't put it down.

This book is really well written and sounds very well researched. The impression is of a very realistic portrayal of life in the wild west, warts and all. If you are interested in this era I think you will love this book.

An excellent book, I really enjoyed it.

Just reading now, compelling read. Be good to see as big screen movie someday

Just Excellent!

As advertised good condition

It’s not a Louis L’Amour or a Zane Grey western (or a John Wayne movie), but Mary Doria Russell gives us an Old West that barely resembles the standard Western stories, with their “brawling, boozy refuge for every Civil War-displaced vagabond, seeker of gold (copper, tin, silver, oil), and would-be financier that once constituted the US frontier.”In "Epitaph," the third in the Russell series, the author picks up the story, a few years later, in the Arizona Territory where a whole lot of action is about to be taken. All events are now leading up to that renowned gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone.Tombstone, Arizona, is an example of everything right and wrong on the frontier of the Old West, according to Russell. The legends of the fortunes men made from the silver mines, bringing tons of money and the associated politics with often corrupting effects and add to that, the animosity between those sympathizing with the South resenting the exploitations put forth by “businessmen” form the North and it is an explosive scenario. It’s not the Hatfields and the McCoys—it’s the Earps and Doc Holliday versus the Clantons and the McLaurys—and a collision course is underway—culminating, as historians and movie buffs know, in the infamous battle at that infamous OK Corral—some 30 secondsof long-lasting infamy. And as we know, and as Russell readily points out, that incident became a symbol of the old (and really) Wild West.Russell does not spend any time in making this a scholarly or historical paper—as she readily adds bits here and there (novel's license!) to make it good (fast) fiction with more than just a “touch” of history. Again, though, John Wayne it is not. And not a whole lot of glorification of the characters—real or fictional! But an interesting “take” regardless.