John Wesley Hardin was the only Wild West outlaw to write his autobiography. This new 2018 edition of his prison-penned memoirs includes an introduction and footnotes by author and translator Damian Stevenson ('On the Shortness of Life') which help shed light on this most enigmatic of Old West legends.

" ... the only authentic autobiography of a gunfighter ... reveals [what] made him the most dreaded killer in Texas, admitting to at least 40 fatal shootings ..."--Cover.

John Wesley Hardin spread terror in much of Texas in the years following the Civil War as the most wanted fugitive. Hardin left an autobiography in which he detailed many of the troubles of his life. In A Lawless Breed, Parsons and Brown have meticulously examined his claims against available records to determine how much of his life story is true, and how much was only a half truth, or a complete lie.

Courtesy special collections Albert B. Alkek Library, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.

*Includes pictures. *Includes quotes from Hardin's autobiography about his life and notorious events. *Includes a bibliography for further reading. "I never killed anyone who didn't need killing." - John Wesley Hardin Space may be the final frontier, but no frontier has ever captured the American imagination like the "Wild West," which still evokes images of dusty cowboys, outlaws, gunfights, gamblers, and barroom brawls over 100 years after the West was settled. A constant fixture in American pop culture, the 19th century American West continues to be vividly and colorful portrayed not just as a place but as a state of mind. In Charles River Editors' Legends of the West series, readers can get caught up to speed on the lives of America's most famous frontier figures in the time it takes to finish a commute, while learning interesting facts long forgotten or never known. America has always preferred heroes who weren't clean cut, an informal ode to the rugged individualism and pioneering spirit that defined the nation in previous centuries. After the early 19th century saw the glorification of frontier folk heroes like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone, a new breed of folk icons inhabited the Wild West, and one of the most notorious and controversial of them all is John Wesley Hardin, still regarded today as Texas' most deadly gunfighter and most famous outlaw. Outlaws like Jesse James and Billy the Kid robbed and fought their way into dime novels, but Hardin managed to write his own way in, all while his encounters with the law in the South during Reconstruction made him a hero of sorts among Southerners. Hardin managed a stint in prison, claimed to have killed dozens of men, had an encounter with Wild Bill Hickok, and was even alleged to have killed a man because he was snoring. Despite all that activity, Hardin also managed to write an autobiography of his life, a unique feat among most outlaws of the era, who were too busy merely trying to avoid justice and/or death. Of course, Hardin's claims in the autobiography have also been subjected to much scrutiny by historians, even as his reputation and legacy were hardened by his life and notorious death. While he had several documented and well-known brushes with the law and other famous Westerners, historians still attempt to sort out the facts from the legends. Legends of the West: The Life and Legacy of John Wesley Hardin chronicles the outlaw's life and examines the myths and legends surrounding his story. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about Hardin like you never have before, in no time at all.