Why the West Was Wild: A Contemporary Look at the Antics of Some Highly Publicized Kansas Cowtown Personalities

This deluxe anniversary volume is the first complete edition to appear in forty years.

“For about 51 weeks a year the average old-time cowboy could be classified as a hard working, fairly sober, and usually conscientious individual. During the 52nd week, however, he might erupt into a rip-snorting, free-spending hell raiser bent on divesting himself of his earnings in the quickest and most enjoyable manner possible. What caused this usually mild and law-abiding creature to undergo such a metamorphosis? He was celebrating--making up for the long and lonely weeks he had just spent on the trail drive from Texas. He was delighted with the thought that no more, for a few weeks at least, would he spend his nights trying to nurse edgy cattle into tranquility. . . . He was free now--unemployed, uninhibited, and rich--until tomorrow or next week! And waiting for the trail cowboy and his cash, almost rubbing its hands in anticipation, was the cowtown.”--from Why the West Was Wild

Nyle H. Miller and Joseph W. Snell’s Why the West Was Wild is the unabridged and unsurpassed collection of material assembled on the famous and infamous personalities of Kansas cowtowns, including legendary figures such as “Wild Bill” Hickok, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday, and such locales as Abilene, Wichita, Caldwell, and Dodge City. First published in the Kansas Historical Quarterly, these portraits are based on research in newspapers, legal records, letters, and diaries contemporary to these legendary figures.