Author and researcher Joseph G. Rosa continues his descent into the understanding of historic lawman and all-around dangerous gun-hand Will Bill Hickok with his third book on the subject, titled The Man & His Myth. After following up his seminal work on Wild Bill (They Called Him Wild Bill) with the photographic collection that takes you into his world, he now takes on another angle by breaking down and examining all the stories about Wild Bill Hickok, and especially those that seem a bit too tall of tale to be believed.
But along the way he does more than just research and share his notes, he also takes a look at the practice of myth building and how it happens, and why it happens. The main purpose, or maybe effect, of this volume is to pull back the curtain a bit more after what had been written in his first. In that biography Rosa was careful to give a fair view of the different stories and claims that existed when studying Hickok, but in this effort he is able to spend more time, given that it is the singular focus of this book, to make sense of some of the seeming craziness that was a part of Wild Bill’s life and legend.
As always, Rosa delivers, and if you are a Hickok reader, fan, or student, then this one should also be in your collection. However, I will say, that of the four books on Hickok that Rosa put out, I would rank West Of and Gunfighter as slightly higher priority than this one.
Handy With A Gun...! 