John Wesley Hardin: Dark Angel of Texas

Rating:
Summary: Best biography of Hardin yet.
Review: Having considered myself a sort of amateur historian of Texas figures, I know quite a bit about J.W. Hardin. Leon Metz's biography is the most honest and thoroughly researched one I've come across yet. This along with Metz's engaging writing style made this book a hard one to put down. He doesn't glorify or vilify this Texas gunman, and the reader comes away with a new understanding of the times and tribulations of those who lived on the frontier. I'm a hard sell, and yet I would recommend this book to anyone interested in characters of the American West.

Rating:
Summary: John Wesley Hardin--he does look like Randy Quaid!
Review: John Wesley Hardin was a Texan, of ill repute no doubt, but he was a Texan. Like it or not there is more to our wonderful state's history than The Alamo and Sam Houston, and some of that history has a decidely darker tinge, morally speaking, and we cannot pick and choose our historical figures. And I highly doubt that any child who reads about Hardin will run out and start blazing away at cops.

This is probably the definitive Hardin biography; though that doesn't say much as there are very few to begin with. If you want to know the facts about John Wesley from childhood to death, Dark Angel Of Texas is the book to read. If you want to read some compelling and well written history, well, try typing Stephen Ambrose into the search bar because you won't find it here. As another said before, facts--no more, no less.


Rating:
Summary: Excellent account of the noted desperado
Review: This is a fascinating book that I found very hard to put down. Mr. Metz' writing style is very folksy and engaging, yet quite scholarly. He neither presents Hardin as a hero, nor does he pass judgement: the facts speak for themselves.

Now on to the next Leon Metz book! This reviewer will definitely read them all.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent account of the noted desperado
Review: This is a fascinating book that I found very hard to put down. Mr. Metz' writing style is very folksy and engaging, yet quite scholarly. He neither presents Hardin as a hero, nor does he pass judgement: the facts speak for themselves.

Now on to the next Leon Metz book! This reviewer will definitely read them all.

Rating:
Summary: Just the facts, M'am
Review: Yes, you get the facts of John Wesley Hardin's life, probably more of them than you wanted to know. What you don't get is any kind of decent prose.