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Bill Neal, a west Texas lawyer with experience in both defense and prosecution, explores [“how justice grew up in the Outlaw West”] by examining a half-dozen murder cases and their resolutions in private vengeance, mob action, or trial… [he] is careful to place his tales solidly in the context of the frontier popular culture and class struggle between the great ranchers and the later-arriving settlers… [and] has a thorough grasp of the time and place. The book is deeply and broadly researched, relying heavily on court transcripts and newspaper accounts. Neal remains the master storyteller. Even his digressions, of which there are several, fascinate…all throw light on the characters of the people involved and whet the reader’s appetite for more. Throughout the journey from guns to gavels, Neal never loses the reader’s interest.
John Ross, |