Shot All to Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West's Greatest Escape (Large Print)

(Paperback)

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It was the most famous bank robbery of all time, involving the legendary James-Younger gang's final, shocking holdupthe infamous Northfield Raidand the thrilling two-week chase that followed. Mark Lee Gardner, author of the critically acclaimed To Hell on a Fast Horse, takes us inside Northfield's First National Bank and outside to the streets as Jesse James and his band of outlaws square off against the heroic citizens who risked their lives to defeat America's most daring criminals. With vivid detail and novelistic verve, Gardner follows the James brothers as they elude both the authorities and the furious citizen posses hell-bent on capturing themone of the largest manhunts in the history of the United States. He reveals the serendipitous endings of the Younger brothers, Cole, Jim, and Bob, and explores the James brothers' fates after the dust settled, solving mysteries about the raid that have been hotly debated for more than 130 years.

A galloping true tale of frontier justice featuring audacious outlaws and intrepid heroes, Shot All to Hell is a riveting slice of Wild West history that continues to fascinate today.

Reviews

"Rollicking. ... Equal parts violent melodrama and meticulous procedural... with enough bloody action to engage readers enthralled by tales of good versus evil." -- New York Times Book Review

"Superb. ... Mr. Gardner earns an A+ for his research and an A++ for his writing. -- New York Journal of Books

"An elegant narrative that's as entertaining as it is historically accurate... A must-read." -- Publishers Weekly

"Action packed...A gripping read and probably tells all there is to tell about a legendary group of psychopaths." -- Kirkus

"[This] bullet-by-bullet account... sheds considerable light on a neglected aspect of the gang's life of crime... well done." -- Booklist

"Rewarding. ... Gardner's re-creation of the Northfield Raid... orchestrates the often-unwieldy particulars of the event with considerable virtuosity. ... It would be hard to imagine a more thorough account." -- Washington Post

Author Bio

Mark Lee Gardner is the author of To Hell on a Fast Horse, the story of Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett. An authority on the American West, Gardner has appeared on PBS's American Experience, ABC's World News, the History Channel, Encore Westerns, NPR's All Things Considered, and BBC Radio. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, American Heritage, Wild West, American Cowboy, and New Mexico magazine. Gardner lives with his family in Cascade, Colorado.