They Died With Their Boots On: Breaking the Myth of the Categorization of the Gunmen of the American West

Abstract

Many people have a very limited view on the gunmen of the American West. By looking at the lives of some of the extraordinary men and women who were western gunmen, new perspective is gained on their lives. This perspective shatters many common western stereotypes and disproves much western mythology. Looking at their lives overthrows popular mythology of the good gunman against the bad gunmen. A person did not have to be an outlaw, a murderer a man or even an evil person to be a western gunman.