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Bryan Burrough -- "The Gunfighters"

Category: Literary

Date and Time

  • Wednesday, Jul 9, 2025  6:30pm - 7:30pm

Location

Boulder Bookstore
1107 Pearl St

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Details

Bryan Burrough will speak about and sign his new book, "The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild," on Wednesday, July 9th at 6:30pm, at Boulder Bookstore. Tickets for this event are $5 (plus a small processing fee) and are available on Eventbrite.

About the Book:
The “Wild West” gunfighter is such a stock figure in our popular culture that some dismiss it all as a corny myth, more a product of dime novels and B movies than a genuinely important American history. In fact, as Bryan Burrough shows us in his dazzling and fast-paced new book, there’s much more below the surface. For three decades at the end of the 1800s, a big swath of the American West was a crucible of change, with the highest murder rate per capita in American history. The reasons behind this boil down to one word: Texas.

"The Gunfighters" brilliantly sifts the lies from the truth, giving both elements their due. And the truth is sufficiently wild for any but the most unhinged tastes. All the legendary figures are here, and their escapades are told with great flair—good, bad, and ugly. Like all great stories, this one has a rousing end—as the railroads and the settlers close off the open spaces for good, the last of the breed, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, really do get on a boat for South America, ending their era in a blaze of glory. Burrough knits these histories together into something much deeper and more provocative than simply the sum of its parts. To understand the truth of the Wild West is to understand a crucial dimension of the American story.

IMPORTANT TICKETING AND EVENT INFORMATION

*Tickets are $5 (plus a small processing fee).

*A coupon good for $5 off a copy of "The Gunfighters" or a purchase on the day of the event is included with your ticket. You will receive this coupon at the event.