Belle Starr and Her Times

Probably the most honest biography concerning the "Bandit Queen". Belle Starr grew up at a bad time in a bad place and made a couple of bad decisions. Shirley gives all sides of her story and sorts out the facts from the fiction ---well, as good as can be expected at this late date.I may be a little bias. My grandmother claimed to have met Belle Starr at a trading post in Eastern Oklahoma. And the lady described in this book matched Grandma's description. And yes, "Lady" is how my Grandma saw her.

I have read two books by Glenn Shirley and found them to be as accurate as can possibly be determined by known public and private records. I verified some of the material that he used in this book on a recent research trip to the Ft. Smith Historical Park research library. It was all very accurate. Since one of my ancestors is described in this book, a deputy marshal and posse (Tyner Hughes and Charley Barnhill) who brought her in, I have family stories to back up the representation he made on this arrest. These stories were given to my family by two nephews of Charley Barnhill, and agree with Shirley's account. Other deputies who rode with them have substantiated the information in the Indian Pioneer Papers also. A great read.

Liked the facts but it included alot of facts found not true and it became confusing the way it was presented.

An interesting story that explains the both fiction along with the facts of this legendary character.

I enjoyed the historical facts. It was written by a relative so I hope this version is more accurate since Belle is also an ancestor of mine!

Good book, written with what little info there is on Starr, so much of the book wanders off on semi-related tangents, which in turn created the bulk of the book.

Family history

THIS WAS A GIFT.

Is what Belle Starr seems to have been.Glenn Shirley lists all sorts of legends and truths, along with (maybe somewhat too) extensive descriptions of guerrilla movements during the civil war. It takes some time to get used to his method of relating all the legendary accounts and only afterwards terming them fabrications or facts, this is truly irritating. And he certainly is no James McLaird (who's "Calamity Jane - the Woman and the Legend" is absolute state of the art and science), but his efforts leave one with a distinct impression fed by a myriad of mostly well researched facts, which, in my case, differs somewhat from the warm feelings Shirley himself develops for his subject. Which goes to show that the information provided allows for independent opinions to be formed. And that is certainly praiseworthy!The kindle edition is a very good one, with almost no spelling faults, and I enjoyed reading this very much.