I found this book to be really just a lot of the author making it out like Kate was more than who she really was. From many other books, I have read most of the things written in this book just did not seem to happen and were made up by Kate a real shame.

The Wild West is most certainly a unique time period in American history to study. Gunfights, traveling cowboys, mining, brothels overflowing with drunks and prostitutes, gambling…As a keen reader and student of western American history, it was a pleasure reading this book. Chris Enss has done a true service in documenting fact and debunking fiction in the many tales about "Big Nose Kate." The book is able to vividly portray not only the life of Kate, but to put in the perspective of the often difficult struggles of living in the new and expanding raw west of her times. As always Chris Enss takes you on ride back in history and you learn as much as you feel.

I grew up on stories of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, and spent time visiting historical sites in Tombstone, Arizona, so I was thrilled for the opportunity to learn more about Mary Kate Cummings. This book lived up to my expectations and then some! What a fascinating woman with a truly fascinating life, and her story is told in a captivating way by Chris Enss. I loved considering Kate's perspective, and it was a fresh take to present it in her own voice.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Chris Enss account of Kate, a.k.a. Big-Nosed Kate, a lover of the west’s infamous Doc Holiday, tells the story of her experiences from childhood to her death. Additionally, readers get a sense of what the Wild West was like from personal descriptions and accounts of one woman’s history. The work develops from Kate’s own remembrances and other historic facts. As a Women’s history, “According to Kate” is at times rowdy and others sad; the author illuminates the reality of female lives that must rely on their own abilities to live a meager existence. Kate’s choice in survival was a combination of odd jobs and being a “lady-of-the-evening.” It is not often that the history of a woman of this social rank is recorded and shared among other male dominated histories. Unfortunately, while Kate is a strong individual, it is probably her relationships to the men of her world that propels her into the tomes of history. Through her many years and travels Kate was a madam and worked in saloons across the west. This personal story is readable, detailed, and reveals the regional history of the territories and the states in which Kate lives and works. The added details regarding Holiday, provide additional value to history. Recommended to readers of the American West History and Women’s History.

If you have read about Wyatt Earp, you most certainly have heard about Big Nose Kate. This book really gives you a better idea of how she ended up in Tombstone, meeting Doc Holliday, etc. But the story of Kate Elder is so much more, recommended reading!

Kate Elder, better known as Big Nose Kate, was a colorful character in the mercurial Wild West. Together with her paramour—possibly her husband—Doc Holliday, she shot, swindled and burned her way through Kansas, New Mexico, Texas and other parts of the American Southwest. My thanks go to Net Galley and Two Dot Publishing for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

Enss is a capable writer, and I enjoy seeing women about whom little has been written brought to the foreground. Enss amassed a fair amount of material on her subject, but some of it was contradictory, and the greatest contradictor of all was Kate herself, who decided to tell her own life story when she was too old to recall everything properly. Enss tells the reader in the title and introduction that she is telling Kate’s story from the subject’s point of view, and she adds numerous footnotes explaining conflicting information throughout the narrative.

I read things I had never known before about this time and place, and general historical knowledge is where Enss shines best. For example, a ‘soiled dove’ was allowed to own real estate, whereas married women of the time were not. There were a number of financial advantages to owning a house of ill repute. Kate grew up in a middle class household and was not without choices, but she didn’t care to be married off in the way her family had proposed. In the end she was both a shrewd businesswoman and an adrenaline junkie, one that made a point of having at least one loaded gun handy when a situation called for it. I enjoyed reading about it.

Unfortunately there is a lot of conflicting information and the gaps in the story are numerous. Anytime I start seeing the words “might,” “must have, “ “likely” and so forth, I pull back from the narrative. I can’t get lost in a story when I have to mentally filter the things that are known to have happened from the things nobody knows for sure. I think Enss has done as good a job as could be done with the documentation available, but Kate is a hard nut to crack.

What I would love to see is historical fiction written with Kate as the protagonist, viewed through the eyes of a feminist writer such as Enss. With historical fiction one can freely fill in the gaps, provide dialogue, and make notes at the end of the story letting the reader know what she has invented or changed.

Those with a special interest may want to read this biography, but I see it largely as a niche read.

Author’s Bio

Chris Enss is a prolific and professional writer with decades of experience and more than 40 titles on the subject of the historic West. She holds numerous awards as well as being a New York Times Best Seller.

Who is the Target Audience?

History buffs and those with a penchant for Western History are likely to enjoy this presentation. In addition, those whose interests range from women’s history and biography may also find the book an enjoyable read.

Synopsis

The title revolves around the real-life adventures of Kate Elder the amour of the notorious Doc Holiday. The Wild West was an unforgiving environment for women, and it appears to have taken a rare toughness of mind and character combined with smarts to exist among the rough and tumble men. Enss shows the other, softer side of Kate Elder aka Big Nose Kate. Kate was gifted in many crafts. In writing this book Enss has given Big Nose Kate an epitaph she missed in the days of old.

Enss work shines from her masterful and crafted prose and her obvious respect for her subject. The familiarity Enss has of the life and times of the Old West is clear. According to Kate is a pleasant and interesting read about a character that history almost forgot. A female that although long dead is brought to life again through the professional writing skill of Enss. I did feel at times that the pace of the book was a little too slow.

Conclusion

The story written by Enss revolves around the female character of Big Nose Kate, aka Kate Elder, the sometimes wife of Doc Holiday. She lived in the tumultuous times of the 1800s in places such as Tombstone, Arizona, among many others.

Overall, the book is worthy of your time.

Acknowledgment

My sincere thanks go to: NetGalley, and the Publisher, TwoDot for affording me the opportunity to review According to Kate: The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday.

I've read every book and seen every movie I could find on the era of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. None of those mention the women of this era in anyway except a passing remark. Chris Enss has done an excellent job of presenting the life and times of Big Nose Kate. I enjoyed this book from the first page through the last. With Enss talented writing and clear enjoyment in the craft, Kate's contributions to western history can be appreciated by all.

According to Kate is the story of Big-Nosed Kate from her perspective. Because of that it contradicts many accounts of her given by people like Wyatt Earp and "known" history. This book was a pretty interesting overview of her life with and without her famous love Doc Holliday. She led a remarkable life, and was so much more than popular history gives her credit for. The only issue I have with this book is that it is written in a seemingly non-linear timeline so the author will mention something in one portion of the book that has yet to happen and then again later, so it can be a little confusing when it comes to particulars of who/what/when and where things actually occurred. Still it was an enjoyable and quick delve into a woman that history loves to hate on.

According to Kate
The Legendary Life of Big Nose Kate, Love of Doc Holliday

by Chris Enss

Rowman & Littlefield

Two Dot

Biographies & Memoirs , History

Pub Date 01 Oct 2019

I am reviewing a copy of According to Kate through Rowman & Littlefield and Netgalley:

Kate Elder was born Mary Katherine Horony on November 7 1850 in Hungary. Her Father Michael Horony was a German Physician and her Mother, Katharina Baldizar was a homemaker. Her Father was able to provide well for the family.

In the early 1860’s Political Unrest prompted Doctor Horony to move his family out of Hungary. By November 1862 they settles into a modest home in Davenport
Iowa where Doctor Horony resumes his practice. In March of 1865 Katarina died of typhoid fever, just over a month later Doctor Horony died of an unknown ailment very suddenly and unexpectedly.

The five youngest children went to go live with their oldest sister and her husband. In 1866 Kate and Wilhelmina would be sent to the Ursuline Convent and Boarding School In St Louis in 1866 after family friend Otto Smith was named administrator of the Doctors Estate.

Mary was a rebellious student who didn’t take well to the rules of the Convent.

Doc Holliday’s paramour Big Nose Kate could never get a publisher to give her the large amount of money that she demanded to tell the story of her life, however that didn’t stop her from collecting material she wanted to use in a biography. Over the fifty years Mary Kate Cummings, alias Big Nose Kate, traveled the West she saved letters from her family, musings she had written about her love interests, and life with the notorious John Henry Holliday. (Doc Holiday) This book uses rare, never before published material Big Nose Kate stock-piled in anticipation of writing the tale of her days on the Wild Frontier, the definitive book about the famous soiled dove will finally be told. Kate claims to have witnessed the Gunfight at the OK Corral and exchanged words with the likes of Wyatt Earp and Josephine Marcus. There’s no doubt she embellished her adventures, but that doesn’t take away from their historical importance. She was a controversial figure in a rough and rowdy territory. What she witnessed, the lifestyle she led, and the influential western people she met are fascinating and represent a time period that is very much romanticized.

I give According to Kate four out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

According to Kate is the story of Doc Holiday's paramour, Kate Elder. The author says she lets Kate tell her own story, but some analysis and interpretation would have been constructive. Most of the book is about the wanderings of Hoilday and Kate while both plied their trades. I didn't find out anything new about the woman. I thought the book was a bit bland.

I received an advanced digital copy of this book from the author, Rowman & Littlefield- Two Dot Publishing and Netgalley.com. Thanks to all for the opportunity to read and review. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Big Nose Kate was more than just Doc Holliday's girlfriend. Using Kate's own notes, Ms. Enss has put together a thoughtful and we'll written biography of a larger than life woman in the Wild West. An amazing story to be read.

5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended for fans of Wild West history.

Filled with both historical commentary and the interviews Kate Elder did later in her life, this is a fascinating look into one of history's most maligned female figures. Having lead an exciting (if socially unacceptable) life, this novel explores Kate's impact on the various Western royalty that she came into contact with - as well as, due to her own reticence, the ways that others have shaped her life story in the history books.

A special thank you to Netgalley for providing me with a free advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The history of the American West is enhanced by this description of Kate's life. Even if not everything Kate collected in her collection is 100% confirmed as true, it is interesting to think about the life she led and the difficulties on the frontier at that time!

ACCORDING TO KATE: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF BIG NOSE KATE, LOVE OF DOC HOLLIDAY is the latest nonfiction book by Chris Enss. The book will be published on October 1st 2019 by Two Dot Books.

Ever since visiting Tombstone, Arizona, is December 2009, I have been obsessed with Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and everyone related to them – including Kate Elder. While Kate was mentioned in many of the books I had read about Holliday, the Earps, and Tombstone, there weren’t any books about Kate Elder (AKA Big Nose Kate AKA Mrs. Doc Holliday AKA Mary Kate Cummings). ACCORDING TO KATE: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF BIG NOSE KATE, LOVE OF DOC HOLLIDAY is the definitive book about the life of Kate Elder. Close to fifty years after Kate Elder died, Chris Enss has collected her notes and letters into the biography that Kate had hoped to compose during the later years of her life. The book not only tells Kate’s story, but it provides a historical context of the time period and places in which Kate lived. Chris Enss sticks to the facts provided by Kate and other contemporary records – whether those facts are completely accurate or not is questionable. Enss also debunks a lot of fictions and myths that have been assigned to Kate over the years. Kate led a hard, interesting life, and ACCORDING TO KATE: THE LEGENDARY LIFE OF BIG NOSE KATE, LOVE OF DOC HOLLIDAY is a fascinating read.

The legend of Doc Holliday and Kate Elder is one familiar to most people. Over the years, the famous and infamous couple have appeared in movies, articles, books, etc. Chris Enss has chosen a different tale. One focused on Kate Elder and determined to find the woman behind the myth.

Stated simply, Enss succeeded in telling the true story of Kate Elder. From her beginnings as Mary Katherine Horony in Hungary to her humble end, Kate Elder lead a life few could compare.

Enss is a wonderful author. She has a way of giving the facts without losing the story. According to Kate brings the reader along for the journey into the past. Elder becomes a real person with dreams, heartache, love, and hardships. The factual evidence is there, but the author is able to weave those into the story. Although the book does not read like a historical fictional novel, it comes close. It is even better because it is not fiction. It is a true story about someone who experienced a life so unlike our lives today.

Not only is According to Kate and enjoyable read, the book is filled with photographs of the people and places discussed. Scattered throughout the text, the photographs allow the reader to connect even more to the story.

I can easily say this is my first book by Chris Enss, but won't be my last.

If I had to read the term "soiled dove" one more time as a description of a prostitute, I would have thrown my Kindle through the window. Why not just call Kate what she was?

I give the author a great deal of credit for pulling together a biography of a dead woman---not at all an easy task. I liked Kate, and only wish more information was available about her, information which could have replaced tedious details of fees and fines incurred by her, for example, for her prostitution.

An interesting read about a formidable woman.

According to Kate was an entertaining read, and gives a unique look at the life of "Big Nose Kate" and her tumultuous relationship with Doc Holliday and, in a lesser sense, of the Earp brothers. Well worth the read, despite its flaws.

The author has used every polite euphemism ever concocted for prostitute, often repeatedly over multiple concurrent sentences, which tends to come across as padding the manuscript. We get it, Kate and ladies like her were tarnished as far as polite society was concerned, but the reader does not need reminders over and over again. Also jarring was the confusing timeline. We'd read how characters were at Point A and then suddenly they were leaving Point B for Point C. The following pages would eventually backtrack to mention that characters arrived at Point B at such-and-such a date, only to leap ahead again to where the previous section had left off with. It's as if Point B didn't really matter and was an afterthought on the author's part that "oops, forgot to mention that, so let's tack it on", which came across as just plain lazy writing. As interesting as it was, there were segments also of pure guesswork ie: she may have done this, or perhaps she thought that.

There is so much repeating of how Kate thought the Earp brothers wanted Doc to ditch her... Did Kate not give specifics in her papers? I'd have loved to have had this subject looked into a little deeper. As much as we see her frustrations, I just wish there had been a bit more of what her side was.

We hear how Kate and Doc even owned some property from time-to-time.... I found myself wanting more details. From the premise of the book I thought I was going to get a feel for who she was and how she thought, rather than a play-by-play of she and Doc's wanderings.

Still, I did learn a lot, and all of the information that was given was fascinating, and the autbor, for the most part has a good writing voice ... I just wish we could have spent some time in the deep, rather than just stand on the side of the kiddie pool, watching from a distance and not even able to get my feet wet.

I found this novel to be immensely fascinating. I have loved every story that I could get my hands on, regarding the lives of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. And while I have often wondered about the women in their lives, I haven't found many reliable sources to go on. Until, that is, I discovered According to Kate. Kate was the longtime companion of Doc Holliday, and an incredibly astounding woman. I loved reading about her, and thanks to the brilliant writing of Chris Enss, I feel as though I was given the opportunity to meet her personally. I now have a new "obsession," if you will, to find more about Miss Kate (I refuse to call her Big Nose Kate!) and the amazing life that she led. My thanks to the author, and a definite recommend!

According to Kate is a fascinating biography of Big Nose Kate and her life in the Old West. Chris Enss definitely did her research and the book is well written.