Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this ARC in exchange for this honest review. This was probably one of the most interesting and extensively researched books on the Dalton gang I have ever read. The descriptions of the shootouts and their aftermaths were enjoyable to read and extremely descriptive. If you love reading about the Old West Tom Calvin’s book will not disappoint. My only comment would be I would have really enjoyed seeing some photographs to put faces with all the names. So really a 3.5 for me because of that but I rounded upto a 4. Highly recommended.

This one took me longer than I ever expected to read. I love all things history and this book delivers on the history. There is so much information about so many things that I kept going back to reread to make sure I understood everything being discussed. Tom Clavin does a great job explaining to readers what happened and why.
If you are a fan of history of the American west, then this is absolutely a book for you.


While very late on the review, I did receive an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks.

‘The Last Outlaws: The Desperate Last Days of the Dalton Gang’
The end of the Dalton Gang mirrored the closing of the American Frontier in the 1890s.

The Western outlaw gang has been part of American history and culture since the American Civil War ended. The Dalton Gang was one of the most notorious and among the last of the Old West outlaw gangs. “The Last Outlaws: The Desperate Last Days of the Dalton Gang,” by Tom Clavin, tells their story. It puts the gang in the context of their times, showing how the end of the horse-riding Western outlaw paralleled the closing of American Frontier in the 1890s.

The Dalton Gang emerged from a 19th-century Missouri family. James Lewis Dalton and his wife Adeline Lee Dalton (nee Younger) had 15 children: 10 sons and 5 daughters. Only four of the sons turned to crime. One, Frank Dalton, became a famous lawman. As deputy marshal, he died heroically enforcing the law before his other brothers, Bob, Grat, Emmett, and Bill turned to crime. (Ironically, Bob, Grat, and Emmett also did stints as lawmen.)

Mr. Clavin traces the family through the turmoil of Civil War Missouri, and afterwards. Adeline was aunt to Cole and Jim Younger of the James-Younger Gang. This book examines the exploits of the James-Younger Gang (including the famous and failed Northfield Bank Heist) and the influence their cousins’ activities later had on the Daltons. The author then traces their descent into crime. Bob and Emmett turned to train robbery. Their activities drew Grat and eventually Bill to follow suit. They were joined by other desperados.

In many ways, the gang proved they that couldn’t shoot straight. Mr. Clavin shows how some robberies flopped due to poor planning. This included their most famous crime, the Coffeyville Bank Robbery. An attempt to outdo the Northfield Bank Heist, it failed even more spectacularly, with four outlaws dead (including Grat and Bob) and Emmett wounded and captured.

While the book’s focus is on the Daltons, it also presents other outlaws and the men who stopped them. The lawmen most responsible for bringing the Daltons to heel, Chris Madsen, Bill Tilghman, and Heck Thomas (also known as the Three Guardsmen), play a prominent and positive role in the book. The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, and Sam Bass also make appearances.

“The Last Outlaws” captures the spirit of the American West. While retaining the romance, Mr. Clavin reveals the realities of life, death, crime, and punishment in the Old West. It is a refreshing and informative examination of law on a closing frontier.

A detailed account of the Dalton gang. The book goes to great length to introduce each gang member as well as the lawmen they encountered. Often the story line gets lost in the introduction of characters. Some are of interest, others seem to be included to fill pages.
I am a fan of Tom Clavin and have read several of his books. This one moves more slowly than most and is hard to get into. Once the gang is formed and trains are robbed, the story starts to get interesting. However, it takes almost half the book to reach that stage.

This was an information-packed read! The Dalton Gang is such an interesting history topic and I loved getting a more in-depth look into their history and story and learning some information that I hadn’t previously known about them. I loved how this book read more like a story than a textbook with facts where the reader has the ability to experience what is happening firsthand and learn about this gang as the story goes along and the events unfold. Great read if you enjoy history, the Dalton gang, and the Wild West!

A very good book going back in time and going through the last bank robberies by outlaws with horses, or at least for me. Here the author takes you through the family generations and some of the earlier robberies leading up to the final where they are looking at robbing two banks on the same day. A foot at any time but here maybe they have cut off too much with lawmen looking for them this is a wonderful look back in time, with not only the struggle to live honestly but also to stay on the run if you are wanted. A good book from my perspective and well researched, if you like these types of books then this is a book for you.

This book is fantastic! It was well researched and well written. A must read for a fan of the Old West and the men that wore the black hats.

I primarily listened to this on audio while driving on my commute and while at work and I don't think listening to it was a good move for me. There were so many people mentioned and so many side tangents that I wasn't able to keep the majority of them straight in my head and to understand their relationship to one another in the book.

At one point towards the end the actor who played Captain Pike on the original Star Trek show was mentioned and I had NO idea how he was related to any of the outlaws, lawmen, etc. I was buddying reading this and discussed this issue with my Buddy and they said that they thought the actor portrayed one of the lawyers who was related to an outlaw in a movie or TV show. I was also confused when the lawyers were mentioned, because I didn't grasp how they were connected directly and I realized that maybe audio was not the way to go for this particular book.

The narrator's voice was pleasant to listen to, but the volume was inconsistent and I was constantly rewinding and replaying bits multiple times to try to catch what was being said.

Add that to the fact that this isn't my preferred era and location of history to read and that this book was REALLY depressing re: all of the law men and innocent people who died due to some REALLY poor choices the outlaws made, that this wasn't my fav book to listen to. It was a Buddy Read, so I stuck with it.

I also listened to it, as my Buddy Reader was FLYING through this book and I didn't have the time to read it to finish at a similar time as them, so I listened to it, despite it not working for me. If I hadn't been on a time crunch, I would have skipped the audio and done just the physical reading of the book instead and would probably have enjoyed it more and learned more from it then I did.

I don't usually have sympathy for bad guys and this book did nothing to dispel that. Of 10 Dalton brothers, Frank was a lawman and ended up getting killed by outlaws. So three of his brothers decided to become...outlaws. One other one was trying to get those three on the straight and narrow, but they ended up corrupting him, because when two of the three were killed while trying to rob two banks at the same time with other members of the gang named for them, killing innocent people in town as they tried to escape and the third was shot full of 22 projectiles of various sorts and somehow managing to survive, the one who was on the fence, decided to also become...an outlaw. Keep in mind he was married with kids, but yet somehow, "avenging his brothers" by following the same failed path as them made more sense to him? He was also killed in a shootout while trying to escape an illegal and violent deed. So the poor mother had to bury one son who was killed by outlaws and three who died as outlaws. The others turned out ok, so I guess it worked out? Maybe?

Anywho, this book was depressing as heck and I would recommend reading it rather than listening to it. There are too many people and too many side-bars to really be able to follow it in audio only. Just my two cents.

3, not my bag but I think my Buddy enjoyed it more than I did so take that for what it is worth, stars.

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an eARC of this book to read and review and to libro.fm and Macmillan Audio for an ALC to listen to and review.

Free ARC from Net Galley

Clavin is just the absolute best. He doesn't bore us, he even gives us a chance to laugh, He sticks to the facts and the facts stick to you. 15 kids, it is unimaginable almost. No not all were bad but the ones that were made up for the others!!!

Yes, he touches on some other gens of the period but in the Dalton gang you ultimately are reminded, that "if you ride with outlaws y9ou die like outlaws". Great book!!!

I love a good non-fiction, especially about the old west. Maybe it’s because I live in Indian Territory, or maybe it’s because of the great stories I’ve read and was told growing up. This was just like that! As usual, I enjoy Tom Calvin.

"The Last Outlaws" by Tom Clavin chronicles the gripping and tumultuous tale of the Dalton Gang, offering a definitive account of their notorious escapades. From their humble beginnings as horse thieves to their audacious transition into robbing banks and trains, Clavin vividly brings to life the lives of the three Dalton brothers and their eclectic band of cohorts.

The pinnacle of their audacity and demise came on October 5, 1892, in Coffeyville, Kansas, where they undertook a daring heist, aiming to rob two banks simultaneously. However, their notoriety led to a showdown with armed townspeople, resulting in a chaotic and fatal gun battle that left a trail of eight dead men, including four members of the doomed Dalton Gang.

Clavin skillfully paints a vivid picture of the Wild West's violent era, detailing the Dalton Gang's criminal exploits and the climactic event that marked their tragic end. With meticulous research and engaging narrative prowess, "The Last Outlaws" offers readers an enthralling journey through a significant chapter of American outlaw history, delivering a compelling and comprehensive portrayal of one of the most daring gangs in the Wild West.

This is the true story of the Dalton Gang. The Dalton Gang were lawmen before they became a gang of outlaws. They started out stealing horses and worked their way up to bank robbing and trains. The Dalton Gang was made up of three brothers and a rotating cast of men who saw themselves descended from the James brothers. On October 5, 1982 followed up on their plans to rob two banks at the same time in Coffeyville, Kansas at the same time. However the citizens recognized them and got ready to fight the Dalton Gang.

The first full story of the Dalton Gang has been written by the author. The book was so interesting to me as I had heard of the Dalton Gang but that was it. I knew they were outlaws. I was so surprised that they had started out as lawmen. It’s an excellent story that ended with the last Dalton brother going to Hollywood after his prison term.

I've read several of Tom Clavin's titles and loved them all, but I am a fan of the western genre whether fiction or non fiction. Clavin tells their story as they lived it, on the edge and always on the run. They may be described as desperate but it's more they lived the lives they wanted. From their first robberies to their brave but foolish attempt to rob two banks at the same time, the Dalton Gang made their mark in Western history. I'd recommend this book to any lovers of the western genre or anyone interested in that era of history.

I found The Last Outlaws: The Desperate Final Days of the Dalton Gang to be a great. I have been fascinated with this gang and thought it was an informative book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having lived in Kansas City, Missouri for all of my life, of course I had heard of the Dalton Gang and the other gangs like the James Brothers, the Younger Brothers but I didn’t know as much about them has this book has revealed. I love the fact that this book was not dry, and it went along at a very good pace. I loved all the little side stories too. This is the first book, I have read by this author but it definitely will not be the last. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys history and the Wild West.


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The Last Outlaws is a nonfiction account of The Dalton Gang and their robberies that reads like an epic tale of the Wild west. Before reading this book I was unfamiliar with The Dalton Gang. As someone who knew nothing about them, I found this book informative and interesting. I really enjoyed the writing style of this author.

I think this book would be a great option for anyone who enjoys western books even if they don't usually go for nonfiction.

A well researched chronology of the Dalton brothers. It makes you wonder if Bob Dalton had been PAID for his work as a Marshall, would he have become an outlaw? What kept the other poorly paid lawmen on the straight-and-narrow? Would the Dalton outlaws have been different if their father had been home rather than traveling to racecourses all over? If Coffeyville never happened would Bill Dalton still be pushed over the edge?
It seems that throughout history, otherwise intelligent women get involved with and aid and abet charming scoundrels. Why would they put themselves and especially their children through that?
Interesting read, especially if you are a fan of old western movies.

This book covers the exploits & final days of the Dalton Gang, who were active in the early 1890s in the Kansas/OK/NM area. The book cover the early days and other gangs that operated prior and after the Dalton Gang. The final section of the book focuses on the final robbery by the gang in Coffeyville, KS.

I thought the book was pretty informative, however, sometimes it did meander all over the place. I learned a lot about the Dalton brothers and their associates.

Thank you yo Net Galley, Tom Clavin & St. Martin’s Publishing Group for the advanced copy of this book.

While this book focused on the Dalton Gang and their exploits through what became known as the "Wild West," Clavin--who appears to be well versed in this area of North American history--delves not just into the rather sad background of the Dalton family, but he gives us glimpses of other outlaws of the time, famous and not so famous. And then (if these outlaws survived the sudden death common to outlaws) where they ended up.

The style is a real pleasure to read, gleaming with humor. Though I don't usually listen to audio books, it occurred to me that this one would make great listening on a cross-country trip along Route 66, or through the areas once considered the Wild West.

Clavin gives us a wry look at the various non-Robin Hood robberies of these outlaws. These guys were no friends to the people--they were outright thieves. Trains as well as banks, including ordinary farmhouses, resulting in shoot-outs and cross country posse hunts. The climax occurs on October 5, 1892 when the gang decided to rob two banks at once in the small town of Coffeyville, Kansas, when many of the gang ended up dead. Only one Dalton survived. Others ended up in rodeos, and as actors in early movies, when all the stunt riding was done by the actors themselves. One or two even hopped the fence and became lawmen.

There are all kinds of side histories that I found interesting as well. I really enjoyed this book.

I really didn't know what to expect with this book as I know very little about the "wild west" and the outlaws that ruled it [except what I learned in the movie Young Bloods and its sequel and we ALL know how accurate THOSE were ;-) ], so I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this and how much I learned and how I now want to do a deep dive into this time frame.

Excellently researched and told, this is a great story of greed, loss, lawlessness and the consequences of all of it. Anyone who has ANY interest in the wild west period of time will absolutely love this book. Well done.

I was so grateful to receive an audiobook ARC for this book; the narrator, George Newbern, is one of my absolute favorites, and listening to him tell this amazing story was just fantastic and really brought the story to life for me. I highly recommend both this audiobook and the narrator!!

Thank you to NetGalley, Tom Clavin, George Newbern - Narrator, St. Martin's Press, and Macmillan Audio for providing both the eBook and audiobook ARC's in exchange for an honest review.