I've read and loved several histories by Tom Clavin, usually those co-authored with Bob Drury. "Bandit Heaven" is the work of Clavin alone, and it's taking me an unusually long time to get through this book. Somehow, the style is not as engaging, even though I'm fascinated. Most of all, the subject matter is particularly disturbing to me. For weeks, I dropped the book cold after the number of brutal murders by greedy ranchers seeking to keep their property secured (and ever expanding). The hanging of Ella Liddy Watson (sneeringly nicknamed "Cattle Kate") and James Averell, and the way their killers go away with murder, made me sick. I went online to read more. On-again, off-again: I cannot seem to keep my attention on this narrative, not even when we get to some of the most beloved (!) outlaws of the Old West, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

I'm still in that section along wit Ethel aka "Etta" Place, Kid Curry, and all these mythical Americans who really lived. Whenever I do manage to finish reading this book, I will come back and attempt to write a more thorough and attentive review.

The sheer quantity of research is incredible. No historians are more thorough than Clavin and Drury. High school classrooms and libraries should display all their books and make sure every new generation of Americans will learn about the people who lived here before us.

This is the true tale of The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and the end of the Wild West. Written in a wonderful way that brings out the color of the Wild West and the true story of this gang and the time in which they operated. If you are a fan of the Wild West, then you should read this book!

I really enjoyed the previous book I read by this author and this book was just as great! Loved this account of the Wild West! I loved the way this book is written and how it feels like you are listening to someone tell you a great story! Definitely recommend reading this book!

I am fascinated by the American West. I'm not sure when this started - quite possibly it began with the Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid movie of 1968, followed by my reading of The Wild Bunch by James D. Horan in the mid-1970's. But it's not just the history that attracts me, but the landscape as well. Add to this my appreciation for non-fiction literature, and you have a book that seems tailor made for me in Bandit Heaven by Tom Clavin.

I recognized Clavin's name from other books I've read, including the well-researched Tombstone. Bandit Heaven picks up on the same theme (the rugged Old West) but focuses on the lawlessness of the era. Rather than making this yet another book about Butch Cassidy and/or the Sundance Kid, Clavin cleverly provides us a look at a larger circle of (in)famous, as well as a few lesser-known (whoever heard of Isom Dart?), criminals who took advantage of the slow-moving progress in the West.

Butch and Sundance do get a lot of attention here, but so does Kid Curry, George Currie, Tom Horn, and a few others. Clavin brings them together not through their criminal activities, but through place ... outlaws needed a space to hide out and wait for the posses to lose their interest in the search.

The last part of the subtitle of the book, "The Final Chapter of the Wild West," brings about something that hadn't really occurred to me before reading this book. While we hear and read a fair amount about Butch and Sundance, it's only partly because of their exploits and the myths surrounding them. They were also among the last of the Wild West outlaws as technology and better organized lawmen spread west.

Clavin's research is impeccable. The bibliography has provided me with a number of books to put on my 'to read' list. Clavin acknowledges a lot of research help from various libraries and historical societies.

Something I really like about Clavin's approach to history is that he manages to pass along a lot of information while making it exciting, but manages to do so without putting words into the mouths of the people he's writing about. So many 'history' books these days include dialog based solely on what the author 'presumes' the subjects would say, as though it were factual. These books can also be exciting, but I tend to close the covers thinking, "Would they really have said that?"

Looking for a good book? Tom Clavin provides good historical perspective and character analysis of well-known, and lesser-known Old West outlaws in Bandit Heaven.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Tom Calvin writes about the many characters that hung in and around the three hideouts of the west known as Bandit Haven. This book primarily follows Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and their associates. You also learn about anyone and everyone around their gang. Ultimately, this book is about the end of the Wild West, and what happened to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

This book was entertaining and engaging. There are a ton of different people mentioned, but the story usually ends up back with Butch Cassidy and/or the Sundance Kid. I don’t know as much about the later period of the Wild West, so this was a very informative book for me. I liked learning about a completely different set of bandits in lawmen. I would definitely read another book by this author.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book.

A truly fascinating, captivating, page turner, I thoroughly enjoyed this magical book. I knew next to nothing of the subject before reading this incredibly well-written book, but I found the book a complete delight and something that captured (and maintained) my interest throughout.

I accepted this book because I thought it sounded interesting. We just completed a long trip out west to the areas in which the book was set it. I did not realize that I had already read one of Clavin's earlier books (The Last Outlaws), but within a few pages I suspected he was the same author. I could say the same things I said before: I found the book extremely frustrating to read. Clavin kept chasing one rabbit after another that often felt like they did nothing to add to the history or story. He also tended to write in a very unsophisticated style that I would not expect from a author seeking to reach an educated audience. Because of the uneven style of the book, I never was able to gain any sense of understanding or compassion for any of the characters in the book. I thank the author and publisher for a preview copy of this book.

Bandit Heaven
By Tom Clavin

This book is the factual retelling of the eventual demise of the robber gangs in the rough and ready old west. Bandit Heaven was the name given to an area of Utah and Wyoming that was comprised of Robbers Roost, Brown's Hole and Hole–in-the-Wall, three bandit hideouts.

During that time period, the "bad guys" still held sway, robbing trains and banks, stealing horses and cattle, and generally committing mayhem – including the occasional murder. Bandit Heaven was a kind of sanctuary for them, where lawmen feared to go.

Mr. Clavin tells stories about many of the famous – and infamous – bandits of the time: among them, the murderous Kid Curry, Black Jack Ketchum, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (of subsequent movie fame).

Alas for these miscreants, their days were numbered. By the mid-1890s a national outcry against them had caused law enforcement to crack down on this kind of crime. Virtually all the bandits were eventually tracked down and killed. The only exceptions were Butch and Sundance. If you have seen the movie, you know what became of them. And Mr. Clavin's research verified that the movie version was largely correct.

If you are a history buff and a fan of the tales of the old west, this is a book for you!

Growing up in the Midwest, I was immediately drawn to read this book. Why? The West has has alway seemed to me a place where the history was either surviving — getting through the desert to where people could live and farm, yet I heard about cattle rustling and outlaws I wanted a look at the history of the Wild West as the other part I heard about was the outlaws and wondered where they could find a place safe for them. I can actually say that now I know more about the “bandits” or outlaws that lived in the West. The history is very well written.

An interesting tale of bandits in the old west as well as the lawmen who pursued them. The stories are full of life and the addition of firsthand accounts really added to the stories. A great read for the old west enthusiast.

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Wild West! Cowboys and Indians! Rustlers and train robbers! All the stuff of Hollywood movies, right? Well maybe, but often not. As Tom Clavin illustrates so well in Bandit Heaven, Hollywood got a lot wrong when screen writers and directors take history and put it on the big screen, particularly in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). So to get a glimpse behind the tinsel, dive in with Tom Clavin.

Tom Clavin opens the book with an 1899 Wild Bunch train robbery, laying out how it was planned and how it occurred in the Prologue. The book itself is laid out in three acts. Act I - Heaven on Earth - provides the background and setting for Brown's Hole, Hole-in-th-Wall, and Robbers Roost and the early outlaws. The reader learns about the cattle and horse rustling business and the conflict between cattle barons and homesteaders and sheep herders. Act II - Leader of the Pack - introduces Robert Leroy Parker born on April 13, 1866, a Friday, to British Mormon immigrants in Utah. He grew up working with livestock and drifted into rustling and the outlaw life where he later acquired the nickname Butch Cassidy. He was joined on the outlaw trail by Elzy Lay, an Ohio boy, Harry Alonzo Longabaugh, from Pennsylvania, who became the Sundance Kid, and Harvey Alexander Logan from Iowa, also know as "Kid Curry." Then there the women like Ethel Place and the sisters Josie and Ann Bassett who sometimes accompanied the gang. Act III - The Lawman Trail - discusses the strange evolution of law in the west and the role of vigilantism and the Pinkerton Detective Agency. These chapters also highlight individuals such as Charlie Siringo, Joseph Shelby LeFors, John T. Pope, and others who chased outlaws, infiltrated union organizations, solved murders, and brought in fugitives from justice. Act IV - Fall From Heaven - covers the end of the outlaw life. As more folks settled the West and telegraphs spread alongside the railroads, it became harder for outlaws to disappear after a robbery. Bank note numbers would be circulated around the country and folks were getting nabbed in strange locations when they tried to spend their ill-gotten gains. Also, the bandits did themselves no favors when a group visited Fort Worth (TX) for a wedding and had a group photo taken which got used as advertising by the store. That photo would lead to the arrest and or death of a number of the Wild Bunch. This slow closing of the noose led Butch Cassidy, Sundance Kid and Ethel Place to move way south to Argentina where they managed to set up a ranch until their past and old ways caught up with them and closed the book on some of the most famous outlaws of the Wild West.

So if you have an interest in the "true" Wild West of outlaws and rustlers, pick up Tom Clavin's Bandit Heaven and indulge yourself. You will not regret it!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the chance to read this title

A deep dive down the hole of desperadoes and people who skirted around the edge of the law in the late 19th early 20th centuries.
Clavin delivers an impartial assessment of each character.
It’s an informative read about people and place and experiences that are oft romanticized and glossed over in books and movies.
They lived rough lives while some thrived others tended to wait on luck to carry them through.

The link below is my full spoiler free of Bandit Heaven by Tom Calvin. If you need more information please feel free to reach I to me.

https://youtu.be/WfI6upebu5E

Thanks to St. Martins Press and NetGalley for this free ARC in return for my honest review.

Not his best work in my opinion. Very slow and meandering pace, and I thought there would be more about Butch and Sundance. Well researched, and told of many other outlaws who hid in the Hole in the Wall area, but just not up to authors prior work.

Bandit Heaven, the hole in the wall gangs in the final chapter of the Wild West by Tom Clavin, the book is mainly about Cassidy and the Sundance kid but in the beginning we also get to hear about George “ Big nose” parrot. Although and experienced outlaw he is also known for his death in the strange uses of his body parts after it. I didn’t know in all the westerns I read when they talk about the hole in the wall or an outlaw safety spot that one really existed and leave it to the author someone who I would love to spend time with just so I could pick his brains about the Wild West anything negative I have to say about the book would be minimal in of no comparison to the greatness that’s inside of it. Tom Klavan has a way of writing a nonfiction story that has the reader Justice wrapped up in it as if it were a great western. If you ever wondered where sidewinders, gunslingers in outlaws took a break from being chased and Honda down then you definitely need to read this book about the hole in the wall. What I found most interesting is that it wasn’t just outlaws who lived there. #NetGalley, #SaintMartinsPress, #TomKlavon,#BanditHeaven,

This is an excellent overview of the bandit culture in the Old West. It deals with more than just them Cassidy and Sundance gang from the title. It includes tales of other bandits and robberies in other parts of the West. Well written and engaging, the author also supports his scholarship with notes and documentation. Highly recommended for all ages.

Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and the Final Chapter of the Wild West by Tom Clavin is a thrilling true story of an infamous hangout for bandits, thieves and murderers of the Wild West and the lawmen who pursued them. Known collectively as “Bandit Heaven,” Robbers Roost, Brown’s Hole and Hole in the Wall were remote locations in Wyoming and Utah that harbored the dangerous men of the 1880s and 1890s. The most famous of these bandits were the gregarious Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the silent sidekick. Everyone knows the famous 1969 film starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, but who were the real Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid? As many outlaws of the time would be dead by the turn of the 20th century, only Cassidy and Sundance escaped to meet their infamous end in South America.
Whenever I see Tom Clavin’s name on a book cover, I know it will be a detailed and engaging historical account of a time and place long forgotten and even romanticized through Hollywood. The actual Wild West only lasted approximately 30 years; however, it is a time most talked about and fantasized about especially in literature and on the big screen. Cowboys on the range and the outlaws who terrorized it. Bandit Heaven is a thrilling read, opening with a terrifying train robbery, then taking readers back in time to set up the characters. Where did these men come from? What brought them on the path of infamy? And who were the men who pursued them? Bandit Heaven is filled with action that will pull readers in and learn fact from fiction and legends. I highly, highly recommend Bandit Heaven.

Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang and the Final Chapter of the Wild West
is available in hardcover, eBook and audiobook

This is a nonfiction book that everyone, whether a lover of the western genre or not, will love. Most people have gathered their knowledge of this era.....1880-1890.....from television where a pretty face was promoted over the interesting lives these men and women lived. Lawmen or outlaw, they made their livings with a gun. Tom Clavin is well known for insuring his books are well researched and entertaining without stretching the facts. The individuals lived in an era where they placed their lives on the line everyday and the stories of how the law chased the outlaws into smaller and smaller hideouts allowed the settlers to reach what would become the western United States. I often recommend Clavin's books and gift them to my unsuspecting relatives, turning them into western fans too.

For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

Bandit Heaven: The Hole-in-the-Wall Gangs and the Final Chapter of the Wild West by Tom Calvin tells about remote locations in Wyoming and Utah and the criminals that used to hide at. Mr. Calvin is a best selling author, editor, and commentator.

There are many myths about the American Wild West, most of them romantic notions of honorable gunslingers. Train robbers, religious persons, law enforcing sheriffs, and of course cowboys are part of that myths which has defined the West has perpetuated not just in American, but the whole world.

This is an engaging book, filled with adventure, history, and wit. In fact, the things I truly liked in Bandit Heaven by Tom Calvin are the dark jokes, zingers, and the fact that the author couldn’t let a good story get lost in the narrative.

While the book mostly deals with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Hole in the Wall gang, there are plenty of other fascinating characters in it. Many of them show up and disappear after the author managed to enthrall us with their escapades, to the point where often I forgot I was reading history and not a novel.

Focusing on outlaw the hideouts of Hole in the Wall, Brown’s Hole, and Robbers Roost, the book mostly takes place in those areas, today around Utah, Colorado and Wyoming. Between robbing trains, and rustling (stealing) horses and cattle, the outlaws worked on farms, and even had families.

The book, as the title indicates, is about the sunset of the Wild West. The outlaws can no longer outrun justice, and technology has changed the ways of the world.

I felt this book gave me a better understanding of how the West was, it’s mystic, charm, and eventual ending. The author obviously has a passion for the subject, as he shares his enthusiasm on every page.

I love reading about American history and the Old West is one of my favorite eras to read about. I believe this is my fourth book by Tom Clavin and I have some of his backlist titles on my shelves of books to read.

In Bandit Heaven, Clavin focuses on some of the most well known horse thieves, cattle rustlers, train and bank robbers and all of their favorite places to hide out from the law. Naturally, Buch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are front and center, along with a few other well known names that were roaming around Utah and Wyoming in the mid to late 1890’s.

Clavin left no stone unturned as to what was happening in the area during those years. With the railroad coming through and the telegraph and postal service getting more advanced, the outlaws were finding it more difficult to make a clean getaway from their crimes. Plus, the Pinkerton’s, the Rangers and many area sheriffs were on the lookout for the outlaws.

I learned much information I was not aware of and enjoyed the background given for many of the people named in the book. This was an enjoyable read and really brought back the Old West sense of place.

Many thanks to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read an advance copy. I am happy to give my honest review and recommend this to other like-minded readers.