Well, real enough that there’s a fascinating history to discover about the time in America when men dueled with pistols. It was the latter quarter of the 19th century, after the collapse of the Confederacy. The place was Texas. There was violence to the North and South, the Colt revolver was just catching on, and the cattle business was taking off, bringing with it all manner of rough and rowdy characters. This is the era — as it really was — of “Wild Bill” Hickock, of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and the encroachment of civilization. [Rebroadcast]
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- Bryan Burrough is a correspondent for Vanity Fair and editor at large for Texas Monthly. His new book is The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the Wild West.