Title
In the shadow of Billy the Kid: Susan McSween and the Lincoln County War
Document Type
Book
Publication Date
2013
Department/School
History and Philosophy
Abstract
The events of July 19, 1878, marked the beginning of what became known as the Lincoln County War and catapulted Susan McSween and a young cowboy named Henry McCarty, alias Billy the Kid, into the history books. The so-called war, a fight for control of the mercantile economy of southeastern New Mexico, is one of the most documented conflicts in the history of the American West, but it is an event that up to now has been interpreted through the eyes of men. As a woman in a man’s story, Susan McSween has been all but ignored. This is the first book to place her in a larger context. Clearly, the Lincoln County War was not her finest hour, just her best known. For decades afterward, she ran a successful cattle ranch. She watched New Mexico modernize and become a state. And she lived to tell the tales of the anarchistic territorial period many times. [Publisher description]
Link to WorldCat Entry
Recommended Citation
Chamberlain, K. (2013). In the shadow of Billy the Kid: Susan McSween and the Lincoln County War. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Comments
Winner of the 2013 Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association