Publisher's Weekly Review
On an October afternoon in 1881, Wyatt Earp and his brothers, along with Doc Holliday, confronted a group of outlaws "in an open lot near the O.K. Corral" in Arizona Territory; the ensuing barrage of gunfire became the stuff of legend. The Earps and Holliday emerged as heroes, but standing in the shadows was Wyatt's fourth and final wife, Josephine, who, until now, was a specter of history. In this admiring and vivacious biography, Kirschner (Sala's Gift) brings the frontierswoman into the limelight. Born in New York City to Prussian Jews, Josephine (1860-1944) was a rebellious and lively young lady who disliked school but became "infatuated with the stage" after the family moved to San Francisco; there the aspiring thespian saw a performance of HMS Pinafore, and promptly joined a traveling acting troupe. By the time she was 20, Josephine had rolled into Tombstone, Arizona Territory, and met Wyatt Earp. The story follows the couple in search of new opportunities, from running a saloon in Alaska to getting in on the booming film industry in Hollywood. Kirschner's fascinating profile captures the restless spirit of the frontier as deftly as it does Josephine's energy, affection, and limitless appetite for adventure. 8-page b&w photo insert. Agent: Flip Brophy, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
From the dusty trails of the Old West emerges the story that Wyatt Earp's wife never wanted told: her own. A simple question from a friend about why Earp was buried in a Jewish cemetery prompted Kirschner (Dean of Macaulay Honors College at CUNY; Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story, 2006) to uncover the truth of Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp, the fourth wife and most constant companion of the famed frontier hero. The author mines letters, archives and manuscripts to tell Josephine's story, panning for gold in a very muddy family history. After the showdown at the O.K. Corral and long before his death, newspapers and local lore had already made a legend of Wyatt and his family, with plenty of controversy and inconsistencies to fuel it further. To make matters more complicated, beautiful and theatrical Josephine was hard at work on her own self-made myth, burying her poor, Jewish origins and obscuring the more tragic, scandalous and, consequently, interesting periods of her life. From Tombstone to Nome to Los Angeles, Josephine created a maze of challenges for her future biographers, all of which Kirschner handles skillfully. Even with all of the rootless couple's many adventures to recount, nearly half the book is an untangling of the drama that began just a few years before Wyatt's death in 1929 and continued through the rest of Josephine's life and into the next century. With vividness and certainty, Kirschner lays her story to rest at last. Tragedy, adventure, romance and scholarly investigation come together like pioneers to a boomtown, with something for Earp worshipers and casual readers alike.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
The legends of the Old West town of Tombstone and lawman Wyatt Earp have been represented by Hollywood with questionable accuracy for decades, while tales of Earp and his brothers were common in broadsides and newspapers right from the start of their notoriety. Kirschner (univ. dean, Macaulay Honors Coll., CUNY; Sala's Gift) examines the prevailing narratives surrounding Earp, Tombstone, and the O.K. Corral to correct a historical record that effectively erased any mention of women having a meaningful impact on the premises. Without giving anything away, let's just say this biographical narrative of Josephine Marcus Earp clarifies the facts. Throughout, Kirschner raises questions about who was responsible for the omission of Josephine from the Earp story. Was Wyatt Earp's common-law wife of almost 50 years happy to avoid the spotlight? Or did she in fact desire attention? Like many subjects of legend, and those subject-adjacent, Josephine wanted the story told on her terms, and this, typically, ensured that her experience was never really revealed. Through deft analysis of primary and secondary sources, and through contacts with extant family members, Kirschner has corrected the narrative as thoroughly as possible. VERDICT Highly recommended for Old West enthusiasts and scholars, high school and up.-Jewell Anderson, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ. Lib., Savannah, GA (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
