Desperadoes

Description

Aged 65 Emmett Dalton is the last survivor of the legendary Dalton gang, now he lives off his memories in Hollywood. Combining fact and fiction Ron Hansen depicts the outlaw past of the Daltons and the West they travelled. The Daltons brothers turn from being peace officers in the Indian territories to a life of rustling. When their leader, Bob, meets Eugenia Moore, a schoolteacher who begins to plan their robberies, they become the most notorious outlaws of their time. As their raids, on trains and banks, become more daring and successful the price on their heads and the pursuit of the law increase. Then they ride into Coffeyville, intending to rob both the town's banks. Ron Hansen was the first writer to approach the mythology of the West with the intent of rewriting history, to show the mixed motives and dubious intentions of heroes and outlaws alike. In Hansen's carefully styled authentic voice (drawing on contemporary newspapers and accounts) his novels would pave the way for Cormac McCarthy's Border trilogy. Combining historical research with his novelist's imagination and ability to evoke character, Ron Hansen rewrites the history of the American West, and revises the romanticised mythology of violence created by Hollywood.

Ron Hansen is the author of The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford, now a film starring Brad Pitt.

Wonderful, moving, funny... delivers the sheer story-telling that great adventure demands. -- John Irving Ron Hansen has turned low history into high art * Newsday * Anyone interested in the truth and myths of the 'old' West is bound to enjoy this novel. * Age Australia * Ron Hansen has captured the flavour of the times: the hard living, violence and humour inherent in the story of one of the legendary cowboy gangs. * Newcastle Herald * Hansen's feel for period and place, his accounts of shootouts, his descriptions of places, wounds, people, dirt and death are superb and his narrative powers are equally fine... A masterpiece. * Western Magazine * Mr Hansen's first novel and it is a stunning one. * Sunday Press * A very superior Western * Irish Times *