[.ca] 100 Oklahoma Outlaws, Gangsters and Lawmen (ISBN 1589803841)

An Exceptional Source For Historical Information:
Contrary to popular belief, Oklahoma's worst outlaws and bad men lived in the 19th century before Oklahoma was even a state. Lawless men frequented the area, sometimes using it as a hideout, sometimes just drifting through before it was formalized into what was called Indian Territory. Not since Ken Butler has there been an Oklahoma historian that has delved deeper into the mystique surrounding the Oklahoma territories. It would take an attorney, which Mr. Yadon is, to penetrate the veil of the dime store novels that were written about the actual fantastic goings-on that happened in the territory that was to become Oklahoma and a newspaperman, which Mr. Anderson has been, to come up with an exceptionally readable series of profiles of people that no Chamber of Commerce would ever want to admit had graced what would become the state of Oklahoma. Starting with the first chapter about a man who was indeed, "a man too bad for Hollywood," and continuing with sometimes whimsical looks at the best and the worst of the people who populated Indian Territory in the years 1839-1939. This book is well documented and annotated and is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of the wild and woolly western years.