Veteran journalist, prolific author, and much-lauded historian Steve Wiegand takes listeners across the post-Civil War Wild West in his 1876: The Year of the Gun. Wiegand introduces—or reintroduces—us to lawmen such as Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp and outlaws such as the Younger and James Brothers, as well as larger-than-life figures such as Buffalo Bill and George Custer. 

He details the stories of these real-life legends, their legacies, and the innumerable myths frequently attributed to them. Juxtaposing their real lives with the often-outlandish accounts of their exploits, 1876 swings from lighthearted humor to cliff-hanger suspense. It also portrays how the Wild West’s initial, tantalizing promise of fame and glamour often disintegrated. 

But 1876: The Year of the Gun also offers listeners a unique element noticeably absent from most Wild West books: historical context. Wiegand expands his contemporary spotlight on America’s 100th birthday year to encompass what was going on in the rest of the country. On the very same day George Armstrong Custer was dying on a parched hill in Southeastern Montana and immortalizing himself as both hero and villain, for example, Alexander Graham Bell was at America’s first World’s Fair in Philadelphia, demonstrating his new invention—the telephone. 

At the same time Wyatt Earp was moseying into Dodge City to join the town’s police force, Albert Goodwill Spalding was on a pitcher’s mound in Chicago, establishing baseball as the national pastime and creating a sporting goods empire.

And even as the James Boys and Younger Brothers were robbing banks, Democrats and Republicans were conspiring to steal the White House from the American voter. This book brings all this together in one place. 

Fueled by the author’s childhood interest in cowboys, train and bank robberies, and high noon shootouts, and their portrayal in iconic TV shows, 1876 is not only a well-researched, highly listenable account of a pivotal centennial year in America’s history, but also a delightful homage to famous Wild West figures who, with media help, helped shape the American character.