D.J. Herda

A sort of fictional autobiography. The story is told in Doc Holliday’s “voice;” it’s clear the narrator is in some sort of afterlife – which doesn’t seem that unpleasant. The story agrees with what else I’ve read about Holiday’s life – although there are no references or bibliography. The spirit/ghost/whatever of Holliday does resolve a mystery - what happened to Johnny Ringo? (Although it doesn’t explain why he wasn’t wearing his boots.) The first-person style is gimmicky, but works. A quick read, although it doesn’t add much to OK Corral or Wyatt Earp lore.… (more)

It took me quite a while to finish this book, I'd pick it up and read a few pages at a time; it's dense with information so I had to digest it slowly, but also, it just failed to hold my attention for long periods because it read like a book report. This book is packed with facts about Mankiller's life, especially her origins and childhood, then begins to trail off on personal matters after reaching her marriage to focus more on her interest in activism and community development. It then fails to deliver on the details of her governing as the first modern female chief of the Cherokee nation. This book relies so heavily on quotes and citations from other books that I found myself considering reading one of those cited. While I absolutely appreciate all the information given in this book and the obvious care and attention the author gave to getting the facts correct, the book report vibe left much to be desired from the delivery.
Thanks to the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program and the author for a copy in exchange for my honest review.… (more)