Wanted!: Wanted Posters of the Old West

Product Description

This rare collection of wanted posters from the American West is a historical treasure. The book’s nearly 150 original wanted posters, fugitive notices, and Pinkerton Agency circulars are supplemented by fascinated details about the technology of identification, the history of wanted posters, and the stories behind the crimes, which ranged from horse theft, safe blowing, train robbery, seduction, ”white slavery,” and murder. Posters for notorious bandits such as Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid are also featured.

Review

Today’s reader finds the wanted poster appealing out of curiosity about the past—about criminal types, personal characteristics, background stories. Delightfully,
Wanted Posters of the Old West feeds that curiosity. It immerses the reader in instance after instance of startling derring-do. Moreover, it provides some case backgrounds—context—for the posters themselves. Who can resist? —
-Dave Walter, research historian, Montana Historical Society

From the Back Cover

This rare collection of wanted posters from the American West is a historical treasure. The book’s nearly 150 original wanted posters, fugitive notices, and Pinkerton Agency circulars are supplemented by fascinated details about the technology of identification, the history of wanted posters, and the stories behind the crimes, which ranged from horse theft, safe blowing, train robbery, seduction, ”white slavery,” and murder. Posters for notorious bandits such as Jesse James, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid are also featured.

About the Author

Barbara Fifer is a freelance editor and writer. She is the author of twelve books on history and geography.

Martin J. Kidston graduated from the University of Montana – Missoula in 1997 after serving in the Marines. He lives in Helena, where he works as a newspaper reporter for the Helena Independent Record and as a freelance writer. He is the author of
Cromwell Dixon: A Boy and His Plane, 1892-1911 and
From Poplar to Papua: Montana’s 163rd Infantry Regiment in WWII. His articles have appeared in Montana Magazine and the Washington Post.