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Carson’s life as a fur trapper, scout and courier was chronicled in dime novels and newspapers accounts that made him a legend in his own time.

It was an easy way for publishers of dime novels and tabloid newspapers to make a quick buck.

I rounded up some cutlery and found the table, which had been buried under a stack of dime novels and Shakespeare’s plays.

It’s a fitting image for a book that reimagines the western dime novel, this time with historical context — far more potent than the whitewashed narratives that have long dominated.

No wonder the dime novels and yellow press of the day exaggerated the facts surrounding the western gangs and gunfighters: Too often those facts won’t stand on their own.