Book Review of Brothers of the Gun by Mark Lee Gardner

I am very blessed that this is the third book of Mark Lee Gardner’s, the second on request of the author himself, that I have reviewed. It honestly means the world to me that I was allowed a preview review copy for this review. I am very grateful to Netgalley and Dutton publishers for allowing me to have that preview copy. You can also view my other reviews of Mark Lee Gardener’s books, The Earth is All that Lasts, a duel biography of Chiefs Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, here, and To Hell on a Fast Horse, a duel biography of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett here.

Most people have heard of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday thanks to their many depictions in literature and on the screen. They are legends of the Wild West and most famous for their involvement in the infamous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the most famous of all shootouts in the West. Unfortunately, both men, and the famous gunfight, have become surrounded in myth and legend, making it hard to really see the truth in their stories. The Brothers of the Gun had an enormous task to try and sift through the fact from the fiction, but with people as famous as Wyatt and Doc, the two are intrinsically linked, which is made very obvious in this book from the beginning.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, and have come across my previous reviews of Gardner’s work, you will have noticed that he became one of my favourite current historians very quickly from first reading his duel biography of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, To Hell on a Fast Horse. That viewpoint is definitely held up with Gardner’s latest work. I think that writing a single biography is hard enough, but to do duel biographies, which Gardner writes with such ease (although I’m sure it’s far from easy!), is a huge accomplishment.

As I have become accustomed to with Gardner’s writing, the multifaceted information has been written in an easy and accessible style. Just as with his previous books, at times, it certainly does feel that you are immersing yourself in a Western film, full of heroes and villains. For me, I have always viewed both Earp and Holliday as morally ‘grey’ figures, stuck somewhere between a hero and a villain. Gardner certainly makes the point of this himself. Neither man was inherently bad, although the men they often formed posses against certainly fall into that category, but neither were they squeaky clean either. The main issue is that various different versions of the men, even in their lifetime, or not long afterwards, portrayed them at either end of the spectrum. This certainly is a running theme throughout the book and does leave the reader asking a lot about people’s motives in how the two men were portrayed.

The sheer amount of sources quoted shows how much excellent research and time has gone into writing this book. A round of applause is due here for the author because I can only imagine just how much travel around the U.S. was needed for this kind of research. The wide range of sources such as newspapers, recollections, early biographies, diary entries, and photographs, to name a few, show just how fascinated America was with the story of Earp and Holliday in their lifetime, just as much as they are today.

The book could have so easily been just about the O.K. Corral, or the ‘Street fight’ as it was known at the time. That in itself would be a hard task to decipher, as lots of myths have surrounded the gunfight, especially as it shouldn’t really be called Gunfight at the O.K. Corral as it was in an alleyway, and it only lasted for thirty seconds. The book does well to provide as detailed a description of the real events as possible. So whilst this is a large part of Wyatt and Doc’s story that is usually focused on, it’s not all of their story. I certainly feel this helps the reader to feel a bit closer to understanding who the two famous men might have been.

Instead, Gardner provides so much more depth and character to both Earp and Holliday, from their early days until their deaths, and everything adventurous and mundane in between. For me, this helped to give more of a well-rounded picture than has been produced by others. This was often helped by some fairly humorous stories along the way, which certainly help to lighten the mood at times when serious subjects are involved. A personal favourite of mine was when young Wyatt accidentally stole a whole herd of mules, rather than just one. I did laugh out loud at that anecdote and makes me wish film makers would include that in on screen adaptations of Wyatt’s life. I refuse to give away any more than that though, as I don’t want to provide spoilers. To find out more, you’ll just have to read Brothers of the Gun for yourself when the book is finally released.

Wyatt Earp as depicted in the December 4, 1896 issue of the

The only thing that confused me a little was that the epilogue, entitled ‘Immortality’, felt a little rushed. As an author myself, I know how difficult word and time constraints are towards the end of a book, so I don’t hold this against anyone in the slightest. It must be very hard to sum up the extraordinary lives of the two infamous friends in just one single chapter. However, it felt fitting to finish on the recollections of Wyatt towards the end of his life and the issues that came with wanting to share his side of the story, especially with journalists. It is for this reason that some aspects of his and Holliday’s story have been misjudged and, perhaps, over inflated. So despite the slight rush in this chapter, the theme of it seems a fitting way to end.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone, whether they have an interest in the Wild West or not. It’s journalistic writing style is easy to read and helps provide just enough context to not consume the overall narrative of the friendship and interlocked lives of both Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. If you are a fan of Western films, then this is just like reading one on many different levels. The main thing to take away from this, just as I have with Gardner’s previous books, I feel that those mentioned, had their true characters revealed, whether for good or bad, or as in the case of Earp and Holliday, somewhere in the middle.

Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone is due to be published by Dutton on 11th November 2025. I wish the author, as ever, all the very best of luck with this wonderful book.