The Saga of Billy the Kid
By: Burns, Walter Noble
Billy the Kid is the subject of many books and movies. Bob Dylan, called by one of our English faculty “the American Homer,” wrote the music for one of movies. Michael Ondaatje, author of The English Patient, wrote a book of poems and vignettes in Billy’s stead. I doubt our interest in Billy would have thrived so if not for Burns’ book, published in 1926 and based on accounts of people living then who had known Billy. Burns creates such a sympathetic character and tells the story so well, not wanting to go to sleep with Billy’s end on my mind, I had to stop reading just before the death scene.
Reviewer: Janice Duff
