Accuracy of the picture of the west painted in Books, Tv and Movies.

[Gerald T. Westbrook]

As noted in my application I am a part time writer. I have written two book and well on my way on book 3. One of the methods I use to get many lines is to write book reviews. I am uptp 51 now on Amazon. One of these was dated on 11/23/2011. It is titled: Memories of Hickok, Calamity Jane and White eye anderson 

I'd appreciate comments on any errors in this book/review. I think it is pretty on the mark, but one could not get a wider picture of Calamity Jane in the Doris Day portrayal, and that depicted in this book.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Creative Publishing in College Station is usually very good.  They apparently insist on their writers doing solid research. Everything I've seen from them has been factual.

[Gerald T. Westbrook]

Thanks Charlie. Your inputs give me more confidence that this book was a rather credible source. There are many things in this book that I like.

1. First of all there are several good portraits. There are two of William Secrest, the editor and one of a Joseph G. Rosa, who wrote the Introduction chapter. Each of these include key comments.

(a) Secrest noted on the inside back cover flap that White Eye Anderson (WEA) rubbed shoulders with the famous and infamous and his version of the happenings is a legacy of those times.

(b) Secrest, in his Biographical Sketch, began to write seriously on the West in the 1960s. This has included many articles in such publications as True West - - - .

(c) Rosa noted that he first heard of WEA in the 1950s. Another writer had included some fictionalizing that crept into the first edition (1964) of: They Called Him Wild Bill. In any event Rosa is the leading authority on the life and times of Hickok.

2. Next there are many pictures, sketches, maps, clippings and advertisements, each with important comments. There are so many of these, scattered randomly throughout the book that a special index would have been most useful.

3. I was puzzled for awhile that there have been little response, by members of this blog, to my queries on the quality of this book. The answer must be that this is a rather rare book and very, very few have seen it.

[C. F. 'Charley' Eckhardt]

Creative Publishing usually prints only small numbers of each book published & they are not widely advertised or distributed.  While it may not be a 'desktop' publisher in fact, it is one for all practical purposes.  It has very limited distribution.  You almost have to be 'on the pad' even to receive notice of new publicatons.