I think I should start this with a confession. I may be American, and I may enjoy learning and reading about the 19th century, but for the longest time I have never been interested in Westerns. To a great extent, I found most stories and legends, fictional or not, to blend together in my head. I can safely say that I've also heard very little about women in the wild west. They always seemed to be on the sidelines or in the background adding very little to the ongoing conflicts.

That's why when I saw the cover, I found myself intrigued. This is the biography of the most dangerous woman in the west, Belle Starr. The woman went from the daughter of a relatively well-to-do family to an infamous outlaw who not only associated with some of the most dangerous criminals of the time, but was a terrifying figure to cross herself.

The author has done such a wonderful job not only researching the woman herself, but presenting facts, exaggerations as well as (at times) conflicting accounts in a non-confusing way. The book, also, did a wonderful job introducing the audience to both the civil war as well as a lot of the political, cultural and societal dramas that unfolded after. I can safely say I breezed through the book and didn't find a single minute boring.

While this is a non-fiction biography, the writing is far from dry. The narration by George Newbern practically transports you to the setting. All of this comes together to make sure that it's an interesting experience for the readers/listeners.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised. While I disagree with a lot of Belle Starr's actions and views, I enjoyed learning about a female outlaw for once, but also learn about the wild west in such a well-executed manner.

Also, why don't we wear feathery white hats anymore?

This is a very well researched and thoughtful biography of Belle Starr. Dane Huckelbridge did a good job of creating an immersive image of the 19th century American west. It is clear that he spent the time going through a range of primary sources in order to present the facts of Belle Starr's life. I also appreciated how he took the time to distinguish between the reality of Belle Starr as a unique woman, and the myth that was created around her life as a romanticized outlaw after her death. The reliance on fact and context did make it a fairly dry read, however. The narrator did a fairly good job making the content interesting, but it was easy to get lost in the details. I would recommend this to anyone interested in bringing real women more into our understanding of history.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio for providing an eALC in return for my honest thoughts.

Thanks Net Galley for the advance audio of QUEEN OF ALL MAYHEM by Dane Hucklebridge. This book told the true story of Belle Starr, an outlaw in the Wild West. I knew very little about her prior to reading Dane Hucklebridge's biography of Belle, not even her full name. This author gave a very thorough history of her life and freely admitted when some incidents were conjecture and others were witnessed and discussed in court.
This work talked about both her human side and her outlaw side and left it up to the reader to decide whether or not she was a bad as she's portrayed in history, is more humane than portrayed and what affect her personal history had on her life and the choices she made.

Very interesting read. I learned a lot about belle star and her history. Loved the information and the narrative with the book.

Thank you netgalley for the advanced audiobook copy of Queen of All Mayhem. I was captivated by the story and history of this woman I had never before heard of. I don’t typically gravitate to nonfiction but I quite liked it.

*Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for the ALC! All opinons are my own.*

I. ATE. THIS. UP. First, a disclaimer, I am absolutely a history nerd with an academic background in history and I devour things like this for fun on a regular basis, so if you take my recommendation for this when I later tell you that it is accessible and you find that I'm actually full of shit, please just remember that I basically live and breathe museum marquees so...

This was such a fun mix of narrative and traditional nonfiction. I really appreciated how the author made obvious use of his primary sources and wasn't afraid to throw them into his text. Primary sources like letters and old newspaper articles can often feel really overwhelming for a modern audience that isn't used to reading them all of the time, but they're also greatly beneficial to historical research so it's a bit of a double-edged sword. To not shy away from then in your text made for a general audience is really brave, but I think the way the author framed them as "can't miss" opportunities to hear the subjects in their own voice (which is exactly what they are!!) was a great way to go about it. There is a LOT of information in this book. You will find yourself absolutely wondering where it all ties back to our main subject, but for someone like me who appreciates the bigger picture, I really loved having the background information about the Civil War and the indigenous tribes. It helped inform the setting for me a lot. I know that's probably going to turn off a lot of people from reading this one, but I'm going to encourage all of you to try to stick with it because not only is the information valuable, but it's also presented in such a wonderful way. It's really clear to me that this was a fun project for Huckelbridge to work on and everything he put in here was on purpose.

I also want to give the absolute MOST kudos to the narrator of this audiobook, because it's the most fun I've ever had listening to a nonfiction book probably ever? George Newbern makes all of this crazy historical information and all of these outlaw stories an absolute joy to take in. It felt like I was sitting around the fireplace listening to someone just tell stories of a wild person they knew once or something. He felt so familiar by the end. These are things I have absolutely said about fiction narrators a million times, but nonfiction narration is harder for me and this has been such an uplifting experience. If you're at all unsure or hesitant about this book, I highly recommend doing it audibly. George will make it worthwhile for sure!

This book was captivating. For such an incredible story wrapped up in legend and lore, the author does a meticulous job of parsing out what may have truly taken place. I found the whole thing fascinating. I appreciated the effort spent to contextualize the events in the broader history of the time and I learned a great deal. Dane Huckelbridge was a great narrator. I absolutely recommend the audiobook experience. With Hucklebridge's friendly inflection I felt like I was being told a 'tall tale' by a relative or friend. I don't often have this much fun with a non-fiction/biography. Thank you NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult/HarperAudio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

captivating and thoroughly researched account that brings to life a truly extraordinary and overlooked historical figure. Huckelbridge’s writing is sharp, engaging, and infused with just the right amount of wit, making the book both informative and entertaining.

I understand that authors will use the world and the people around the titular person to show how they were shaped, how they came to be. This book doesn't feel like it took this approached. For a large portion of the book it is more about other people and then Belle gets mentioned like she is also here. The book does focus more on her later on in the book. There are a lot of what ifs and maybes. For a book that is supposed to be a presented as fact it tends to read more as historical fiction. The author's "connection" feels out of place and an excuse to add some pages. There was also some langue used to describes the people that feels unnecessary, like differentiating the indigenous people by an European idea of civilized.

I was promised a biography of interesting woman of the wild west. I was left with more of a history of the clash of the indigenous population and the people forcing them off their land.

A fascinating book about a lesser known historical figure from the Wild West. This book details what is known of Belle Starr's life from birth to death, and where the facts are scanty, it offers potential options based on logical conclusions from existing information and historic context. Well written and well read, I learned a lot from this book.

In Queen of All Mayhem, Huckelbridge takes on the task of bringing some truth to the myth of Belle Starr. I loved the start of this book - leading with a literal bang with Belle's death at the hands of someone who remains a mystery, on ground that Belle felt safe enough on not to have her guns with her. The story then starts at the beginning and wends its way through Belle's life from the upperclass, to a prairie outlaw, Cherokee wife, and mother. I am impressed by the amount of research done by Huckelbridge, and also the way that he states clearly when something can't be proven or is supposition, even when at times this leads to multiple ways to look at something when you'd love a definitive answer. Biographies are already tough, but one on a woman in the age when women were practically dismissed as furniture (even in the case of a badass like Belle) is quite an undertaking. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Myra Maybelle and her brothers, the outlaws that helped make her Belle, Cole and Jim, and learning how she evolved into a Cherokee outlaw with her husbands Sam and Jim. Thank you to HarperAudio and NetGalley for the early listen in exchange for my honest opinion.