Michael Wallis is adept at weaving historical facts into engaging tales of our nation's past.

In his latest work, Belle Starr, Wallis takes on the mythic legend of the wild west outlaw. Wallis works to separate the fact from the fiction that followed after Starr's murder.

While typically portrayed as a villain, Wallis' research finds that's not really the case.

By using accounts from the time, and records he takes us back to Starr's birth and the motivating events that led to her outlaw lifestyle, finding the heart behind her decisions to live outside the law.

The Starr we meet here is a woman who rejected traditional gender roles and found a place for herself in the world while she struggled to overcome emotional losses.

Really great read.

Interesting and well-researched, but I thought that Belle herself was somewhat buried in the avalanche of detail about her times. Still worth the read, but I didn’t feel in the end that I had any further understanding of the woman behind the legend.

Belle Starr, known as the Bandit Queen, is one of those Wild West outlaws whose legendary exploits rank up there alongside Jesse James and Cole Younger. Many of Belle’s antics were embellished. Others were entirely made up either during her short life or after she was gunned down. Historian Michael Wallis breaks down the myths and uncovers the truth of Belle Starr’s life. Belle was a fascinating woman whose formative years were shaped by the violence of the Civil War and life was lived in the lawless era of Wild West. Yes, she committed many crimes during her short life—though it was nowhere near as many as were attributed to her. Her main crime was refusing to conform to the standards that other women of the Victorian Era were held to and instead was a rebel and an outlaw. Belle’s life story is not pretty, and she is not always a sympathetic or likeable woman. But she is not the demon that other biographers have made her to be. I highly recommend BELLE STARR: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE WILD WEST LEGEND to anyone interested in the American West or outlaws.

A very interesting read. It was well researched and very well written. I had heard of her before this but never knew much about her, this book solved that.