From Farmer and Sailor to Mountain Man, Crow Killer, and Town Sheriff, One man’s reputation lives past all others When it came to western mountain men, no one on earth ever matched the physical prowess or will to survive of John “Liver-Eating” Johnson. Throughout his life, John Johnston was known by several names, including “Crow Killer” and “Liver-Eating Johnson” (without the “t”), names he earned through his penchant for killing Crow Indians before cutting out and eating their livers. Born around 1824 in New Jersey, Johnston headed west after deserting from the U.S. Navy and became a well-known and infamous mountain man. His many lives would involve him working as a miner, hunter, trapper, bootlegger, woodcutter, and army scout. When his Flathead Indian wife and child were killed by Crow Indians while he was away hunting and trapping, he swore to avenge their deaths and began his next life as a man after revenge . He killed hundreds and earned his nickname because he was said to cut out and eat his victims’ livers. Twenty-five years after his wife’s death, his life would take another turn when he joined the Union Army in Missouri. And that was just the start of his second act.

Young Martha Jane Cannary began life as a camp follower and street urchin. Parentless by the age of twelve, she morphed into the mother of two who just as often took employment as a waitress, laundress, or dance hall girl as she did an Indian scout or bullwhacker. Just as likely to wear a dress as she was buckskins, she was impossible to ignore no matter what she wore, particularly after she'd had a few drinks! And she shamelessly parlayed into a legend the aura of fame that Edward L. Wheeler's dime novels crafted around her. Perhaps most amazing of all, in an era where women had few options in life, Calamity Jane had the audacity to carve them out for herself. The gun-toting, tough-talking, hard-drinking woman was all Western America come to life. Flowing across the untamed small towns and empty spaces of South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana like the wild running rivers of the American West, she helped create the legend of Calamity Jane from scratch. Part carnie barker, part actor, part sexually alluring siren, part drunken lout--she was all of these and much more.

Once west, he would become a gunfighter, a gambler, and a saloon keeper--and he would find his way into the legend of the West through his associations with the Earps, Bat Masterson, Big Nose Kate, and other colorful characters who helped shape the frontier. Perhaps best known for his participation in the shoot out at the OK Corral and his many portrayals in film, this new biography reveals the many facets of his personality and proposes to set the record straight--or at least to tell the story that Doc Holliday would have preferred be told about himself. Key selling points: * The ongoing popularity of westerns on TV and in the movies and of the characters associated with the mythology of the Old West offers room for this new telling of the story of Doc Holliday * Author is a talented storyteller * Author will interview descendants of Doc and his victims, providing a well-rounded picture of the mythological character and the real man behind it