Wyoming attorney John W. Davis retells the story of the West's most notorious range war. Having delved more deeply than previous writers into land and census records, newspapers, and trial transcripts, Davis has produced an all-new interpretation. He looks at the conflict from the perspective of Johnson County residents--those whose home territory was invaded and many of whom the invaders targeted for murder--and finds that, contrary to the received explanation, these people were not thieves and rustlers but legitimate citizens.

The broad outlines of the conflict are familiar: some...