Western movies are full of images of swaggering outlaws brought to justice by valiant lawmen shooting them down in daring gunfights before riding off into the sunset. In reality it would not have happened that way. Real lawmen did not simply walk away from a gunfight--they had to face the legal system and justify shooting a civilian in the line of duty. Providing a more realistic view of criminal justice in the Old West, this history focuses on how criminals came into conflict with the law and how the law responded. The process is described in detail, from the common crimes of the day--such...

Presents a history of dime novels and pulp magazines from approximately 1850 to 1960, describing how sensational pulp literature filled a need among readers and flowered during the evolving social conditions of the Industrial Revolution. It provides a comprehensive story of why pulp books and magazines appeared, what this type of literature was, how it became popular.