Between Loaded Guns: A Historical Novel by James R. Parrish
1983; University of Nebraska Press; Volume: 18; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/wal.1983.0084
ISSN1948-7142
Autores Tópico(s)American Sports and Literature
ResumoReviews 191 Between Loaded Guns: A Historical Novel. ByJames R. Parrish. (Tyler, TX: Book Publishers of Tyler. 289 pages, $16.95.) Heroes and villains, jealousy, ambushes, gunfights, lynchings, and even an old codger — what more could one desire in a western novel? Add to these a firm grounding in history, and what results is James R. Parrish’s Between Loaded Guns, set in and around Parrish’s home town of Moscow, Texas. Of all the badmen who roamed the West, John Wesley Hardin has a special attraction not only because of his having been hunted and eventually captured by Texas Rangers but also because of his ruthlessness. Repeatedly called the most vicious of the old outlaws, he is supposed to have often killed just for the fun of it. In Between Loaded Guns Parrish shows a more balanced view of the outlaw. He shows a Hardin who, while insisting that he never kills unless he is forced to, isobviously ready to kill in several situations in which he does not have to. Parrish’s Hardin fights on the side of the law when he feels it is right to do so but also violates the law whenever he pleases. The central character in Between Loaded Guns is, however, not Hardin. It is Chet Reilly, former fast-draw artist with a wild west show, who returns to his hometown, Moscow, to help his sister (who is really just the daughter of the people who reared him) keep from losing a freight line she owns and, inci dentally, to clear himself of charges of murder. Chet is anything but the stereotypical gunfighter. He suffers from an ulcer that acts up every time he is faced with a gunfight. In tense situations, his stomach burns, and he admits that he is afraid. He tries his hardest to avoid gunfights; when he can’t avoid one, he tries to keep from killing his opponent. And he worries constantly about whether he really could kill a man should the need arise. Obviously out of place in Moscow during the lawless period between the withdrawal of Union troops after the Civil War on the one hand and the reassertion of order by the Texas Rangers on the other, Chet finds himself involved in trying to keep the peace as a deputy sheriff and in a love triangle that also includes the girl whom he has for years thought of as his own sister and his good friend, John Wesley Hardin. Parrish has done his homework well. His historical novel draws a vivid picture of Moscow in the 1870s. The Postscript tells what happened to the central characters after the novel’s action ends and gives information about the history of Moscow after the events narrated. For the person interested in outlaws, gunfighters, or Texas history, this book will be a delight. RICHARD TUERK, East Texas State University ...
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