{"product_id":"butch-cassidy-the-true-story-of-an-american-outlaw-9781501117480","title":"Butch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw","description":"\u003cb\u003eCharles Leerhsen brings the notorious Butch Cassidy to vivid life in this surprising and entertaining biography that goes beyond the movie \u003ci\u003eButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\u003c\/i\u003e to reveal a more fascinating and complicated man than legend provides.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor more than a century the life and death of Butch Cassidy have been the subject of legend, spawning a small industry of mythmakers and a major Hollywood film. But who was Butch Cassidy, really? Charles Leerhsen, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eTy Cobb\u003c\/i\u003e, sorts out facts from folklore and paints a brilliant portrait of the celebrated outlaw of the American West. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBorn into a Mormon family in Utah, Robert Leroy Parker grew up dirt poor and soon discovered that stealing horses and cattle was a fact of life in a world where small ranchers were being squeezed by banks, railroads, and cattle barons. Sometimes you got caught, sometimes you got lucky. A charismatic and more than capable cowboy--even ranch owners who knew he was a rustler said they would hire him again--he adopted the alias \"Butch Cassidy,\" and moved on to a new moneymaking endeavor: bank robbery. By all accounts, Butch was a smart and considerate thief, refusing to take anything from customers and insisting that no one be injured during his heists. His \"Wild Bunch\" gang specialized in clever getaways, stationing horses at various points along their escape route so they could outrun any posse. Eventually Butch and his gang graduated to train robberies, which were more lucrative. But the railroad owners hired the Pinkerton Agency, whose detectives pursued Butch and his gang relentlessly, until he and his then partner Harry Longabaugh (The Sundance Kid) fled to South America, where they replicated the cycle of ranching, rustling, and robbery until they met their end in Bolivia. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eButch Cassidy\u003c\/i\u003e, Charles Leerhsen shares his fascination with how criminals such as Butch deftly maneuvered between honest work and thievery, battling the corporate interests that were exploiting the settlers, and showing us in vibrant prose the Old West as it really was, in all its promise and heartbreak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCharles Leerhsen is a former executive editor at \u003ci\u003eSports Illustrated\u003c\/i\u003e. He has written for \u003ci\u003eRolling Stone\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEsquire\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e. His books include \u003ci\u003eTy Cobb: A Terrible Beauty\u003c\/i\u003e;\u003ci\u003e Crazy Good: The Story of Dan Patch, the Most Famous Horse in America\u003c\/i\u003e;\u003ci\u003e Blood and Smoke: A True Tale of Mystery, Mayhem, and the Birth of the Indy 500\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eButch Cassidy: The True Story of an American Outlaw\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Sarah Saffian. Visit him at Leerhsen.com.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50671193260306,"sku":"9781501117480","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_973af605-6c58-4d53-a1dc-83e32e2c7204.jpg?v=1733797485","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/butch-cassidy-the-true-story-of-an-american-outlaw-9781501117480","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}