{"product_id":"book-dqah","title":"Butch Cassidy","description":"\u003cb\u003eCharles Leerhsen brings the notorious Butch Cassidy to vivid life in this “lyrical and deeply researched” (\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e) 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\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\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 the facts from folklore and paints a “compelling portrait of the charming, debonair, ranch hand-turned-outlaw” (Ron Hansen\u003ci\u003e, \u003c\/i\u003eauthor of \u003ci\u003eThe Kid\u003c\/i\u003e) of the American West.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\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. 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 a smart and considerate thief, Butch and his \"Wid Bunch\" gang eventually graduated to more lucrative train robberies. 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.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eButch Cassidy\u003c\/i\u003e, Leerhsen “refuses to buy into the Hollywood hype and instead offers the true tale of Butch Cassidy, which turns out to be more fascinating and fun than the myths” (Tom Clavin, bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eTombstone\u003c\/i\u003e). In this “entertaining…definitive account” (\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e), he 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.","brand":"Simon \u0026 Schuster Audio","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49346986475824,"sku":"BDdqah","price":24.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49346986508592,"sku":"10dqah","price":39.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/dqah-Square-cover.jpg?v=1773692658","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-dqah","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}