Viva Elfego! Perfect Paperback – Illustrated, March 19, 2008

I got this book for my husband who is a lover of westerns and history. He seems to really enjoy it.

I was hoping to achieve much more factual information regarding the exceptional (no doubt) man Elfego Baca. In my eyes he is a New Mexican hero that few, out side of cowboy action shooters, know much about. However, when all of the third party descriptions and conjecture is removed, this book could have been at least 75 pages shorter. From the claim that "He was a kingmaker" to post mortem diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (but wait, that turns out to be another conjecture or possibility), a lot of this book is what "could have been" or "may have been". I was hoping the see more of the claim from another source that: "In May 1885, Baca was indicted for the killing of one of the men. However, when the door of Geronimo Armijo's house was introduced as evidence, having over four hundred bullet holes in it, Baca was acquitted." There was no mention of this door in the book. If it was actually introduced as evidence then wouldn't a review of the case mention the evidence? One should read this book paying close attention to what could have been vs fact or opinion. One very good thing about the book is its references. Now one really interested can find and read them for oneself to determine where the truth lies. I think perhaps this book was written as a justification of the Elfego Baca Project. Not that the project is a bad thing, but when presented with facts, people can make up their own minds about who deserves the title hero without trying to justify, or excuse, the inappropriate behavior not fitting to that title.

I had heard of him thru out the years yet this was my first time reading about this fascinating character and the times in which he lived, I had to follow up with aa second book his autobiography "law & order as well fascinating character really enjoyed both books highly recommend both!