Butch Cassidy: Beyond the Grave
By most accounts, Butch Cassidy (born Robert LeRoy Parker) was an affable, charming rogue who rustled cattle and robbed banks and trains with a smile. Perhaps that explains why many refuse to accept his ignominious end—shot to pieces by Bolivian troops in a grubby mining town. Jameson, an award-winning author and contributor to the History Channel, is determined to cast doubt on that unsavory demise. Much of this compact work is a useful and conventional biography of Cassidy. Jameson describes his young life as the oldest child of devout Mormon parents, growing up poor in Utah. He seems to have drifted slowly into a life of crime as he moved from various ranching jobs across Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming. Jameson describes his partnership with the Sundance Kid as a mating of opposites who shared and enjoyed each other’s restless spirits. Unfortunately, when Jameson examines Cassidy’s death, he chooses to magnify small inconsistencies in the reports and is too willing to accept claims that Cassidy survived and returned to the U.S. It seems Jameson concludes that Cassidy lived on because that was a more satisfying ending. --Jay Freeman