Doc by Mary Doria Russell
My parents have always been huge fans of movie westerns, especially ones starring Clint Eastwood. I wanted nothing to do with them when I was younger. Only now do I know how I missed out. One holiday a few years ago I wasn’t feeling great and decided to get a nice long movie to watch. I was working my way through one of those “Best Movies Ever” lists and decided to get The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the library. I have been hooked ever since. (Yes, I now proudly own all three “Man With No Name” westerns.)
Being curious about best lists (but finding I rarely agree with everything on them) I put off reading Doc. That was another mistake. Even if you aren’t a fan of westerns you will enjoy this tale of life in the Old West. It’s a fictionalized biography of Doc Holliday before the shootout at the O.K. Corral made him infamous. He was an interesting man with an interesting life. Nothing like the man I envisioned him to be. Same goes for his best friend, not Wyatt Earp, Morgan Earp. Doc knew three of the Earp brothers while living in Dodge City yet only Wyatt remains known in popular culture.
If you are a fan of historical fiction I think you’ll really enjoy learning about the cow town of Dodge City and the men whose names you may know without knowing the men they were.
