I found an older, cheap biography of Jesse James at a used book store recently. To go along with my trip to see some of his old haunts, I thought it would be a good read. I quickly realized that it wasn't.
On the recommendation of a friend, I stopped reading that book and I picked up "Frank and Jesse James: The Story Behind the Legend" by Ted P. Yeatman.
I really enjoyed this one. Yeatman talks about how authors after Jesse's death (and even during his living days) wrote fictional and inflated heroic tales of the James brothers. These stories have distorted the current images we have of Frank and Jesse.
Plus, there are a lot of questions about crimes and hold ups that may or may not have involved Frank or Jesse- or their frequent crime partners the Younger brothers.
I enjoyed reading about the brothers hiding out in Nashville, and running around some of my favorite hang outs, like the Mammoth Cave area!
Yeatman also discusses the Jesse James impostors that came along after his death, and he goes in to detail of the DNA testing that happened in 1995 to set the record straight on Jesse's death.
All of the James Gang members are covered. I especially enjoyed reading about Frank's efforts to get out of crime, his trial, and his later reunion with Cole Younger in their West show.
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