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Lead book review

The real Calamity Jane was distressingly unlike her legend

Calamity Jane’s legend as brave frontierswoman, crack shot and compassionate nurse to the wounded was nurtured largely by herself. The truth, says <em>Sam Leith</em>, was dismayingly different

7 February 2020

10:00 PM

7 February 2020

10:00 PM

Calamity: The Many Lives of Calamity Jane Karen R. Jones

Yale, pp.303, £20

‘This is the West, Sir,’ says a reporter in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. ‘When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.’ This is very much the advice that has applied to Calamity Jane over the years. She was the lover of ‘Wild Bill’ Hickok, avenged herself on his killer and bore his secret love-child.

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