Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West (audiobook) by David Fisher and Bill O'Reilly

Published in 2015 by Macmillan Audio
Read by Tom Wopat
Duration: 8 hours, 49 minutes
Unabridged

As of late, Bill O'Reilly has become quite the writer of history books. His "Killing..." series has garnered quite a bit of attention but Bill O'Reilly's Legends and Lies: The Real West is different than those. 

For one thing, it is not focused on the death of an historical figure. Also, this book was actually not written by O'Reilly. O'Reilly writes the introduction of the book and mentions that he used to talk about all of these historical figures and tell their true stories when he taught history in a classroom long ago. I can only assume that David Fisher and Bill O'Reilly sat down and discussed who to include in the book and the general tone of each entry.

The topics are as follows:

Billy the Kid (1859-1881)

-Daniel Boone;
-Davey Crocket;
-Kit Carson;
-Black Bart (Charles E. Bowles);
-Dime Novels and their influence on our perception of the Old West;
-Wild Bill Hickock;
-Boom Towns;
-Bass Reeves (an inspiration for the Lone Ranger story?);
-Custer and the Battle of Little Bighorn;
-Indian Summer;
-Buffalo Bill;
-Annie Oakley;
-The American Indian/Reservations;
-Jesse James;
-Doc Holiday / Wyatt Earp;
-The myth of the gunfight at high noon;
-Billy the Kid;
-Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid;
-Westerns on TV and movies.

Of course, as I listened I found some were more interesting than others. I enjoyed learning about Black Bart and I thought the Buffalo Bill entry was particularly interesting. My teenage daughter was particularly struck the by the nebulous nature of Billy the Kid. Was he a bad guy in a bad situation or was he a basically good kid forced into a bad situation? 

The Bass Reeves story was interesting but I do not believe that this African-American marshal was the inspiration for the Lone Ranger because the facts just do not line up. However, I would love to see Bass Reeves explored further on his own just because he is interesting all by himself.

There are some facts that just do not fit together well. It is bound to happen. This is a written by a generalist writer who specializes in ghost-writing, not in history and a former history teacher turned journalist. But, almost all of it is accurate and this book certainly does well as an introduction to the fascinating time period known as the Old West.

Tom Wopat reads the audiobook. I had no idea that the actor most famous for portraying Luke Duke on the Dukes of Hazzard read audiobooks. He was not bad. He had a nice way of giving a voice to each person when he read a direct quote. Unfortunately, they all sounded like a grizzled growl. He must not have been too bad - I blew right through this audiobook.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Legends and Lies: The Real West.

Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot (audiobook) by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

Published in 2012 by MacMillan Audio
Duration: 8 hours, 25 minutes
Unabridged
Read by the author, Bill O'Reilly

I was a little reluctant to listen to this audiobook because of the author. Not Martin Dugard. This is the third book I have read or listened to that he has written or co-written and I know he can really tell a story. No, it's Mr. "No Spin Zone" that I cannot stand. Our politics are similar but I just find O'Reilly difficult to stomach.

That being said, I enjoyed this audiobook quite a lot.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy
(1917-1963)

O'Reilly narrates Killing Kennedy, which means it's a mixed bag for me. He speaks for a living so he reads it well and knows what phrases and words he wanted to emphasize but, like I said above, a little O'Reilly goes a long way for me. Also, his frequent use of dramatically read foreshadowing that alludes to the date of JFK's assassination got very old very fast.

But, the positives are the way the book is presented. O'Reilly tells the story of JFK from PT 109 forward and gives the reader of the man Kennedy was becoming. JFK's family life, his relationship with his brothers, LBJ and Jackie are explored in great detail and presented in an interesting fashion and really expose Kennedy's good points as well as his considerable failings.

As they tell the story of the Kennedy Administration, O'Reilly and Dugard lay out all of the parties that have been blamed for the assassination: the Cubans, the CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, anti-civil rights crazies and Lee Harvey Oswald. O'Reilly and Dugard acknowledge that these other groups had a grudge against Kennedy but they go with the traditional explanation of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Perhaps the best piece of the book is how well they tell the story of Jackie Kennedy on the day of the assassination. It is a fine piece of writing that brought tears to my eyes at one point (please note, I have not been a particular fan of JFK or of O'Reilly so the fact that a bit of writing read by O'Reilly about JFK brought tears to my eyes speaks volumes about its power).

Well done.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

Reviewed on December 22, 2012

Note: I was provided a copy of this audiobook by the publisher in the hopes of receiving an honest review.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Killing Kennedy.

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever (audiobook) by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard

An interesting history that has been told plenty of times before.

Read by the author, Bill O'Reilly
Duration: 8 hours
Published by Macmillan Audio

Unabridged.

Probably no figure in American history has received more attention than Abraham Lincoln. Political commentator Bill O'Reilly was, in the early 1970s, a high school history teacher. He wrote this book out of a true passion for Abraham Lincoln. It is clearly not a professional work since it does contain many simple mistakes (for instance, he refers to the Oval Office when it was not actually added to the White House until the early 1900s).

I listened to the audio version of Killing Lincoln. To be honest, I was reluctant to listen to it since it is narrated by O'Reilly and I am not a huge fan of his work as a political commentator. In fact, O'Reilly's rather odd style of speech both made the read more interesting.

John Wilkes Booth
(1838-1865)

The book tells the story of the last few days of Lincoln's life, including the flight of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia from the lines of Petersburg, the surrender at Appomattox Court House, the celebrations in Washington, Booth's various plots to kidnap and/or kill Lincoln, the assassination of Lincoln and the manhunt for Booth.

O'Reilly is known for taking stands on issues and defending those points of view loudly and vociferously. He does the same here. The historical figures are simplified: Lincoln is the long-suffering hero, Booth is evil personified (not that I sympathize with Booth, but O'Reilly comes on a little strong). The history is enthusiastic, if not particularly deep. His descriptions are strong and the story is paced quite well. Much to the chagrin of my ever-patient wife, I am a serious student of the Civil War (I personally own more than 100 books on the topic and have read dozens more) and I found the book to be entertaining, well-told and I even learned a couple of new things.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: Killing Lincoln.

Reviewed on October 3, 2011.