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English
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Description
A tour de force of historical debunking that documents Randolph ‘Soapy’ Smith’s elevation to western hero. In sorting out the facts about this man and his death from fiction, Catherine Holder Spude concludes that the actual Soapy was not the legendary ‘boss of Skagway’, nor was he killed by Frank Reid, as early historians supposed.
“Catherine Holder Spude’s solidly researched book is original, engaging, and clearly written. She offers an interesting deconstruction not only of the Soapy Smith ‘legend’ but also of frontier community building.”—Paul Andrew Hutton, author of Phil Sheridan and His Army and The Custer Reader
"At least a dozen books scrutinize Soapy Smith, but ‘That Fiend in Hell’ unravels in scholarly fashion the mythical story of Jefferson Randolph Smith, the king of western con men. Tracing the augmentation of the myth from source to source, Spude documents the elevation of a notorious, if charming, criminal into a legendary western hero.”—Thomas J. Noel, coauthor of Historical Atlas of Colorado "Catherine Holder Spude's research methods, focus, and narrative style combine into a work that is an exemplary model of what good history should be." —Troy D. Smith in Roundup Magazine
Catherine Holder Spude is author of “That Fiend in Hell”: Soapy Smith in Legend and Sin and Grace: A Historical Novel of the Skagway, Alaska, Sporting Wars and coeditor of Eldorado! The Archaeology of Gold Mining in the Far North.
“Catherine Holder Spude’s solidly researched book is original, engaging, and clearly written. She offers an interesting deconstruction not only of the Soapy Smith ‘legend’ but also of frontier community building.”—Paul Andrew Hutton, author of Phil Sheridan and His Army and The Custer Reader
"At least a dozen books scrutinize Soapy Smith, but ‘That Fiend in Hell’ unravels in scholarly fashion the mythical story of Jefferson Randolph Smith, the king of western con men. Tracing the augmentation of the myth from source to source, Spude documents the elevation of a notorious, if charming, criminal into a legendary western hero.”—Thomas J. Noel, coauthor of Historical Atlas of Colorado "Catherine Holder Spude's research methods, focus, and narrative style combine into a work that is an exemplary model of what good history should be." —Troy D. Smith in Roundup Magazine
Catherine Holder Spude is author of “That Fiend in Hell”: Soapy Smith in Legend and Sin and Grace: A Historical Novel of the Skagway, Alaska, Sporting Wars and coeditor of Eldorado! The Archaeology of Gold Mining in the Far North.