Sign-In
Cart
Queen of All Mayhem: The Blood-Soaked Life and Mysterious Death of Belle Starr, the Most Dangerous Woman in the West
Hardcover
Biographies GeneralRegional: Southwest
Publisher Price: $28.99
ISBN13: 9780063307018
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Published: May 13 2025
Pages: 336
Weight: 1.03
Height: 1.24 Width: 6.35 Depth: 9.33
Language: English
A riveting, deeply researched, blood-on-the-spurs biography of Belle Starr, the most legendary female outlaw of the American West.
On February 3, 1889, just two days shy of her forty-first birthday, Myra Maybelle Shirley--better known at that point by her outlaw sobriquet Belle Starr--was blown from her horse saddle and killed by a pair of shotgun blasts, delivered by an unseen assailant, only a few miles away from her home in the Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. Thus ended the life of one of the most colorful, authentic, and dangerous women in the history of the American West.
While today's household names like Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane had dubious criminal bona fides, Belle's were not in any doubt. This notorious gunslinger led a gang of horse thieves (a very serious crime in an era when horses were often the basis of one's livelihood); was romantically involved with two of the West's most legendary outlaws, Cole Younger and Jim Reed (her first husband); and participated in stickups and robberies across present-day Texas and Oklahoma. When Reed was murdered, Belle crossed into the Cherokee Nation in Indian Territory, where she assimilated into the Cherokee tribe, a matrilineal society, and soon married Sam Starr, a direct descendant of Nanye'hi, the greatest female warrior in Cherokee history.
Dane Huckelbridge, acclaimed author of No Beast So Fierce, probes a life rich in contradictions and intrigue. Why did a woman who had considerable advantages in life--a good family, a decent education, solid marriage prospects, a clear path to financial security--choose to pursue a life of crime? The life of Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen, is one of almost endless trauma: the horrors of the Civil War, which destroyed her hometown and killed her beloved brother, Bud; the untimely deaths of her first two husbands, both of them murdered; a stint in Detroit's notorious women's prison. Her career coincided with those of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and yet Belle Starr was a very different sort of feminist icon.
Queen of All Mayhem is a triumph of American history biography, revealing one of the most-mythologized figures of Western lore as she truly was.
This definitive look at the real Belle Starr separates fact from fiction to explore:
- A True Female Outlaw: Unlike contemporaries like Annie Oakley, Belle Starr's criminal bona fides were never in doubt, from leading horse thieves to her romantic involvement with the legendary Cole Younger.
- The Civil War's Influence: Discover how the horrors of the war, which destroyed her hometown and killed her beloved brother, set a woman of privilege on a path of rebellion and crime.
- Indian Territory Life: Explore her assimilation into the Cherokee tribe, a matrilineal society where she married Sam Starr--a descendant of the nation's greatest female warrior--and carved out her own domain.
- A 19th-Century Anomaly: Go beyond the mythology to understand the complex woman who defied expectations to become a very different kind of icon from her contemporaries, like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Also from
Huckelbridge, Dane
The United States of Beer: The True Tale of How Beer Conquered America, from B.C. to Budweiser and Beyond
Huckelbridge, Dane
Paperback
Queen of All Mayhem: The Blood-Soaked Life and Mysterious Death of Belle Starr, the Most Dangerous Woman in the West
Huckelbridge, Dane
Audio Book
Also in
Biographies General
Bluesland: Portraits of Thirteen Major American Blues Masters
Pete Welding (ED.)
Toby Byron (ED.)
Hardcover
Karl Popper - The Formative Years, 1902 1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna
Hacohen, Malachi Haim
Hardcover
The Children of Athena: Greek Intellectuals in the Age of Rome: 150 Bc0-400 AD
Freeman, Charles
Hardcover
Make It a Double: From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky
Sackier, Shelley
Hardcover
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Isaacson, Walter
Hardcover
An Enemy Such as This: Larry Casuse and the Fight for Native Liberation in One Family on Two Continents Over Three Centuries
Correia, David
Hardcover
Agents of Chaos: Thomas King Forçade, High Times, and the Paranoid End of the 1970s
Howe, Sean
Hardcover
The Secret Life of the Savoy: Glamour and Intrigue at the World's Most Famous Hotel
Williams, Olivia
Paperback
The Badger: The Life of Bernard Hinault and the Legacy of French Cycling
Fotheringham, William
Paperback
The Devil's Diary: Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
Wittman, Robert K.
Kinney, David
Paperback
Florence Kelley and the Nation's Work: The Rise of Womens Political Culture, 1830-1900
Sklar, Kathryn Kish
Paperback
The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII
Warnicke, Retha M.
Paperback
A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II
Purnell, Sonia
Hardcover
Living with a Wild God: A Nonbeliever's Search for the Truth about Everything
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Paperback
Seafaring Women: Adventures of Pirate Queens, Female Stowaways, and Sailors' Wives
Cordingly, David
Paperback
The Butcher, the Embezzler, and the Fall Guy: A Family Memoir of Scandal and Greed in the Meat Industry
Cherington, Gretchen
Paperback
Gift of Power: The Life and Teachings of a Lakota Medicine Man
Lame Deer, Chief Archie Fire
Erdoes, Richard
Paperback
My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love
Dessa Wander
Hardcover
Nobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice
Giuffre, Virginia Roberts
Hardcover
How to Be Okay When Nothing Is Okay: Tips and Tricks That Kept Me Alive, Happy, and Creative in Spite of Myself
Lawson, Jenny
Hardcover
Family of Spies: A World War II Story of Nazi Espionage, Betrayal, and the Secret History Behind Pearl Harbor
Kuehn, Christine
Hardcover
Dangerous, Dirty, Violent, and Young: A Fugitive Family in the Revolutionary Underground
Dohrn, Zayd Ayers
Hardcover
A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
Fedarko, Kevin
Paperback
Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast
Colloff, Pamela
Hardcover
Through Mom's Eyes: Simple Wisdom from Mothers Who Raised Extraordinary Humans
Jones, Sheinelle
Hardcover