Today I went to the library and looked at some of the sources we could use for Billy the Kid. There are a bunch of promising books, and they can serve a variety of purposes. The biographies of his life are the most abundant, but the interesting thing is the time gap between them. I found one from 1920, some from the 50’s and 60’s, one from the late 80’s, and one from 2007. Using these, we could track how Billy the Kid’s legend has evolved over time. We could also compare perceptions of him to historical events and known societal attitudes to try and draw some conclusions about both the time period and Billy the Kid. Most of the books were broken up into chapters with descriptive titles that imply something about the period of his life they deal with. Interestingly, in the forwards, many authors emphasize how little information there is about the Kid, yet they manage to write authoritatively on him for several hundred pages. We could investigate why this discrepancy exists.
Also of interest was a collection of newspaper articles written about the Kid throughout his life. I looked through them, and they seem to indicate that he was not perceived as nearly as heroic as later peoples did. The sheriff who shot him was billed as a hero, yet in one of the books, he is described as going into hiding after killing the Kid for fear of public retribution. A question to address is why has history created so many different versions of the Kid’s tale? What time periods adopted which versions? What is the current impression of the bandit, and is he even worth remembering? There was recently a novel written about him, so we could draw on that.
I agree with Charli about Henry Ford; he is famous, but he might be a bit too dry for a legendary figure. Al Capone is certainly more exciting, but I like Billy the Kid the most. He provides a lot of potential discussion topics, and there are plenty of possible readings to choose from.
Books I looked at:
Billy the Kid : the best writings on the infamous outlaw / [compiled by] Harold Dellinger.
Billy the Kid; Las Vegas newspaper accounts of his career, 1880-1881.
History of “Billy the Kid,” by Chas. A. Siringo
Billy the Kid : a Short and Violent Life by Robert M. Utley.