Bad Blood: The Violent Lives of John Wesley Hardin, His Brothers, and Associates

Chuck Parson and Norman Wayne Brown are noted experts on the life and times of John Wesley Hardin. They have written numerous books and magazine articles covering the topic from all angles and in such respected publications as True West, Frontier Times, and The Tombstone Epitaph. 

Their biography, A Lawless Breed: John Wesley Hardin, Texas Reconstruction and Violence in the Wild West (Denton: UNT Press, 2013) was relevant about John Wesley Hardin and his siblings at the time. Since then, they learned where John Wesley Hardin was really born, found that Gip Hardin did not die at sea, discovered a rare letter penned by Reverend Hardin to son Joe’s widow, Belle, additional evidence surrounding John Wesley Hardin’s death in El Paso, 1895, and much more.

Some of the new discovered information was reported in articles published by True West, The Tombstone Epitaph, and Journal of Wild West History Association. Some articles have not been published. It seems bad blood ran though the veins of the Hardin brothers and many who associated with them. Hopefully you will find this collection worthwhile in addition to their knowledge of why the "breed" of John Wesley Hardin seemed so lawless.