Desperadoes (novel)

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Desperadoes
First edition
AuthorRon Hansen
SubjectDalton Gang
GenreWestern novel
PublisherKnopf
Publication date
1979
Pages288
ISBN9780060976989

Desperadoes is a 1979 fact and fiction novel by Ron Hansen that chronicles the rise and fall of the Dalton Gang.[1]

The novel is told in the form of a fictional memoir written in 1937 by 65-year-old Emmett Dalton,[2] the last surviving member of the gang.[3] The novel's main characters are the Daltons — Bob Dalton (the leader of the gang), Emmett Dalton, Gratton "Grat" Dalton, William M."Bill" Dalton, and Eugenia Moore AKA Florence Quick, Bob's girl friend and the gang's strategist.[4] The primary action of the novel takes place between the murder of Frank Dalton (the oldest brother) in November, 1887, up to and through the gang's destruction trying to simultaneously rob two banks in Coffeyville, Kansas on October 5, 1892.

In 2013, it was in development for a television miniseries of six hours written by Robert Knott, produced by Josh Maurer and Alixandre Witlin, and developed by FX.[5] According to Robert E. Morsberger, it is "the best fiction I have read about western outlaws".[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Desperadoes". Open Road Integrated Media. 28 May 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  2. ^ "Desperados". Kirkus Reviews. 16 April 1979. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Desperadoes". HarperCollins. 16 January 1997. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  4. ^ Brown, Adam. "Desperadoes". Souvenir Press. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
  5. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (18 November 2013). "FX Developing 'Desperadoes' Miniseries About Infamous Dalton Gang". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved 9 February 2019.
  6. ^ Morsberger, Robert E. (Spring 1980). "Desperadoes by Ron Hansen (review)". Western American Literature. 15 (1). University of Nebraska Press: 41–42. doi:10.1353/wal.1980.0082. ISSN 1948-7142. S2CID 165373755 – via Project MUSE.