The Legend of Bass Reeves: Being the True and Fictional Account of the Most Valiant Marshal in the West (review)

As the subtitle suggests, truth and fiction mingle freely in this account of Bass Reeves' eventful life. Born into slavery, Reeves made his escape and hid out for much of his adult life in remote Indian territory until, well after the close of the Civil War, he was recruited by a federal judge to serve as a deputy marshal and clean up the lawlessness in the region with which he was now intimately familiar. Paulsen suggests to Western-obsessed readers that, while other figures such as Wyatt Earp, Kit Carson, and Jeremiah Johnson may have become legends, they were no better than criminals themselves; Reeves, he insists, is uniquely worthy of hero status. However, he also acknowledges that "most information on Bass in books is based on word of mouth. . . . There aren't many accounts to refer to beyond a few newspaper articles and records of the arrests he made," leaving readers to ponder whether Reeves had a few warts himself. None of this stops Paulsen from spinning an engrossing fictionalized yarn, though, as he imagines Reeves' boyhood, his relationship with his alcoholic owner, his years spent among the Creek Indians, learning their land and avoiding recapture, and the circumstances surrounding some of his most notable arrests. Readers with serious interest in crime fighting in the Old West may have little patience with this fanciful account, but kids who simply come for the Saturday matinee (perhaps a double feature with Theodore Taylor's Billy the Kid, BCCB 9/05) can load them thar finger pistols and git ready ta draw.