When you picture a gunfighter, you probably think of a Hollywood cowboy — spurs jangling, six-shooter on his hip, squaring off at high noon in a dusty frontier town. But gunfighters weren’t just products of Hollywood. They were real men who lived and died by a code: one rooted in a particular sense of honor.My guest today is Bryan Burrough, author of <a href="https://amzn.to/4fOPzel" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild</a>. We dig into the true story behind America’s gunfighting era — how it grew out of the South’s dueling culture, was intensified by the violence of post–Civil War Texas, and spread across the frontier via the cattle drive. We explore why so many gunfights had less to do with crime and more to do with reputation, why the Colt revolver transformed personal conflict into deadly spectacle, and how young men came to see violence as a rite of manhood. Along the way, Bryan also explores how gunfighters went from frontier figures to pop culture icons — and which films, in his view, captured their essence best.Resources Related to the Podcast<ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Ringo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Johnny Ringo</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wesley_Hardin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">John Wesley Hardin</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_Bill_Hickok" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Wild Bill Hickok</a></li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</a></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQONUxMpWfw" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fight scene in&nbsp;Gangs of New York</a></li><li><a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/entertainment/best-western-movies-ever-made/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AoM Article: The Best Western Movies Ever Made</a></li><li><a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/living/reading/21-western-novels-every-man-should-read/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">AoM Article: 21 Western Novels Every Man Should Read</a></li><li>AoM series on honor, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/behavior/manly-honor-part-i-what-is-honor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">What Is Honor?</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/behavior/manly-honor-part-v-honor-in-the-american-south/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Honor in the American South</a></li></ul>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.

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The Code They Killed For — Honor, Manhood, and the American Gunfighter

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