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Title: Questionable Arizona material
Review: This book has a lot of redeeming qualities, but it is flawed in my opinion on the Arizona material. By her own admission Carolyn Lake says the diaries - on which this book is based - for the period up to 1890 were burned. No diaries for this period leaves me questioning the entire Arizona period. For support of this let me quote from Philip L. Fradkin's "Stagecoach: Wells Fargo and the American West." On page 104, Fradkin says, "Even Fred Dodge, like Wyatt Earp a professional gambler, gets far more attention than (Bob) Paul. Dodge later became a Wells Fargo special officer but claimed at the time of the robberies and killings that he was working undercover in Tombstone for Wells Fargo. That was not the case . . ."In short, unless Carolyn Lake provides some evidence that the words she puts in Dodge's mouth for the Arizona period, I reject most of the book's authenticity.
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