In the Days of Billy the Kid

The legend of Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County War remains prominent in the annals of American frontier history, but for men like Jos Chvez y Chvez, Juan Patrn, Martn Chvez, and Yginio Salazar, it was merely one famous epoch in a much broader struggle. The Hispanos of frontier New Mexico spent decades engaging in various forms of resistance against the corruption, exploitation, and violent oppression that frequently plagued their homeland following the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. James B. Mills, author of the award-winning Billy the Kid: El Bandido Simptico, provides readers with a wealth of new information in his quest to tell the Hispano side of things in a history largely centered around the lives of lawman-turned-outlaw Jos Chvez y Chvez, intellectual prodigy Juan Patrn, conservative journeyman Martn Chvez, and resilient vaquero Yginio Salazar. A study that extends far beyond the Lincoln County War and into the twentieth century, In the Days of Billy the Kid also explores the Horrell War, the arrival of the railroads, the rise of the Herrera brothers and Los Gorras Blancas (The White Caps), the peoples movement in San Miguel County, and the infamous Vicente Silva and his Sociedad de Bandidos (Society of Bandits). Mills also casts some light on lesser-known bandidos like the dangerous Nicolas Aragn, the repentant Germn Maestas, and perennial jailbird Porfirio Trujillo. Providing readers with fresh perspective, a wagonload of untapped history, and more than a hundred photographs, In the Days of Billy the Kid is an unprecedented study of Nuevo Mxico in frontier times and the early twentieth century that belongs on the bookshelf of any American West aficionado.