{"product_id":"9780063307018","title":"Queen of All Mayhem","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA riveting, deeply researched, blood-on-the-spurs biography of Belle Starr, the most legendary female outlaw of the American West. \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn February 3, 1889, just two days shy of her forty-first birthday, Myra Maybelle Shirley—better known at that point by her outlaw sobriquet “Belle Starr”—was blown from her horse saddle and killed by a pair of shotgun blasts, delivered by an unseen assailant, only a few miles away from her home in the Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. Thus ended the life of one of the most colorful, authentic, and dangerous women in the history of the American West.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile today’s household names like Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane had dubious criminal bona fides, Belle’s were not in any doubt. She led a gang of horse thieves (a very serious crime in an era when horses were often the basis of one’s livelihood); was romantically involved with two of the West’s most legendary outlaws, Cole Younger and Jim Reed (her first husband); and participated in stickups and robberies across present-day Texas and Oklahoma. When Reed was murdered, Belle crossed into Indian Territory, where she assimilated into the Cherokee tribe, a matrilineal society, and soon married Sam Starr, a direct descendant of Nanye’hi, the greatest female warrior in Cherokee history.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDane Huckelbridge, acclaimed author of \u003cem\u003eNo Beast So Fierce\u003c\/em\u003e, probes a life rich in contradictions and intrigue. Why did a woman who had considerable advantages in life—a good family, a decent education, solid marriage prospects, a clear path to financial security—choose to pursue a life of crime? The life of Belle Starr is one of almost endless trauma: the horrors of the Civil War, which destroyed her hometown and killed her beloved brother, Bud; the untimely deaths of her first two husbands, both of them murdered; a stint in Detroit’s notorious women’s prison. Her career coincided with those of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and yet Belle Starr was a very different sort of feminist icon.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eQueen of All Mayhem \u003c\/em\u003eis a triumph of biography, revealing one of the most-mythologized figures of Western lore as she truly was.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dane Huckelbridge","offers":[{"title":"HarperCollins |  Hardback  |  2025-05-13","offer_id":46920386740479,"sku":"9780063307018","price":35.99,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_84506a53-7a37-4c4b-8566-d97829e3a622.jpg?v=1749136921","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9780063307018","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}