The outlaw known as Billy the Kid died young, almost certainly before his 22nd birthday. His real name, according to most historians, was Henry, and he was born about 1859 in New York City to an Irish immigrant named Catherine McCarty. When Catherine died of tuberculosis in New Mexico in 1874, Henry was still a mischievous schoolboy, says author Michael Wallis. The youngster soon fell into card-playing and petty larceny, though, then shot a bully during a bar fight. Eventually he became embroiled in a violent turf battle brewing among ranchers in the New Mexico Territory. Just by avenging the deaths of friends and more than once escaping jail, the
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Also of interest...in picture books for grown-upsfeature How About Never—Is Never Good for You?; The Undertaking of Lily Chen; Meanwhile, in San Francisco; The Portlandia Activity Book
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Author of the week: Karen Russell
feature Karen Russell could use a rest.
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The Double Life of Paul de Man by Evelyn Barish
feature Evelyn Barish “has an amazing tale to tell” about the Belgian-born intellectual who enthralled a generation of students and academic colleagues.
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Book of the week: Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis
feature Michael Lewis's description of how high-frequency traders use lightning-fast computers to their advantage is “guaranteed to make blood boil.”
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Also of interest...in creative rebellion
feature A Man Called Destruction; Rebel Music; American Fun; The Scarlet Sisters
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Author of the week: Susanna Kaysen
feature For a famous memoirist, Susanna Kaysen is highly ambivalent about sharing details about her life.
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You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
feature Robert Wagner “seems to have known anybody who was anybody in Hollywood.”
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Book of the week: Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson’s Lost Pacific Empire by Peter Stark
feature The tale of Astoria’s rise and fall turns out to be “as exciting as anything in American history.”