Review: New ‘Deadwood’ book busts some myths, confirms others

On July 8, 1877, the New York Herald declared that Deadwood, a South Dakota town near the Black Hills that had been established on land stolen from the Lakota Indians, “was beyond question the wickedest spot this side of the infernal regions.”

Writer Peter Cozzens’ “Deadwood” asserts that this view — which also appeared in the National Police Gazette, a popular men’s magazine, and dozens of Edward L. Wheeler’s “Deadwood Dick” dime novels — hardened the town’s reputation “as a place to hunt gold, gamble, consort with prostitutes and then die brutally.”