Jesse James. Billy the Kid. Wyatt Earp. Those names evoke the mystique of the Old West. But a lot of what we think we know about them isn’t quite accurate, says Mark Lee Gardner.

Born and raised in Missouri, Gardner’s lifelong fascination with history and the American West has dictated his entire writing career.

His fascination started early.

“My dad got through the 8^th grade and then went to work cutting timber with his dad. My mom had me when she was 17, so she didn’t finish high school,” he says.

But they were lifelong learners fascinated with history.

“We took off every summer … for the classic family vacation. My parents were both history buffs and I don’t think we ever missed a historic house or site,” says Gardner, who lives in Ute Pass, just west of Colorado Springs. “I grew up in the middle of Jesse James country and the Pony Express started there. That Western imprint was instilled early.”

Mark Lee Gardner

Gardner started researching and writing about the American West in high school. College summer breaks were spent as a seasonal park ranger in such places as Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site in southeastern Colorado (for three summers) and at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in Virginia.

He earned a master’s degree in American Studies from the University of Wyoming and shortly after became the director of History Colorado’s Baca and Bloom Houses in Trinidad.

He wrote many park brochures—those handy guides they pass out when you enter. He wrote the ones for such places as Little Bighorn Battlefield, Fort Union, Fort Bowie and the Santa Fe Trail. But he couldn’t make a living with what that paid. He took the plunge and embarked on a career as a historian and full-time writer.

It would have been scary to leave a secure government job for the life of a writer, but his wife, Katie, was curator at the Pioneers Museum in Colorado Springs—a good job with benefits—so Gardner could afford to pursue writing.

At first, it was a struggle, with small jobs that didn’t pay very well. Then he found an agent and pitched his first book.

He wanted to write about mountain man Jim Bridger. Nobody was interested. Then he wanted to write a biography of Pat Garrett but his agent suggested he do a double biography and include Billy the Kid.

Jackpot. Not one but two major publishing houses bit. He went with Harper Collins because the editor called him and talked to him about the project. Under various imprints, they have published all of his books to date.

He decided to employ the technique of narrative nonfiction, which he feels is more fast-paced and entertaining than a straight dry history text, “but still factual and enlightening.”

One book led to another, and another. All with long titles.

His books now include: To Hell on a Fast Horse: The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett; Shot All To Hell: Jesse James, the Northfield Raid, and the Wild West’s Greatest Escape; and Rough Riders: Theodore Roosevelt, His Cowboy Regiment, and the Immortal Charge Up San Juan Hill.

His most recent book is The Earth Is All That Lasts: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation, which was chosen by True West magazine as the best non-fiction book for 2022.  Brothers of the Gun: Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and a Reckoning in Tombstone, is due to be published in 2025. 

                       “Ballads condense long stories into a few lines. As a writer, there is something to be learned from that.”

It takes time to produce books so carefully researched, Gardner says.

“It takes way too long because I want to be very thorough,” he says. “My last book took five years. I go to the places, research archives, do the work. That’s the cool stuff.”

But he’s driven to be thorough.

“It is critical that I visit the places I write about but also go to original resources at various libraries. It’s so important to find the primary resource material. Not all of it is online. You can’t just sit at a computer.”

Research for his upcoming book on Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday has included scouring the Frank Waters papers at the University of New Mexico’s Albuquerque library. (Waters is an internationally famous author originally from Colorado Springs.)

“[Waters] saw the Earp brothers as thugs, not the glorified heroes of television, movies and other books,” Gardner says.

There are many misconceptions about these iconic figures.

“Sometimes we have a popular image in our minds” that doesn’t reflect reality,” Gardner says. “One big misconception is that Pat Garrett shot Billy in the back.”

Gardner tries not to bring any preconceived bias to his work.

“People either love Custer or think he’s a scoundrel. My job is to be even-handed and let the chips fall where they may,” he says.

 As a recognized authority on the American West, Gardner is often tapped as an on-air expert for national broadcast and cable networks, public radio and podcasts. He’s appeared on the History Channel, PBS American Experience, ABC World News, AMC, the Travel Channel, NPR’s All Things Considered, and BBC Radio.

Accolades for Gardner’s work include an Army Historical Foundation Distinguished Writing Award, two Colorado Book Awards, two Spur Awards from Western Writers of America— and, most recently, the 2024 Frank Waters Award from Friends of the Pikes Peak Library District. The annual award is given for excellence in writing.

“I am a great Waters admirer,” Gardner says. “He deserves the acclaim he garnered over his career. I’m honored to get the award named for him.”

The job has other perks.

“I’ve held Theodore Roosevelt’s diary in my hand. It was thrilling! I also have held a Springfield carbine used by one of Custer’s men. I know the great-grandson of Kit Carson. And I sang the ‘Ballad of Jesse James’ for Jesse’s great granddaughter. She had tears in her eyes.”

Oh, yes, he’s also a professional musician who sings and plays the guitar.

“I’m a musicologist,” Gardner says. “I research the songs of the Old West and the stories behind the songs.”

Then he performs them, mostly at historic sites and events.

“Singing is not that far removed from writing. Ballads condense long stories into a few lines. As a writer, there is something to be learned from that.

In the end, it’s all storytelling.”