The James Brothers were gun-slinging outlaws. They held up trains and robbed banks. They killed and injured innocent people. But they were more than criminals. They were the products of a chaotic society that grew out of the terrible border wars of the Civil War. There have been many sensational things written about the brothers. Here is the real story of their rough-and-tumble life and the land they came out of—with all its heroes and villains.

From the book