Joplin Historical Society is hosting an exclusive night featuring Pulitzer Prize nominee and author, Michael Wallis. The event will include a program and book signing for the author's new book, Belle Starr: The Truth Behind the Wild West Legend.

  Thursday, July 17, Joplin

   6:00-7:30  Joplin History and Mineral Museum, 504 S. Schifferdecker Avenue, Joplin

Wallis’s new book offers a fresh, rigorously researched perspective on the real woman behind the legend, challenging long-standing myths and vividly bringing history to life. His program will provide guests with an engaging look at the blurred lines between myth and fact and the powerful stories that lie in between.

In the annals of legendary Wild West desperadoes, Belle Starr is remembered to this day as the Bandit Queen. Shortly after her murder in 1889, a highly romanticized, sensational book titled Bella Starr ... The Bandit Queen, or the Female Jesse James, was published—the first in a series of high-profile portraits to brand Starr as a villain.

Celebrated author Michael Wallis parses over a century of mythmaking to reveal the woman behind the renegade legend. Of Belle Starr, he states, “Her life was so wrapped up in lies and innuendo that I wanted to unwind it and find the true story. She’s portrayed either as a wild gang leader or as a groupie to outlaws like Jesse James. She was neither. She, in truth, was a strong, independent woman. And that was hard to be in the post-Civil War South.”

Starr’s time living in the Carthage and Joplin area is detailed in the book.

Michael Wallis is known for authoring 20 books, including “Route 66: The Mother Road,” which earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination. His work has explored figures like Billy the Kid, Davy Crockett, Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and the Donner Party. As with those books, Belle Starr began with months of research, a draft sent to his agent, and further refining once it was greenlit for publication.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited.

The Joplin Historical Society will have books for purchase for $28.