Book Description

Joy of the Birds is a milestone in the literature of Billy the Kid. It is arguably the definitive revisionist telling of his story by one of that history's experts. Based on research utilizing 40,000 pages of archival documents and books, input from more than 300 consultants, and recreation of the scenes at the actual historic sites, Joy of the Birds is a virtual world. As docufiction, it ends 130 years of New Mexico Santa Fe Ring cover-up: a cabal of land-grabbing robber baron politicians, lawmen, and thugs, which precipitated the Lincoln County War freedom fight. Central to that rebellion was Billy Bonney, outlawed by those victorious enemies as "Billy the Kid." He had to die. The truths he testified to, could have tumbled the presidency Rutherford B. Hayes. Joy of the Birds is also a Romeo and Juliet story: with its star-crossed romance of homeless drifter, Billy Bonney, and young Paulita Maxwell, the richest heiress in New Mexico Territory. On July 14, 1881, in her brother's bedroom in the family mansion, Billy was killed by betrayal and by the hand of Sheriff Pat Garrett. Paulita, pregnant with Billy's child, would have heard the fatal shot. Joy of the Birds is also a mythic hero journey in the cosmic battle of good and evil. Billy Bonney's astounding escapes from Ring clutches and death, and his moral transformations in his fight against Ring injustices, yield his comprehension of a wise woman's lesson of "joy of the birds," told to him in childhood. Like the birds, one can fly and fly without fear, because there are millions of moments to be alive, only one of death; and then one has forever. From that revelation, comes freedom to follow one's highest ideals, and to fearlessly and joyfully walk one's earthly path to its end. Gale Cooper is a Harvard educated, M.D. psychiatrist specializing in murder case consultation; who moved from a Beverly Hills, California, medical practice to a New Mexico mountain to write Joy of the Birds. Other Billy the Kid books by the author are Billy the Kid's Writings, Words, and Wit, MegaHoax: The Strange Plot to Exhume Billy the Kid and Become President, and Billy the Kid's Pretenders: Brushy Bill and John Miller. The author has also written and illustrated other adult non-fiction books and children's books.