Establishes Earp's Reputation
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Wyatt Earp were relatively unknown to the American public until 1931 when Lake published his book two years after Earp's death. Lake wrote that the Earps stood for law and order and that the lawmen justifiably arrested some of the Cowboys, and when they resisted, fought the outlaws to a final finish. He turned Wyatt Earp into a "Western superman".
Lake's creative biography and later Hollywood portrayals exaggerated Wyatt's profile as a western lawman. Although his brother Virgil had far more experience as a sheriff, constable, and marshal, Wyatt, who outlived Virgil, was made famous by Lake's largely fictionalized biography, and Wyatt became the subject of and model for a large number of films, TV shows, biographies and works of fiction that continue to exaggerate his reputation and magnify his mystique.
Read more about this topic: Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal
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