For those seeking a credible, deeply researched account of the events as they occurred in the real world, in which Haywood does not look so innocent of murder or his devotion to his sickly wife so saintly and selfless, there is the late Anthony Lukas's acclaimed Big Trouble (1997), probably the definitive treatment of the matter. The actual story, as always, is more interesting than the sentimental, politically correct fiction.

Believing Phillips was writing history in "Nevada Jane" -- which I like, too, as a song -- is akin to taking "Jesse James" as a factual biography of a Western Robin Hood.