Burton heard stories of Reeves when he would visit relatives in Oklahoma, and he became determined to learn more. Reeves wasn’t the first or only Black marshal of the period, but he became the most famous. Sidney Thompson caught the Reeves bug when he saw Morgan Freeman describing Reeves as his dream role in a TV interview. (It was widely reported last year that Freeman was developing his own Bass Reeves series, “Twin Territories,” for Amazon.) Burton’s book is deeply researched, yet its most memorable lines ring like tall tales passed down through generations.

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Persons: Burton, Reeves, Reeves wasn’t, Sidney Thompson, Morgan Freeman, Freeman, Bass Reeves, ”, Thompson, Thompson —, Freeman —, Jewel Coronel, Coronel, Taylor Sheridan, Delroy Lindo, Jamal Akakpo, ” Burton, “ Organizations: ”, Amazon, Texas Christian University, Netflix, Coronel Locations: Oklahoma, Twin Territories, Virginia, Muskogee, Okla