FREDERICK NOLAN MARCH 7, 1931-JUNE 15, 2022

An English historian redefined the scholarship on Billy the Kid.

The one thing that needs to be said about Fred Nolan's legacy is just how much damn fun he was to hang with. We spent many a mile couped up in cars together on serious-rutted back roads to out-of-the-way historic sites, and if he wasn't singing some show tune, he was riffing on the absurdities of all our Kid Krazy compadres. To boot, the English dude was generous to all the upstarts and understudies in the Lincoln County War field. When I attended the 1991 Billy the Kid conference in Ruidoso, I was an unpublished Kid buff who sought out his counsel and his advice. He was generous with both. To this day, when someone says his name, I always smile. I have a strong hunch I always will.

-Bob Boze Bell

A Renaissance Man

On the face of things, Fred Nolan was just your average guy with a British accent. He was short and wiry and often unassuming.

But those characteristics belied a giant intellect and understanding of many subjects-the Lincoln County War was just one of his interests. He also was a highly successful book editor and publisher, and he wrote adventure novels and studies of American popular song.