Jesse James was a fabled outlaw， a charismatic， spiritual， larger-than-life bad man whose bloody exploits captured the imagination and admiration of a nation hungry for antiheroes. Robert Ford was a young upstart nobody torn between dedicated worship and murderous jealousy， the "dirty little coward" who coveted Jesse s legend. The powerful， strange， and unforgettable story of their interweaving paths—and twin destinies that would collide in a rain of blood and betrayal—is a story of America in all her rough， conflicted glory and the myths that made her.