| The Wild West: a term that conjures up pictures
of wagon trains, unspoiled prairies, Indians, rough 'n' ready cowboys,
roundups, and buffalo herds. Where did this collection of images come
from?
Paul Reddin explores the mythology of the
American frontier as a carefully crafted product of the Wild West show.
Focusing on such pivotal figures as George Catlin, Buffalo Bill Cody,
and
Tom Mix, Reddin traces the rise and fall of a popular entertainment
shaped
out of the "raw material of America."
Buffalo Bill and other entertainers capitalized
on public fascination with the danger, heroism, and courage associated
with the frontier by continually modifying their presentation of the
West
to suit their audiences. Thus the Wild West show, contrary to its own
claims
of accuracy and authenticity, was highly selective in its
representations
of the West, as well as widely influential in shaping the public image
of life on the Great Plains.
A uniquely American entertainment--colorful,
energetic, unabashed, and, as Reddin demonstrates, self-made--the Wild
West show exerted an appeal that was all but irresistible to a public
hovering
uncertainly between industrial progress and nostalgia for a
romanticized
past.
|
Trade paperback
312 pages
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Now
Read about this title
in Out
of the Past (Annie Oakley Joins the Buffalo
Bill Wild West Show)
|
