The lives and legends of Buffalo Bill
Type
Book
Authors
Category
General Library Collection
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Publication Year
1973
Publisher
Pages
514
Subject
Buffalo Bill -- 1846-1917
Tags
Abstract
"Few Western Americans have been more often written about than William F. Cody, the "Buffalo Bill" of history, the dime novel, and popular lore. But like Mike Fink of keelboat fame, he remains for most people not quite credible. Yet, when the myths are stripped away and the later, flamboyant show years are reduced to the proper proportions, Cody emerges as he truly was: a hardy, daring plainsman "in leathern britches.:
The aspects of this biography which are important are several: the whole career of the plainsman is presented; it is the only biography, in fact, which contains any major assault upon the army records dealing with Cody's scouting career; and it relates with skill and insight the truths behind the legends exploited in contemporary dime novels, the stage, and the Wild West show.
Born in Iowa in 1846 and brought up in Kansas Territory, Bill Cody progressed from a boy's job with Majors and Russell, military freighters, to that of a young rider with the Pony Express. After the Civil War, he became a regular military scout on the plains, with interludes as buffalo hunter, guide for Grand Duke Alexis, and showman, in his later years the delight of youngsters and romantics in the role of principal in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
Buffalo Bill achieved early in life the stature of a hero to his coutrymen, for his raw courage in single combat with an Indian or Indians, for his epic feats in the slaughter of plains bison, and for his daring as a lone scout in "enemy territory." Now, a century later, he typifies perhaps better than any other man of his era the adventurous spirit in the years between the end of the Civil War and the settlement of the West."--Book jacket.
The aspects of this biography which are important are several: the whole career of the plainsman is presented; it is the only biography, in fact, which contains any major assault upon the army records dealing with Cody's scouting career; and it relates with skill and insight the truths behind the legends exploited in contemporary dime novels, the stage, and the Wild West show.
Born in Iowa in 1846 and brought up in Kansas Territory, Bill Cody progressed from a boy's job with Majors and Russell, military freighters, to that of a young rider with the Pony Express. After the Civil War, he became a regular military scout on the plains, with interludes as buffalo hunter, guide for Grand Duke Alexis, and showman, in his later years the delight of youngsters and romantics in the role of principal in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.
Buffalo Bill achieved early in life the stature of a hero to his coutrymen, for his raw courage in single combat with an Indian or Indians, for his epic feats in the slaughter of plains bison, and for his daring as a lone scout in "enemy territory." Now, a century later, he typifies perhaps better than any other man of his era the adventurous spirit in the years between the end of the Civil War and the settlement of the West."--Book jacket.
Number of Copies
1
