Buffalo Bill and his Wild West: A pictorial biography

ROSA, Joseph G.

University Press of Kansas

Who more than Buffalo Bill symbolizes the American West? William Frederick Cody (1846-1917) personified, packaged, and perpetuated the myth of the Wild West. This lively biography documents fully the events of his extraordinary career as a buffalo hunter, army scout, freighter, and guide on the Great Plains, and as a showman on two continents. More than 150 fully captioned historic photographs—many never before published—depict Buffalo Bill from his childhood days to his reign as a superlative actor and producer whose Wild West remains unique in the annals of show business. This volume preserves the color and spectacle of a bygone era—and, best of all, shows that that the real and heroic figure rivals the invented and legendary Buffalo Bill.

Buffalo Bill and His Wild West: A Pictorial Biography

Biographies & Memoirs

MAY, Robin

Community & Culture

James Butler Hickok was alternately labeled courageous, affable, and self-confident; cowardly, cold-blooded, and drunken; a fine specimen of physical manhood; an overdressed dandy with perfumed hair; an unequaled marksman; a poor shot. Born in Illinois in 1837, he was shot dead in Deadwood only 39 years later. By then both famous and infamous, he was widely known as "Wild Bill." Excavating the reality behind the myth, Joseph Rosa delves into the exploits and ego that defined Hickok and shows how the man was overtaken by his own legend. Rosa exposes a controversial and charismatic man - army and Indian scout, wagonmaster, courier, frontiersman, gunfighter, lawman, prospector, addicted gambler, and short-time actor - who was elevated from regional fame to national notoriety by inadvertently being in the right place at the right time. Culminating four decades of research by one of the top authorities on Wild West legends, this is a highly entertaining account of the larger-than-life character whose reported accomplishments - both real and imaginary - frequently brought him unwanted publicity. Setting the record straight, Rosa exposes some of the deliberate lies that vested Hickok with a "man-killer" reputation he didn't deserve. In the process, Rosa reveals a great deal about how myths were initiated and perpetuated to glorify the nineteenth-century frontier.

Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth

Historical

Univ Pr of Kansas

Eulogized and ostracized, James Butler Hickok was alternately labeled courageous, affable, and self confident; cowardly, cold-blooded, and drunken; a fine specimen of physical manhood; an overdressed dandy with perfumed hair; an unequaled marksman; a poor shot. Born in Illinois in 1837, he was shot dead in Deadwood only 39 years later. By then both famous and infamous, he was widely known as "Wild Bill." Excavating the reality behind the myth, Joseph Rosa delves into the exploits and ego that defined Hickok and shows how the man was overtaken by his own legend. Rosa exposes a controversial and charismatic man—army and Indian scout, wagon master, courier, frontiersman, gunfighter, lawman, prospector, addicted gambler, and short-time actor—who was elevated from regional fame to national notoriety by inadvertently being in the right place at the right time. Aggrandized in an 1867 Harper's New Monthly Magazine article, Hickok reluctantly embraced his exaggerated role in a far-fetched but exciting story that has inspired writers, folklorists, and movie moguls. Dime novelists sensationalized him. Biographers praised and criticized. Gary Cooper portrayed him sensitively, Douglas Kennedy villainously, and Charles Bronson laconically. Howard Keel played him romantically (albeit historically incorrectly) against Doris Day's Calamity Jane. Culminating four decades of research by one of the top authorities on Wild West legends, Wild Bill Hickok is a highly readable, fun, and accurate account of the larger-than-life character whose reported accomplishments-both real and imaginary-in Kansas, Missouri, and the surrounding territory frequently brought him unwanted publicity. Setting the record straight, Rosa exposes some of the deliberate lies that vested Hickok with a "man-killer" reputation he didn't deserve. In fact, Rosa shows, the number of men he killed is probably a lot closer to ten than to the more than 100 he is often credited with. Establishing the role an overzealous press and fortune-seeking dime novelists played in immortalizing Wild Bill, Rosa reveals a great deal about how myths were initiated and perpetuated to glorify the nineteenth-century frontier. He also illuminates why imaginative accounts of unorthodox heroes continue to skew our understanding of this important era in American history.

Children's Books

Biographies

Profusely illustrated with 250 period photographs, an evocative study of the American West from 1840 to 1900 provides an informative look at the role of gunfighters in the history of the region, profiling the lives and exploits of these famous--and infamous--individuals.

Age of the Gunfighter: Men and Weapons of the Frontier 1840-1900 (Taming of the West)

History

Historical Study & Educational Resources

Smithmark Pub.

They Called Him Wild Bill The Life And Adventure Of James Butler Hickok

Americas

University of Oklahoma Press

Includes illustrations, bibliography and index. Adams Six Guns 1900. Slight signs of moisture on the rear of the dust jacket not effecting the book.

The Gunfighter Man or Myth?

University of OK

They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok

His contemporaries called him Wild Bill, and newspapermen and others made him a legend in his own time. Among western characters only General George Armstrong Custer and Buffalo Bill Cody are as readily recognized by the general public. In writing this biography, Joseph G. Rosa has expressed the hope that "Hickok emerges as a man and not a legend." For this comprehensive revision of his earlier biography of Wild Bill the author was allowed to work from newly available materials in the possession of the Hickok family. He also discovered new material pertaining to Wild Bill’s Civil War exploits and his service as a marshal and found the pardon file of his murderer, John McCall. Additional, rare photographs of Wild Bill are published here for the first time. The results of Rosa’s additional research make this second edition the best biography of Wild Bill likely to be written for years to come.

Professionals & Academics

The gunfighter was a man bred in a lawless and violent era of civil war, range wars, and greed for land and gold. He played a real and deadly part in a period when men were conditioned to settle differences with gunplay. He shot and fought and killed throughout Texas in its struggle with Mexico, along the Kansas-Missouri border, and up and down the cattle trails. Black powder smoke from his guns darkened the Kansas cow towns and the Far West mining camps. What part of the gunfighter legend is true, and what part a novelist's or screenwriter's fantasy? What has been the gunfighter's influence on American society-and. for that matter, on world society? For there is no doubt that the shoot-‘em-up gun-totin’ hero of the early West is a figure of interest and sympathy to people all over the world. Well documented and rich with illustrations of gunfights and gunmen, this book is a real find for "gunfighter buffs," as well as for all readers interested in knowing what the wild West was really like.

The Gunfighter: Man or Myth?

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by ROSA, Joseph G.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by ROSA, Joseph G.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by ROSA, Joseph G.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Buffalo Bill and his Wild West: A pictorial biography

Buffalo Bill and His Wild West: A Pictorial Biography

Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth

Wild Bill Hickok: The Man and His Myth

Age of the Gunfighter: Men and Weapons of the Frontier 1840-1900 (Taming of the West)

They Called Him Wild Bill The Life And Adventure Of James Butler Hickok

The Gunfighter Man or Myth?

They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok

They Called Him Wild Bill: The Life and Adventures of James Butler Hickok

The Gunfighter: Man or Myth?