Customer Reviews

Back in the Saddle Again: New Essays on the Western

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Edward Buscombe is one of the best scholars writing about Westerns today, and he adds to his reputation by putting together this anthology of scholarly articles that explore topics general histories of the Western genre tend to ignore.

There is a marvellous essay on Douglas Fairbanks (Sr.) as a Western star in his pre-swashbuckler career. Also I was fascinated by the piece on Gene Autry and why the singing cowboy craze began when it did. The essay on the extraordinary popularity of TV Westerns in the late Fifties showed why this was due to the economic factors facing the TV networks then.

In short, the pieces collected here avoid the tried and true topics that have been talked to death elsewhere. For the most part, they are void of academic jargon and can be read with enjoyment by the general reader with an interest in the Western genre.