William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was America’s first celebrity. He lived during a time of great geographic and technological expansion, a time when American mass media became dominant. Cody was there at every step, the right person at the right place at the right time. It was through those brilliant efforts that Cody the man became Buffalo Bill the celebrity and, eventually, Buffalo Bill the legend.
Buffalo Bill: Scout, Showman, Visionary stands apart from other historical tributes to Buffalo Bill’s life and times. Based upon the collection of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, this book provides a new perspective on William F. Cody through a detailed look at his personal effects and memorabilia from his larger-than-life shows.
Steve Friesen is the director of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave. Like Buffalo Bill, Friesen was raised in Kansas. He attended Bethel College in Newton, once characterized by Buffalo Bill as the wildest and wickedest town in the West. Friesen has a master’s degree in American folk culture from the State University of New York’s Cooperstown Graduate Program. He’s married to Monta Lee Dakin, whom he met at a national museum conference in Philadelphia. They married the following year and have two children.
