Calamity Jane [Paperback]

Roberta Sollid (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1995

Still the most authoritative factual source, this book separates the romanticized Calamity depicted in dime novels and Hollywood films from the real, flesh-and-blood woman.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Still the most authoritative factual source, this book separates the romanticized Calamity depicted in dime novels and Hollywood films from the real, flesh-and-blood woman.

Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Montana Historical Society Press; 1 edition (January 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0917298330
• ISBN-13: 978-0917298332
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,617,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The amazing truth behind hollywood myth of Calamity Jane., June 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Calamity Jane (Paperback)

It's a thrill to see this historic treasure back in print. I found the 1951 edition of Sollid's "historical criticisim" in the basement of my University in a cracked and brittle condition. After spending months of wading through the various versions of Calamity Jane's life here was a first hand investigation into not only all the source material I had read but also of jail records, court reports, newspaper archives and interviews with Deadwood oldtimers who knew "Calam'". The term "historical criticisim" is somewhat misleading if it implies a dull achedemic read. Sollid's passion for her subject leads her to board the bus in the summer of 1949 to visit numerous towns in Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming where she searched local archives and interviewed townsfolk ranging from Catholic nuns to the Deadwood bar-tender who was pallbearer at Calamity Jane's funeral. As Sollid progresses her scholarly text begins to ignite. This book contains many photos of Calam' that I had never seen elsewhere, including a macabre photo given to Sollid by the undertakers' widow. This gem of a book cuts through the glamorisation of Calamity Jane by Hollywood fake up artists and challenges the equally absurd sketches of her character by predominately male historians of the 20th century. A wonderfull tribute to the memory of Martha Cannary Burke a.k.a. Calamity Jane. Discover the woman behind the myth.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Scholarship suffers from extreme prejudice, March 17, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Calamity Jane (Paperback)

History is full of contradictions and ironies. This book is one of them.

How else can you explain how the one book historians claim is the most historically authentic Calamity Jane narrative, appears to have been written by the one scholar who despises her the most?

After years of exhaustive scholarly research, what does Roberta Beed Sollid have to say about Calamity Jane? In the introduction, Ms. Sollid calls..."the much publiciz-ed Calamity Jane, a well-meaning but good-for-nothing frontierswoman."

And, Calamity Jane is not the only one insulted in this book. A number of individuals and whole categories of human beings are described in negative terms. Even tourists visting the historic town of Deadwood, South Dakota, are described as "gullible".

Now, I do not mind that Ms. Sollid attempts to debunk the Calamity Jane myth and bring the real life of Martha Jane Cannary into the light of history. She does give the world new primary source material from her interviews of Deadwood citizens, and overall, she collects a considerable amount of authentic material.

But, Ms. Sollid cannot seem to keep her negative feelings out of what should have been a scholarly work, and I believe that this predjudices the text in both content and conclusion. Calamity Jane deserves better.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Dated De-Mythologizing, August 10, 2001

By 

a reader (New Orleans, LA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Calamity Jane (Paperback)

In 1949 when this work was being researched, it was a major focus for historians of the American West to correct the exaggerated romantic legends that had grown up around many memorable frontier figures. In our skeptical day and age that focus is far less helpful. Roberta Sollid did an excellent job of debunking the many unsubstantiated stories that surround "Calamity Jane". Unfortunately, this work totally fails to help us understand the real person and how she came to survive as a frontier woman who frequently fulfilled roles usually reserved for men.