Buffalo Bill's America: William Cody and the Wild West Show (Hardcover)

by Louis S. Warren (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
In this ambitious biography, Warren depicts William "Buffalo Bill" Cody as a man who took a set of extraordinary skills, added a few fanciful tales and built a persona that made him one of the most recognizable men of his time. But it's in Cody's Wild West Show that UC-Davis historian Warren finds Cody's true genius: the ability to capture in theater the anxieties, cultural myths, ambitions, class divides and cultural direction of America as it approached the 20th century. Warren seeks metaphor and symbolism everywhere and is remarkably inventive in finding them. Readers who tire of the discussions of the domestication of America as captured in the Wild West Show, or theories that the show symbolized American labor unrest (with the Indians as stand-ins for labor), will find Warren's analysis of Cody's influence on Bram Stoker's Dracula or what Edvard Munch had in common with Cody's Wild West Show entertaining, if not totally convincing. Warren sends out a fusillade of theories about late-19th-century American culture, the American west and their intersection with the Wild West Show; some resonate, some are provocative and some simply (and unintentionally) amuse. All in all, Warren manages to both entertain and instruct. 41 b&w illus. (Oct. 14)
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From Booklist
In his public career, William Cody straddled two worlds and two eras. Born in 1846 in Iowa, he moved west as the nation expanded to the Pacific; he was a genuine product of the frontier who served as a Pony Express rider, army scout, and big-game hunter. Yet he achieved his greatest fame as the frontier was closing, and his Wild West shows, with their utilization of mass-marketing techniques and electronic gimmickry, clearly belong to the twentieth century. But, as Warren reveals in this engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable biography, Cody himself, and the public perception of his life, were always riddled with contradictions. In later life, Cody undeniably embellished his accomplishments, but Warren shows that, as a frontiersman, Cody was the genuine article. He was often self-centered, even narcissistic, but he seemed to genuinely like people and was generous to a fault. Warren has provided an outstanding examination of the life and times of an enigmatic "hero" who was perhaps our first media-driven superstar. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Knopf (October 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375412166
• ISBN-13: 978-0375412165
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #77,647 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #38 in	Books > History > United States > 19th Century > Old West
  #63 in	Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Leaders & Notable People > Military > United States Civil War
  #66 in	Books > History > United States > State & Local > West

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When the Legend becomes fact, print the legend, October 20, 2005

By	Wayne Klein "If at first the idea is not absu... (My Little Blue Window, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

An entertaining combination of history and biography Louis Warren's book manages to capture the elusive spirit of William Cody aka Buffalo Bill. Bill was a combination of hero, poser and entertainer as he frequently told tall tales linking him to the archetypical western hero Wild Bill Hickock. He dressed like Wild Bill, claimed to be his cousin (although the two weren't related Cody did meet Wild Bill at a young age and did travel with him later). Cody would variously claim that he was the youngest pony express rider (he neve rode for the pony express), was a spy during the Civil War (he wasn't) and was at many of Wild Bill's most famous exploits (he wasn't). It's ironic then that Bill Cody felt the need to embelish an already heroic career as a tracker and guide during the infamous Indian Wars. Cody lived during an uncertain time in the west and his role as a "white" Indian scout made people more comfortable that he was one of "us" who could fight and befriend one of "them" (i.e., the Indians whatever group they belonged to) unlike Wild Bill or other well known scouts who had reputations for violence and/or consorting (meaning marrying an Native American Indian)with the "enemy". Warren provides a fair balanced account of these troubled prejudiced times and what those on the frontier did to survive.

Why did Bill Cody feel the need to tell tall tales about his career when he wasn't the charlatan that many trackers and guides were? Cody had that need to be larger than life and learned by observing people like P. T. Barnum that a little bit of truth and a lot of hokum go a long way. As Maxwell Scott (Carleton Young) states in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance",
"When the Legend Becomes fact, Print the Legend". Perhaps Cody felt the facts weren't enough and that he needed to become a legend so that he might be recognized as such during his life time and after he died. Either way, this man who was an odd combination of hero and entertainer entered the the realm of legends. Interestingly, Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickock were frequently confused as the same person by people of the time.

This marvelous book covers Cody's youth, his stretch as a scout, entertainer with his Wild West Show (which did feature Wild Bill Hickock at one time although Hickock supposedly became annoyed at one point by Cody's attempts to be like him)and later as a popular celebrity who embodied the lost days of the wild west. Featuring illustrations, Warren's book brings to life a lost era in America when heroism and legends became far more than stories to be told by camp fires late into the night.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Buffalo Bill's wild, wild West, March 16, 2006

By	D. Donovan, Editor/Sr. Reviewer "California B... (California, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

William Cody was the most famous American of his times, renowned as a Pony Express rider, soldier, buffalo hunter and overall hero - but his creation of the Wild West show, a traveling company of cowboys and Indians which toured North American and Europe for over thirty years, solidified his importance and his name. BUFFALO BILL'S AMERICA: WILLIAM CODY AND THE WILD WEST SHOW provides the most detailed critical biography of Cody to appear in over forty years, considering his showmanship, his achievements, and the controversies which swirled around his life, both during time and into modern times. Chapters use source material references and quotes but maintain a lively style which lends to appeal by leisure audiences as well as students of American history.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great!, December 7, 2006

By	J. Johnson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Great book from a great professor. Reading this was like sitting in Dr. Warren's class again. He can totally make history come alive and this book is no exception.