The Magic Mirror

The Magic Mirror
Author: Elsie Singmaster
Publisher:
Total Pages: 284
Release: 1934
Genre: Pennsylvania
ISBN: 9780689121630

Gunfighter Nation

Gunfighter Nation
Author: Richard Slotkin
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 868
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780806130316

Examines the ways in which the frontier myth influences American culture and politics, drawing on fiction, western films, and political writing

Regeneration Through Violence

Regeneration Through Violence
Author: Richard Slotkin
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 816
Release: 2024-01-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1504090357

National Book Award Finalist: A study of national myths, lore, and identity that “will interest all those concerned with American cultural history” (American Political Science Review). Winner of the American Historical Association’s Albert J. Beveridge Award for Best Book in American History In Regeneration Through Violence, the first of his trilogy on the mythology of the American West, historian and cultural critic Richard Slotkin demonstrates how the attitudes and traditions that shape American culture evolved from the social and psychological anxieties of European settlers struggling in a strange new world to claim the land and displace Native Americans. Using the popular literature of the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries—including captivity narratives, the Daniel Boone tales, and the writings of Hawthorne, Thoreau, and Melville—Slotkin traces the full development of this myth. “Deserves the careful attention of everyone concerned with the history of American culture or literature. ”—Comparative Literature “Slotkin’s large aim is to understand what kind of national myths emerged from the American frontier experience. . . . [He] discusses at length the newcomers’ search for an understanding of their first years in the New World [and] emphasizes the myths that arose from the experiences of whites with Indians and with the land.” —Western American Literature

The Fatal Environment

The Fatal Environment
Author: Richard Slotkin
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Total Pages: 660
Release: 1998
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780806130309

Discusses the subjugation of Native Americans on the American frontier, and explains how it was used to justify American territorial expansion.

Commie Cowboys

Commie Cowboys
Author: Ryan W. McMaken
Publisher: Ludwig von Mises Institute
Total Pages: 134
Release: 2014-04-28
Genre: History
ISBN:

The Western genre has long been associated with right-wing and libertarian politics, and is said to promote individualism and free-market economics. In a new look at the Western, however, Ryan McMaken shows that the Western is in fact often anti-capitalist, and in many ways, the genre attacks the dominant ideology of nineteenth-century America: classical liberalism. The classical Westerns of the mid-twentieth century often feature wealthy capitalist villains who oppress the cowardly and defenseless shopkeepers and farmers of the frontier. The gunfighter, a representative of the law and order provided by the nation-state, intervenes to provide safety and justice. In addition to attacks on capitalism, the Western attacks other prized values of the bourgeois middle classes including Christianity, education and urbanization. McMaken examines these themes as used in the films of John Ford, Anthony Mann, and Howard Hawks. These pioneers of the classical Westerns are then contrasted with later innovators such as Sergio Leone, Sam Peckinpah, and Clint Eastwood. Also included are discussions of the role of the LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE series, Victorian literature, and the nature of crime on the historical frontier. With a foreword by Paul A. Cantor, author of GILLIGAN UNBOUND and THE INVISIBLE HAND IN POPULAR CULTURE.

Abe

Abe
Author: Richard Slotkin
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 496
Release: 2001-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9780805066395

A stunning work of historical imagination, Abe immerses the reader in the past Abraham Lincoln kept hidden: the isolating poverty and frontier violence that shaped his character. Marked by the death of his beloved mother and the struggle to keep reading and learning in the face of his father's fierce disapproval, Abe perseveres, growing into the man who changed the course of American history. Abe comes of age in the course of a dramatic flatboat journey down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans. Along the way, Abe and his companions encounter slavery firsthand and experience the violence -- and the pleasures -- of rough river towns, plantations, and the cities of Natchez and New Orleans. Numerous historical figures make appearances alongside the colorful characters of the Mississippi: preachers and vigilantes, planters and thieves, prostitutes and lady reformers. Transformed by what he has seen and done, Abe returns to make his final break with his father and to step out of the wilderness into New Salem -- and history. Richard Slotkin's Abe draws deeply on historical scholarship, but it is not biography. Instead, it is a vivid, persuasive re-creation of the life young Lincoln might have lived, and of the people, scenes, and influences that helped produce the character and conscience of the man often called the greatest of all Americans.

Gunfight

Gunfight
Author: Ryan Busse
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2021-10-19
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1541768728

A former firearms executive pulls back the curtain on America's multibillion-dollar gun industry, exposing how it fostered extremism and racism, radicalizing the nation and bringing cultural division to a boiling point. As an avid hunter, outdoorsman, and conservationist–all things that the firearms industry was built on–Ryan Busse chased a childhood dream and built a successful career selling millions of firearms for one of America’s most popular gun companies. But blinded by the promise of massive profits, the gun industry abandoned its self-imposed decency in favor of hardline conservatism and McCarthyesque internal policing, sowing irreparable division in our politics and society. That drove Busse to do something few other gun executives have done: he's ending his 30-year career in the industry to show us how and why we got here. Gunfight is an insider’s call-out of a wild, secretive, and critically important industry. It shows us how America's gun industry shifted from prioritizing safety and ethics to one that is addicted to fear, conspiracy, intolerance, and secrecy. It recounts Busse's personal transformation and shows how authoritarianism spreads in the guise of freedom, how voicing one's conscience becomes an act of treason in a culture that demands sameness and loyalty. Gunfight offers a valuable perspective as the nation struggles to choose between armed violence or healing.

Under an Open Sky

Under an Open Sky
Author: William Cronon
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 378
Release: 1993
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780393310634

"If you prefer history served in a dozen fresh ways, get this book." --Chicago Tribune

Cowboy Poetry

Cowboy Poetry
Author: Virginia Bennett
Publisher: Gibbs Smith
Total Pages: 216
Release: 2004
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 9781586853495

In Cowboy Poetry: The Reunion we lift our lariats and salute twenty years of poetry sharing at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. Reflective and rascally, tough and fresh, clever and insightful, this book holds the history, the heritage, and the future of the vibrant voices of the West. This anthology comprises some of the best of traditional cowboy poetry predating the present cowboy poetry revival, as well as work created since 1985. It is a great retrospective, giving us a sense of where we have been and where we are going, as well as a fitting tribute to the men and women whose words reflect an authentic American West. Virginia Bennett is the editor of Cowgirl Poetry, also published by Gibbs Smith, Publisher.

Ranch-Horse Versatility

Ranch-Horse Versatility
Author: Mike Major
Publisher: Morris Communications Corp
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2011-05-17
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0762792825

Maybe you compete in versatility ranch-horse events or plan to meet that challenge and want to take advantage of every opportunity to polish your performance. Perhaps cattle work can put a fresh perspective on your riding program, or you simply want a handy, responsive horse, no matter what your day’s ride might bring. Whatever your interest in Ranch-Horse Versatility, Colorado horseman Mike Major is uniquely qualified to provide the information to take your horse program to the next level. A rancher by profession and a competitor by choice, Major has developed the horsemanship expertise to be successful in both venues, in large part because he draws no real distinction between his show horses and ranch horses. A Major Cattle Company horse might well work on the ranch today and compete in the arena tomorrow, a dual-purpose approach that has proven successful. Major and his stallion, Smart Whiskey Doc, have claimed multiple national titles—American Quarter Horse Association 2006 Bayer Select Working Cow Horse World Champion, World’s Greatest Versatility Horse at the National Versatility Ranch Horse Association 2008 and 2009 National Finals, and AQHA 2009 and 2010 Versatility Ranch Horse Open World Champion. Plus, in 2010 Major rode Black Hope Stik, a daughter of Smart Whiskey Doc, to become the inaugural Battle in the Saddle Ranch Remuda Champion and the first Project Cowboy Champion. American stock-horse associations were founded on the backs of such talented horses, and versatility competition has brought a renewed appreciation for these all-around athletes. In his book, Major shares how he develops such responsive, maneuverable horses. His understanding, how-to tips and thoughtful insights in Ranch-Horse Versatility can help you sharpen your skills to ride effectively, compete successfully and show your horse to advantage.