Legends of the Wild West: True Tales of Rebels and Heroes

by Robert Edelstein

Overview

For several hundred years, the West had been the land of dreams, an extraordinary region of hope, expansion and opportunity where European countries—and then the young USA itself—sent their finest explorers to plant seeds in a seemingly untapped, open landscape. This spirit captured the popular imagination in the Wild West, those raucous 30 years between the end of the Civil War and the beginning of a new century. Within these pages, readers will explore true tales of rebels and heroes such as General George Custer, Buffalo Bill, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Annie Oakley, and Sitting Bull, among others.

The Wild West was the American Dream on steroids. It was an age of gunfights and gold rushes, cowboys and Comanches, with the likes of Buffalo Bill, Jesse James and Billy the Kid making their names. It forged extraordinary legends and even bigger lies, with everything fueled by dime novels written back East that encouraged folks to grab their share of a promise that was difficult for this hard land to keep.

This book looks at all these mythical characters, the start of the railroad across the nation, the cost it all dealt to the Native Americans whose land was lost, and the way Hollywood still keeps the dream alive. As historian Richard White says, “People could go west and no matter their failures elsewhere, they had an opportunity to remake themselves. It’s a symbol for a kind of individualism that actually doesn’t exist in the West, but mythically it does.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781951274351
Publisher:	Centennial Books
Publication date:	12/01/2020
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	639,581
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Robert Edelstein has written about history, pop culture, television, sports, travel, health and film for TV Guide Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable, deadline.com, Hemispheres, Meetings & Conventions, Athletes Quarterly and many other publications and websites. His books include NASCAR Generations (Harper Collins), and two books published by the Overlook Press: Full Throttle: The Life and Fast Times of NASCAR Legend Curtis Turner (which was reviewed on the cover of the Sunday New York Times Book Review) and NASCAR Legends (named book of the year by the American Auto Racing Writers and Broadcasters Association). His origami art has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal. He lives in New Jersey with his family.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 How The West Got Wild

Time Line Of The Old West 10

Call Of The Wild 12

The Promised Land 18

Words To Live (And Die) By 24

Chapter 2 Straight Shooters Of The Frontier

The 10 Shots Heard 'Round The West 32

Ladies Of Legend 46

Pardners On The Plains 52

The Long Riders 60

Chapter 3 Rushes, Runs And Railroads

Golden Years 76

Tools Of The Trade 82

The Road That Changed The West 90

The Long Runs 96

Struggles Of The Land 102

Trials On The Trails 108

Chapter 4 Cow Boys And Indians, Guns And Glory

The Cowboy Question 116

The Land Was Theirs 122

Shooting Stars 132

Frontier President 138

Chapter 5 True-Life Myth Makers

The Tallest Tale Of All 146

Wyatt Earp's Double Life 152

The One True Genius 158

Chapter 6 Wilder Then-Still Wild Now

Where The Action Was 168

Old West, New World 180