The Popular Frontier

Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Transnational Mass Culture

Nonfiction, History, Americas, Native American, United States, 19th Century
Cover of the book The Popular Frontier by , University of Oklahoma Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: ISBN: 9780806159935
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press Publication: December 4, 2017
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press Language: English
Author:
ISBN: 9780806159935
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Publication: December 4, 2017
Imprint: University of Oklahoma Press
Language: English

When William F. Cody introduced his Wild West exhibition to European audiences in 1887, the show soared to new heights of popularity and success. With its colorful portrayal of cowboys, Indians, and the taming of the North American frontier, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West popularized a myth of American national identity and shaped European perceptions of the United States. The Popular Frontier is the first collection of essays to explore the transnational impact and mass-cultural appeal of Cody’s Wild West.

As editor Frank Christianson explains in his introduction, for the first four years after Cody conceived it, the Wild West exhibition toured the United States, honing the operation into a financially solvent enterprise. When the troupe ventured to England for its first overseas booking, its success exceeded all expectations. Between 1887 and 1906 the Wild West performed in fourteen countries, traveled more than 200,000 miles, and attracted a collective audience in the tens of millions.

How did Europeans respond to Cody’s vision of the American frontier? And how did European countries appropriate what they saw on display? Addressing these questions and others, the contributors to this volume consider how the Wild West functioned within social and cultural contexts far grander in scope than even the vast American West. Among the topics addressed are the pairing of William F. Cody and Theodore Roosevelt as embodiments of frontier masculinity, and the significance of the show’s most enduring persona, Annie Oakley.

An informative and thought-provoking examination of the Wild West’s foreign tours, The Popular Frontier offers new insight into late-nineteenth-century gender politics and ethnicity, the development of American nationalism, and the simultaneous rise of a global mass culture.
 

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

When William F. Cody introduced his Wild West exhibition to European audiences in 1887, the show soared to new heights of popularity and success. With its colorful portrayal of cowboys, Indians, and the taming of the North American frontier, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West popularized a myth of American national identity and shaped European perceptions of the United States. The Popular Frontier is the first collection of essays to explore the transnational impact and mass-cultural appeal of Cody’s Wild West.

As editor Frank Christianson explains in his introduction, for the first four years after Cody conceived it, the Wild West exhibition toured the United States, honing the operation into a financially solvent enterprise. When the troupe ventured to England for its first overseas booking, its success exceeded all expectations. Between 1887 and 1906 the Wild West performed in fourteen countries, traveled more than 200,000 miles, and attracted a collective audience in the tens of millions.

How did Europeans respond to Cody’s vision of the American frontier? And how did European countries appropriate what they saw on display? Addressing these questions and others, the contributors to this volume consider how the Wild West functioned within social and cultural contexts far grander in scope than even the vast American West. Among the topics addressed are the pairing of William F. Cody and Theodore Roosevelt as embodiments of frontier masculinity, and the significance of the show’s most enduring persona, Annie Oakley.

An informative and thought-provoking examination of the Wild West’s foreign tours, The Popular Frontier offers new insight into late-nineteenth-century gender politics and ethnicity, the development of American nationalism, and the simultaneous rise of a global mass culture.
 

More books from University of Oklahoma Press

Cover of the book Land Too Good for Indians by
Cover of the book Restoring the Shining Waters by
Cover of the book Winning the West with Words by
Cover of the book Ernest Haycox and the Western by
Cover of the book When Law Was in the Holster: The Frontier Life of Bob Paul by
Cover of the book Wars for Empire by
Cover of the book Brummett Echohawk by
Cover of the book The Art, Humor, and Humanity of Mark Twain by
Cover of the book Lakota Performers in Europe by
Cover of the book Deliverance from the Little Big Horn by
Cover of the book Old Three Toes and Other Tales of Survival and Extinction by
Cover of the book The Greatest Show in the Arctic by
Cover of the book Army Life on the Western Frontier by
Cover of the book Juan Bautista de Anza by
Cover of the book Into the Breach at Pusan by
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy