Description
A fascinating analysis of the first famous American to erase the boundary between real history and entertainment
Canada, and Europe. Crowds cheered as cowboys and Indians--and Annie Oakley --galloped past on spirited horses, sharpshooters exploded glass balls tossed high in the air, and cavalry troops arrived just in time to save a stagecoach from Indian attack. Vivid posters on billboards everywhere made William Cody, the show's originator and star, a world-renowned figure.
Joy S. Kasson's important new book traces Cody's rise from scout to international celebrity, and shows how his image was shaped. Publicity stressed his show's "authenticity" yet audiences thrilled to its melodrama; fact and fiction converged in a performance that instantly became part of the American tradition.
But how, precisely, did that come about? How, for example, did Cody use his audience's memories of the Civil War and the Indian wars? He boasted that his show included participants in the recent conflicts it presented theatrically, yet he also claimed it evoked "memories" of America's bygone greatness. Kasson's shrewd, engaging study--richly illustrated--in exploring the disappearing boundary between entertainment and public events in American culture, shows us just how we came to imagine our memories.
Author: Joy S. Kasson
Publisher: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux-3pl
Published: 10/17/2001
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.08lbs
Size: 9.02h x 6.00w x 0.84d
ISBN13: 9780809032440
ISBN10: 0809032449
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | 19th Century
- Social Science | Popular Culture
- Sports & Recreation | Rodeos
About the Author
Joy S. Kasson, author of several books on American history, is a Professor of American studies and English at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She lives with her family in Chapel Hill.
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