Who owns the West? -- Buffalo Bill and Karl May : the origins of German Western fandom -- A wall runs through it : western fans in the two Germanies -- Little houses on the prairie -- "And then the American Indians came over" : fan responses to indigenous resurgence and political change -- Indians into Confederates : historical fiction fans, reenactors, and living history.
"No one interested in the history of the American West or in women's history should miss this well-written, carefully researched, comprehensive treatment of a subject that previous scholars have largely ignored. Based on the writings of more than fifty women who accompanied their husbands to remote duty posts in the far west.
Jim Tyson was known as English Jim to the desperados and gunslingers in Oklahoma and Arkansas. He was known as Long-Smokes to the Indians in Oklahoma. But at home in Kansas he was known as Uncle Jim. English Jim was a quick-thinking, fast-shooting tall cowboy who yearly drove cattle from down near the Red River, up through Arkansas and Oklahoma, to Kansas. He didnt tolerate anyone messing with his gold or his cattle. Long-Smokes was that tall, cigar-smoking cowboy who, with his sidekick Chippewa Charlie, came to the rescue of Yellowknife in the Indian Territory of Oklahoma. Uncle Jim was the respected rancher in Linn County, Kansas who was a successful businessman and family man. This book is the true life story of a small boy from England who grew up to be a 64 cowboy. It tells of his life journey through the interesting times of the 1800s and 1900s. Jim Tyson was dedicated and true to his family and he was a good provider. He loved his family and he was a good provider. He loved his family and he loved adventure. Those were exciting times on his yearly cattle drives and later on his trips to Canada. The book tells of the history of these years long ago, and gives an account of how Jim Tyson bought his land and how he bought and sold his cattle. These were interesting and trying times. The border war in Kansas, the Civil War, droughts, depressions, pandemics and world wars all happened in Jims life time. A person and his neighbors were on their own, with little help from the law and no help from the government. Like the man said, There is no law west of Kansas City and west of Fort Scott, no God.
This packet provides a detailed and richly illustrated overview of life on the frontier in America. The frontier is defined and demythologized as Hollywood's stereotypical portrayals are replaced with factual--yet no less fascinating and lively--depictions of pioneer life. Events and personalities are vividly described, and challenging review questions encourage meaningful reflection and historical analysis. A test, answer key, and extensive bibliography are included.
The historic and mythic elements of the American Old West—covered wagon trains, herds of buffalo, teepee villages, Indigenous warriors on horseback, cowboys on open ranges, and white settlers “taming” a wilderness with their plows and log cabins—have exerted a global fascination for more than 200 years and became the foundation for fan communities who have endured for generations. This book examines some of those communities, particularly German fans inspired by the authors of Westerns such as Karl May, and American enthusiasts of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series. But the Old West (like all visions of the past) proved to be shifting cultural terrain. In both Germany and the U. S., Western narratives of white settlement were once seen as “apolitical” and were widely accepted by white people. But during the Nazi period in Germany and in East Germany after 1945, the American West was reevaluated and politically repurposed. Then, during the late twentieth century, understandings of the West changed in the U. S. as well, while the violence of white settler colonialism and the displacement of Indigenous peoples became a flashpoint in the culture wars between right and left. Reagin shows that the past that fans seek to recreate is shaped by the changing present, as each new generation adapts and relives their own West.
