Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane: Deadwood Legends

Synopsis

(back of book) Although Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane spent only a few weeks in Deadwood at the same time, their fame and fate have become intertwined and their relationship legendary. James D. McLaird examines the contemporary accounts that turned these two Wild West wanderers into dime-novel and motion-picture stars. Contemporary novelists and journalists created an astonishingly strong legacy for both Calamity Jane and Wild Bill, accounting for much of their notoriety. Gunfights, scouting missions, and daring escapes from enemies filled stories about the dashing pair; even their day-to-day existence seems to have been fraught with danger and excitement, teetering on the brink between lawful and unlawful. McLaird traces the role that writers and the city of Deadwood itself played in the creation of the legacies of the infamous couple. Fact and fiction have become so woven together that a definitive picture of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill is almost impossible. Their brief friendship and subsequent burial next to each other in Mount Moriah Cemetery simply added to their legendary status and made them stalwarts of Wild West pop culture and Deadwood mythology. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane: Deadwood Legends is the second book in the South Dakota Biography Series, which highlights some of the state's most famous residents.

Copyright:

2008

Book Details

Book Quality:

Excellent

Book Size:

173 Pages

ISBN-13:

9780977795598

Publisher:

South Dakota State Historical Society

Date of Addition:

07/19/09

Copyrighted By:

South Dakota State Historical Society Press

Adult content:

No

Language:

English

Has Image Descriptions:

No

Categories:

History, Nonfiction, Westerns, Biographies and Memoirs, Law, Legal Issues and Ethics

Submitted By:

Kari G

Proofread By:

mary stephens

Usage Restrictions:

This is a copyrighted book.