Buffalo Bill

by Sorg, Eric V.

• ISBN13: 9781580960021
• ISBN10: 1580960022
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-05-01
• Publisher: Ancient City Pr

Summary

"Buffalo Bill" Cody's life, in fact and fiction, was shaped like a classical tragedy etched across the western prairies. More dime novels were written about him than any other western character, and he mythologized himself as hero of his Wild West show. Popular media so twisted the facts of his life that the historic William Cody and his real accomplishments have almost been lost. Like the West itself, the man was a product of the long legacy of romantic thought about the frontier. To rediscover the historic Cody, author Eric Sorg has researched primary material scattered in museums and libraries around the country, sifting the historical Cody from the commercial creation. As the Cody legends began to Fade, revisionist histories portrayed Cody merely as an Indian scout adept at killing buffalo and a showman who squandered the fortune he made with his Buffalo Bill's Wild West. Now Sorg's research shows him also to be an enlightened egalitarian who lived a classically tragic life. A charming and humorous man, Cody saw the opportunity to turn his solid Plains credentials into a secure future for himself and his Family through the fanciful world of theatrics and many less glamorous commercial ventures, including real estate investment and development.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	viii	(1)
Introduction	ix
Part 1: The Myth of Buffalo Bill	1	(52)
Origins of the Buffalo Bill Myth	5	(14)
Buffalo Bill's Popularity in Show Business	19	(10)
The Image of Buffalo Bill in Books	29	(10)
Buffalo Bill's Wild West	39	(14)
Part 2: The Reality: William F. Cody	53	(52)
William Cody's Private Life	55	(6)
William Cody's Business Ventures	61	(10)
The Business of Buffalo Bill's Wild West	71	(18)
William Cody's Critics	89	(10)
The Decline of Wild West Shows	99	(6)
Notes	105	(8)
Bibliography	113