Reading the West : Snippets from My Life and a Few Brazen Thoughts

by Brown, Bill

• ISBN13: 9780312137618
• ISBN10: 0312137613
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-03-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

This exciting collection makes 4 previously hard-to-find dime Westerns easily available to readers who wish to enrich their understanding of nineteenth-century American literature. These varied novels provide a new and important context for examining classic, widely taught authors and tell us much about nineteenth-century attitudes towards race and gender. The anthology includes:Malaeska; The Indian Wife of the White Hunter,by Ann S. Stephens (1860)Seth Jones; or The Captives of the Frontier,by Edward S. Ellis (1860)Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road,by Edward J. Wheeler (1877)Frank Reade, The Inventor, Chasing the James Boys With His Steam Team,Anonymous (1890) With an introduction that critically examines the historical and cultural background of the dime Western, a chronology of relevant background information on historical figures and events, headnotes to the novels, glosses of unfamiliar terms and references, 27 illustrations, and a selected bibliography, this edition makes frequently overlooked dime Westerns readily accessible for serious study, particularly in courses that emphasize a new historicist or cultural studies approach.

Table of Contents

  About the Series
  About This Volume
  List of Illustrations
    
  Reading the West: Cultural and Historical Background
    
  Chronology, 1860-1902: U.S. History, Culture, and Popular Publishing
    
  Ann S. Stephens, Malaeska: The Indian Wife of the White Hunter
    
  Edward S. Ellis, Seth Jones; or, The Captives of the Frontier
    
  Edward J. Wheeler, Deadwood Dick, The Prince of the Road; or, The Black Rider of the Black Hills
    
  Anonymous, Franke Reade, The Inventor, Chasing the James Boys With His Steam Team
    
  Selected Bibliography
    
ILLUSTRATIONS
    1. Paper cover, The Deadwood Dick Library, No. 1
    2. Paper cover, The Deadwood Dick Library, No. 2
    3. Paper cover, The Deadwood Dick Library, No. 4
    4. Paper cover, The Deadwood Dick Library, No. 5
    5. Paper cover, The Deadwood Dick Library, No. 15
    6. Paper cover, The Deadwood Dick Library, No. 30
    7. Paper cover, The Deadwood Dick Library, No. 49
    8. Paper cover, Beadle's Dime Book Verses
    9. Paper cover, Beadle's Book of Dreams
    10. List of Beadles and Adams Standard Dime Publications, from Beadle's Book of Dreams
    11. List of Beadles and Adams Standard Dime Publications, from Beadle's Book of Dreams
    12. Front page, Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 41
    13. Front page, Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 138
    14. Paper cover, Frank Starr's American Novels, No. 44
    15. Paper cover, Frank Starr's New York Library, No. 4
    16. Paper cover, Beadle's Dime Biographical Library, No. 15