Wild Bill Hickok : the man and his myth
Excavating the reality behind the myth, author Rosa delves into the exploits and ego that defined Hickok and shows how the man was overtaken by his own legend. Rosa exposes a controversial and charismatic man--army and Indian scout, wagon master, courier, frontiersman, gunfighter, lawman, prospector, addicted gambler, and short-time actor--who was elevated from regional fame to national notoriety by inadvertently being in the right place at the right time. Aggrandized in an 1867 Harper's article, Hickok reluctantly embraced his exaggerated role in a far-fetched but exciting story. Establishing the role an overzealous press and fortune-seeking dime novelists played in immortalizing Wild Bill, Rosa reveals a great deal about how myths were initiated and perpetuated to glorify the nineteenth-century frontier.--From publisher description
Biography
xxiv, 276 pages ; 24 cm
9780700615230, 9780700607730, 0700615237, 0700607730
34046472
"The man and his myth." -"The scout of the Plains." -"A terror to evil-doers."