| Why the West Was Wild: A Contemporary Look at the Antics of Some Highly Publicized Kansas Cowtown Personalities Contributor(s): Miller, Nyle H. (Author), Snell, Joseph W. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0806135263 ISBN-13: 9780806135267 Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press OUR PRICE: $34.60 Product Type: Leather - Other Formats Published: May 2003 Annotation: Nyle H. Miller and Joseph W. Snell's Why the West Was Wild is the unabridged and unsurpassed collection of material assembled on the famous and infamous personalities of Kansas cowtowns, including legendary figures such as "Wild Bill" Hickok, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday, and such locales as Abilene, Wichita, Caldwell, and Dodge City. First published in the Kansas Historical Quarterly, these portraits are based on research in newspapers, legal records, letters, and diaries contemporary to these legendary figures. This anniversary edition is the first complete edition to appear in forty years. Why the West Was Wild is available in a deluxe 40th-anniversary limited hardcover edition. Only 500 copies of this special edition have been or will ever be produced. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Biography & Autobiography | Historical - History | United States - 19th Century |
| Dewey: B |
| LCCN: 2002035029 |
| Physical Information: 1.73" H x 6.42" W x 9.24" (2.33 lbs) 704 pages |
| Themes: - Geographic Orientation - Kansas - Cultural Region - Heartland - Cultural Region - Upper Midwest - Chronological Period - 19th Century |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: This deluxe anniversary volume is the first complete edition to appear in forty years. "For about 51 weeks a year the average old-time cowboy could be classified as a hard working, fairly sober, and usually conscientious individual. During the 52nd week, however, he might erupt into a rip-snorting, free-spending hell raiser bent on divesting himself of his earnings in the quickest and most enjoyable manner possible. What caused this usually mild and law-abiding creature to undergo such a metamorphosis? He was celebrating--making up for the long and lonely weeks he had just spent on the trail drive from Texas. He was delighted with the thought that no more, for a few weeks at least, would he spend his nights trying to nurse edgy cattle into tranquility. . . . He was free now--unemployed, uninhibited, and rich--until tomorrow or next week And waiting for the trail cowboy and his cash, almost rubbing its hands in anticipation, was the cowtown."--from Why the West Was Wild Nyle H. Miller and Joseph W. Snell's Why the West Was Wild is the unabridged and unsurpassed collection of material assembled on the famous and infamous personalities of Kansas cowtowns, including legendary figures such as "Wild Bill" Hickok, Bat Masterson, and Doc Holliday, and such locales as Abilene, Wichita, Caldwell, and Dodge City. First published in the Kansas Historical Quarterly, these portraits are based on research in newspapers, legal records, letters, and diaries contemporary to these legendary figures. |
Contributor Bio(s): Miller, Nyle H.: - former Executive Director of the Kansas State Historical Society, was an author of Kansas in Newspapers; Kansas, A Pictorial History; and Kansas, the Thirty-fourth Star. Snell, Joseph W.: -Joseph W. Snell, Executive Director Emeritus and former Curator of Manuscripts for the Kansas State Historical Society, authored Painted Ladies of the Cowtown Frontier. Miller and Snell also co-authored Great Gunfighters of the Kansas Cowtowns, 1867-1886. |