Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City: Re-creating the Frontier West“Shootin’—Lynchin’—Hangin’,” announces the advertisement for Tombstone’s Helldorado Days festival. Dodge City’s Boot Hill Cemetery sports an “authentic hangman’s tree.” Not to be outdone, Deadwood’s Days of ’76 celebration promises “miners, cowboys, Indians, cavalry, bars, dance halls and gambling dens.” The Wild West may be long gone, but its legend lives on in Tombstone, Arizona; Deadwood, South Dakota; and Dodge City, Kansas. In Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City, Kevin Britz and Roger L. Nichols conduct a tour of these iconic towns, revealing how over time they became repositories of western America’s defining myth. Beginning with the founding of the communities in the 1860s and 1870s, this book traces the circumstances, conversations, and clashes that shaped the settlements over the course of a century. Drawing extensively on literature, newspapers, magazines, municipal reports, political correspondence, and films and television, the authors show how Hollywood and popular novels, as well as major historical events such as the Great Depression and both world wars, shaped public memories of these three towns. Along the way, Britz and Nichols document the forces—from business interests to political struggles—that influenced dreams and decisions in Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City. After the so-called rowdy times of the open frontier had passed, town promoters tried to sell these towns by remaking their reputations as peaceful, law-abiding communities. Hard times made boosters think again, however, and they turned back to their communities’ rowdy pasts to sell the towns as exemplars of the western frontier. An exploration of the changing times that led these towns to be marketed as reflections of the Old West, Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City opens an illuminating new perspective on the crafting and marketing of America’s mythic self-image. |
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Contents
Creating Wild West Heroes | |
Cover of Deadwood Dick by Edward L Wheeler | |
Luke Short | |
Rewriting Town Histories | |
Hangmans Tree at Dodge City museum | |
Old West Celebrations | |
The Days of 76 advertisement 1926 | |
Movies Television and Tourism | |
The Town Too Tough to Die 1942 | |
James Arness as Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke 1956 | |
Museums and Preservation | |
Deadwood renovations ca 2006 | |
Other editions - View all
Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City: Re-Creating the Frontier West Kevin Mark Britz,Roger L. Nichols No preview available - 2018 |
Common terms and phrases
action American appeared Arizona asked Association attention attract authenticity became become began Black Hills boosters Boot Hill brought buildings Calamity Jane called celebration cemetery chamber of commerce characters citizens claimed Club continued cowboy create Deadwood described developed Dodge City earlier early editor efforts ended expected famous fictional File followed frontier gave give grave gunfight Helldorado heroes historic hoped ideas images included Indians interest Kansas later leaders living looking major March Masterson memory mining moved movie museum needed novels October offered official Old West opened organizers past pioneers popular presented preservation promoters published remained reporter reputation residents saloons Star stories streets television Tombstone Tombstone Epitaph Tombstone’s took tourists town town’s tried turn violence visitors wanted western Wild Bill Hickok Wild West writers wrote Wyatt Earp York
Bibliographic information
| Title | Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City: Re-creating the Frontier West |
| Authors | Kevin Britz, Roger L. Nichols |
| Publisher | University of Oklahoma Press, 2018 |
| ISBN | 080616204X, 9780806162041 |
| Length | 280 pages |
| Subjects | › › › History / United States / 19th Century History / United States / State & Local / West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY) Social Science / Indigenous Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |