Buffalo Bill: Last of the Great Scouts (Bison Book) - Softcover

Wetmore, Helen Cody

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803252153 ISBN 13: 9780803252158

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1965

Synopsis

William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody was active on the frontier for only about a dozen years (1860-1872); for the next thirty-five he was an actor and a showman. But today, more than a half century after his death, the Buffalo Bill legend is as strong as ever. First published in 1899, this artless and affectionate biography by his sister evokes both the man and the legend. In addition to giving a full account of Bill's early years, Helen Cody Wetmore offers some interesting sidelights on his adult life - for example, his experiences as a Union Army spy, a land speculator, a hotelkeeper, and a justice of the peace. (Called upon to perform a marriage ceremony, Cody concluded it with the impressive words: "whom God and Buffalo Bill hath joined together, let no man put asunder.") Here are glimpses of Bill as a host to visiting potentates and chapters on "Theatrical Experiences" and "Literary Works" which are not only funny in themselves but convincing evidence that he was never taken in by his own publicity. As a period piece, "Buffalo Bill" is loaded with passages that today's readers will find hilarious, but more than that it is informative and entertaining on its own terms. Wetmore is dead right in her conclusion that Bill Cody gained his strong hold on American hearts because "in his own person he condenses a period of the history of this nation."

About this title

About the Author:

Helen Cody Wetmore was one of five sisters of Buffalo Bill and her book Buffalo Bill was often sold at Buffalo Bill's Wild West shows. Joy S. Kasson is chair of the American Studies Department at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is the author of Buffalo Bill's Wild West: Celebrity, Memory, and Popular History.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 1965
• ISBN 10: 0803252153
• ISBN 13: 9780803252158
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 318