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Return to Book Page. Deadwood Legends by James D. Paperback , pages. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. Aug 06, Roy rated it liked it. Fairly short read about pages but nicely illustrated with many photographs. May 21, Michelle K. A good and accurate account, unclouded by romanticism. Read while in Deadwood so much appreciated! Jul 11, Debbie rated it really liked it. The book gave a factual history of both individuals. It certainly debunked the myths surrounding these people, while giving an excellent explanation of how they became frontier legends.
Mar 23, Tim rated it liked it. According to the American Heritage Dictionary , a legend is "an unverified story handed down from earlier times, especially one popularly believed to be historical. McLaird demonstrates he knows what the word means. Deadwood Legends explains that much of what we think we know about Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane in Deadwood is, in fact, the stuff of l "Legend" is a word tossed around too easily and misused too often.
Deadwood Legends explains that much of what we think we know about Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane in Deadwood is, in fact, the stuff of legend. An emeritus professor of history at Dakota Wesleyan University and author of an earlier biography on Calamity Jane , McLaird wastes no time conveying his point. On the first page of the introduction, he tells the reader that Wild Bill and Calamity Jane "accomplished little of significance to deserve their prominence" in the history of Deadwood.
Instead, as a historian is inclined to do, McLaird examines their lives using facts, not mythology.
Essentially, Wild Bill and Calamity Jane become their era's equivalent of mass media darlings. Hickok garnered his national reputation thanks to a February article in Harper's New Monthly Magazine and ensuing dime novels. McLaird notes, though, that the magazine article's tales of Hickok's derring-do "bore little resemblance to actual events, and some episodes were entirely fictionalized. The two met for the first time in July , when Calamity Jane hooked up with a group heading to the Black Hills that included Hickok.
Less than a month later, Hickok was dead. Although known in the area because of previous trips there and as a dance-hall girl, Calamity Jane's national fame didn't begin until after Hickok's death. Like Hickok, a magazine article and, more important, a series of highly popular dime novels published between and featuring "Deadwood Dick," in which she was a character, pushed her into the spotlight.
McLaird approaches each individual's life story separately, which is easier than popular belief might think. McLaird argues with some credence that no intimate connection between the two arose in the public eye until Calamity Jane was buried next to Wild Bill in Deadwood's Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood Legends examines how each gained their national reputations and compares the mythology built around them during and after their lives to more historically accurate accounts.
McLaird also explores their lives once the spotlight of fame fell upon them, as well as Hickok's brief period of time in Deadwood and how the two ultimately became even bigger cultural icons and a joint part of Deadwood lore and tourism. McLaird relays their stories concisely, pointing out the heavy varnish that at times was used to polish their character. Deadwood Legends examines how each gained their national reputations and compares the mythology built around them during and after their lives to more historically accurate accounts.
McLaird relays their stories concisely, pointing out the heavy varnish that at times was used to polish their character. His book illustrates what gave rise to differences of opinion that existed about them during their time. To some, they helped personify the lure and individualism of the west. No one can doubt that Wild Bill and Calamity Jane live on into the 21st Century, whether in popular culture, such as the HBO television series Deadwood , or by helping make the actual town of Deadwood a popular tourist attraction to this day. In exploring both the fact and fiction of their lives, McLaird establishes that, individually and collectively, Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are legends in the true sense of the word.
Deadwood Legends by James D.
Wild Bill Hickok & Calamity Jane: Deadwood Legends (South Dakota Biography Series) [James D. McLaird] Series: South Dakota Biography Series (Book 2). Editorial Reviews. Review. A fascinating read for anyone who wants to learn about how the Wild Bill Hickok & Calamity Jane: Deadwood Legends (South Dakota Biography Series Book 2) - Kindle edition by James McLaird. Download it once.
In exploring both the fact and fiction of their lives, McLaird establishes that, individually and collectively, Wild Bill and Calamity Jane are legends in the true sense of the word. McLaird is professor emeritus of history at Dakota Wesleyan University.
He is author of Calamity Jane: Would you like to tell us about a lower price? If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? Myths surround these two Wild West legends synonymous with the town of Deadwood. Although Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane spent only a few weeks in Deadwood at the same time, their fame and fate have become intertwined and their relationship legendary.
McLaird examines the contemporary accounts that turned these two Wild West wanderers into dime-novel and motion-picture stars. Contemporary novelists and journalists created an astonishingly strong legacy for both Calamity Jane and Wild Bill, accounting for much of their notoriety.
Gun fights, scouting missions, and daring escapes from enemies filled stories about the dashing pair; even their day-to-day existence seems to have been fraught with danger and excitement, teetering on the brink between lawful and unlawful. McLaird traces the role that writers and the city of Deadwood itself played in the creation of the legacies of the famous couple.
Fact and fiction have become so intertwined that a definitive picture of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill is almost impossible. Their brief friendship and subsequent burial next to each other in Mount Moriah Cemetery simply added to their legendary status and made them stalwarts of Wild West pop culture and Deadwood mythology.
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John Andrews rated it liked it Jul 28, Mclaird also explored the fantastic stories that were circulating about them and it was interesting to see how the legends and the stories started and grew even long after both had Mclaird does a good job of separating the facts from the legends that have been built around these two people. Learn to look through old newspapers and other sources to see if it is possible to document what the author is saying. Withoutabox Submit to Film Festivals. Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press, If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support? McLaird examines the contemporary accounts that turned these two Wild West wanderers into dime-novel and motion-picture stars.
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