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America’s Best Female Sharpshooter: The Rise and Fall of Lillian Frances Smith. The William F. Cody Series on the History and Culture of the American West. By Julia Bricklin. Foreword by Jeremy Johnston

2018; Oxford University Press; Volume: 49; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/whq/why004

1939-8603

Wendy L. Rouse,

Race, History, and American Society

Julia Bricklin has gone to great lengths to rescue Lillian Frances Smith from relative historical obscurity. As the “California Girl,” Smith lived her life in the shadow of Annie Oakley, the most famous and well-known female sharpshooter of that era. Although Oakley’s fame was greater, Smith’s abilities with the rifle were far superior. Bricklin has attempted to reconstruct Smith’s life history and reclaim Smith’s title as “America’s best female sharpshooter.” Smith was only fourteen years old when she began a career as a performer on the exhibition circuit showcasing her skills with a gun. When she was fourteen she was performing alongside Annie Oakley in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show, traveling throughout the United States and Europe. Bricklin’s narrative details the jealousies and insecurities between Smith and Oakley and how these feelings eventually severed Smith’s association with Buffalo Bill Cody and redefined Smith’s career. Smith’s less traditionally domestic lifestyle and relationships with various men also led to public scrutiny. Whereas other female performers such as Oakley managed to walk a fine line of respectability by highlighting their femininity and emphasizing their primary domestic roles as wives, Smith failed to live up to Victorian notions of proper domesticity. In the end, Bricklin suggests that Smith cared less about what others thought of her, choosing to pursue her own desires.