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Wild Women of the Old West by Glenda Riley, Richard W. Etulain

2005; Oregon Historical Society; Volume: 106; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/ohq.2005.0102

2329-3780

Renée M. Laegreid,

Archaeology and Natural History

these chemicals affectthe reproductive system, their effects manifest themselves differentlyin males and females. In fact,thisparticular form of environmental pollution threatens tounder mine thebiological differences that supposedly ground gender in thefirstplace. All thepieces collected here focus explicitly on gender, but skepticsmay ask whether they are reallyabout theenvironment. What different authorsmean by "nature" rangeswidely in this volume? from land as property to thehuman body, food, urban fires, ski resorts,andMount Rushmore. Some will argue thatundue attention togender alongwith such an expansive definition ofnature runs theriskof sideliningenvironmen talhistory as a distinctive project or, at least,of foregoing the field's unique strengths.Yet, the most exciting and importantworks in history have rarelycome from scholars intenton staying within the established confines of theirsubfield. While not allmethodological innovationspay off, thisvolume indicates thatconversationsbetween environmental and gender history are likelyto produce some ground-breaking work. WildWomen ofthe OldWest Edited byGlenda Riley and Richard W. Etulain Fulcrum Publishing, Golden, Colorado, 2003. Photographs, index. 255 pages. $17.95 paper. Reviewed by Renee Laegreid Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska WILD WOMEN OF THE OLD WEST ?S the fourthof theNotable Westerners series highlighting outstanding individuals. Edited bywell-known western historians Glenda Riley and RichardW. Etulain, thisbook examines the livesof nine "notorious" women propelled into legendary status and credited with "shaping and reshaping images of the West" (p.vii).Wild women, as defined byRiley,are "individualswho deviated from their culture's and their era's ex pectations of a properwoman'" (p.xi). There is little doubt thatthesewomen challenged gender expectations.Although theyrose to fameduring an era when New Women were beginning to confront societies restrictions on women ? and some exhibitedmore challenging behavior than others ? each became a legend inher own right by seizing opportunities available only on the western frontier. The essays are organized intofourcategories of "wild" behavior: Errant Daughters, women who lefthome (willingly or not) to seek their fortune; Sellers of Sex, infamous prostitutes in frontier towns; Showtime Cowgirls, notorious in the sense that theyperformed in the public sphere; and theAlmost Outlaws, women who skated on the edge of legal authority. Each essay begins with a captivating recounting of the myth, then moves on to analyze extant documents ? census records, family history, marriages, newspaper clippings, and so on? to tryand separatemyth from theveracity of the women's lives. The essays conclude with a his toriographyon the myth itself? how itstarted, who perpetuated it,and what scholarly argu ments emerged to either support or debunk it. For example, Carmen Goldthwaithe's essay on thewoman behind the song "The Yellow Rose of Texas" examines the lifeof a young mulatto woman who moved toTexas just as the future republic began itsfight for independence from Mexico. Captured by Santa Anna's troops,Em ilyD. West was catapulted tomythic status for allegedly seducing the general inhis tent, thus contributing to his defeat at the battle of San Jacinto. As fascinatingas the myth isthe tenacity 500 OHQ vol. 106, no. 3 ofTexans inperpetuating the storydespite any real evidence to support it. PriscillaWegars's essay on Chinese immi grant Polly Bemis is an excellent example of reading around theedges of evidence to siftfact fromfiction. Wegars rebutsmuch of themyth surrounding Bemis's lifeby placing herwithin the larger context of Chinese culture. Anne M. Butler's essay on prostitution examines the livesof infamousAnglo and African American madams inDenver. The strengthof this essay lies in itsability to take the scant information that exists on these women and create a larger context forunderstanding prostitution and the riskswomen faced in thatprofession. Butler's big-picture view dovetails nicely with Riley's detailed account ofNew Mexico prostitute and madam Sadie Orchard. Candy Moulton's essay on Lucille Mulhall and M.J. Van Deventer's on Bertha Kaepernik Blancett explore the lives of cowgirl rodeo performers. Both challenged norms of the day by riding astride in public and engaging in masculine activities such as roping, shooting, and riding broncs. Yet both presented very ladylike images, dressed in the "proper" styles of the day. The livesof thesewomen contrast sharplywith those in the final essays: Lori Van Pelt's essay on Cattle Kate, "the only woman ever hanged in Wyoming," and Etulain's on Calam ityJane, who was often photographed dressed like a man (p. 155).The...