Legends and Tales of the American West

Description

From Davy Crockett, Wild Bill Hicock and Calamity Jane to Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill and the James boys, here is a wonderfully boisterous treasury of tall tales and fanciful yarns in which everything and everyone is larger than life. These colourful stories of real men and women. The pioneers, cowboys, outlaws, gamblers, prospectors and lawmen whgo settled the wild west, grew taller and funnier as they made their rounds from wagon train to campfire to rodeo miners quarters, and they created in the process a uniquely American hero and an enduring folk mythology.

Richard Erdoes is co-editor of American Indian Myths and Legends and the author of, among many other books, Lakota Woman; Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions; and Saloons of the Old West.He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"You'll never find a better guide than Richard Erdoes to lead you through the mosaic of the American frontier. The whole pack of our legendary past is crammed into this treasure box. -Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee