This encyclopedic guide to the American dime novel contains over 1,200 entries on serial publications, major writers and editors, publishers, and major characters, fiction genres, themes, and locales. An introduction provides a brief history of the dime novel. A discussion of dime novel scholarship includes a selected directory of libraries and museums with significant collections of dime novels. An appendix contains a publishing chronology of the more than 300 serial publications, and a selected bibliography suggests further reading. This comprehensive reference will appeal to popular culture scholars and to dime novel collectors. As an important research tool, entries are cross-referenced throughout. An index is included.

John M. Burke (1842–1917) played an essential role in turning William Frederick Cody into the classic character of "Buffalo Bill." With this biography, published in 1893, Burke refined the legend that continues today. Burke attempted to present the story of William F. Cody from the wild Western scenes of Kansas and Nebraska. And from the prairies of the Platte to the parlors of the East and the palaces of Europe. Burke claimed to give a candid account of Buffalo Bill's life. Hostile Indians, gunfights, cattle stampedes; Cody's Wild West was full of danger at every turn. Burke's portrayal of Buffalo Bill as a pioneer and hero is an honor to the romance of the Wild West and a canonical volume in the American story which is a brilliant example of mythmaking. The book gives insight into how things were back then, and it also makes the reader familiar with the beginnings of American Nationhood.