Buffalo Bill's Wild West presents a fascinating analysis of the first famous American to erase the boundary between real history and entertainment Canada, and Europe. Crowds cheered as cowboys and Indians--and Annie Oakley!--galloped past on spirited horses, sharpshooters exploded glass balls tossed high in the air, and cavalry troops arrived just in time to save a stagecoach from Indian attack. Vivid posters on billboards everywhere made William Cody, the show's originator and star, a world-renowned figure. Joy S. Kasson's important new book traces Cody's rise from scout to international celebrity, and shows how his image was shaped. Publicity stressed his show's "authenticity" yet audiences thrilled to its melodrama; fact and fiction converged in a performance that instantly became part of the American tradition. But how, precisely, did that come about? How, for example, did Cody use his audience's memories of the Civil War and the Indian wars? He boasted that his show included participants in the recent conflicts it presented theatrically, yet he also claimed it evoked "memories" of America's bygone greatness. Kasson's shrewd, engaging study--richly illustrated--in exploring the disappearing boundary between entertainment and public events in American culture, shows us just how we came to imagine our memories.

A panoramic celebration of the colorful characters that made up the Wild West shows, with color and black and white photos throughout.

After the death of his brother, eight-year-old Bill Cody and his family set out from Iowa to make a new home for themselves in the volatile Kansas Territory.

Beautiful full color litho cover, stagecoach under attack from Indians, cameo portrait of W.F. Cody.

Buffalo Bills: The Complete Illustrated History is the ultimate celebration of a beloved team, complete with photos, stats, and stories from a half century of Bills football. From its origins in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League to the latest season on the gridiron, the team and its fans have seen their share of highs and lows, and author Sal Maiorana presents them all—the players, the games, and the personalities from 50 seasons of pro football in Buffalo. It is the perfect companion and reference for Buffalo’s “12th Man”—the fans.

Army scout, frontiersman, and hero of the American West, William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was also a shrewd self-promoter, showman, and entrepreneur. In 1888 he published The Story of the Wild West, a collection of biographies of four well-known American frontier figures: Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Kit Carson, and himself. Cody contributed an abridged version of his 1879 autobiography with an addendum titled The Wild West in England, now available in this stand-alone annotated edition, including all the illustrations from the original text along with photographs of Cody and promotional materials. Here Cody describes his Wild West exhibition, the show that offered audiences a mythic experience of the American frontier. Focusing on the show’s first season of performances in England, Cody includes excerpts of numerous laudatory descriptions of his show from the English press as well as stories of his time spent with British nobility—from private performances for Queen Victoria and the Prince and Princess of Wales to dinners and teas with the elite of London society. He depicts himself as an ambassador of American culture, proclaiming that he and his Wild West show prompted the British to “know more of the mighty nation beyond the Atlantic and . . . to esteem us better than at any time within the limits of modern history.”

Think you know Buffalo Bills Football? Think again. It's time to find out how smart you really are about the Bills. Anybody can tailgate, but can you make it through the whole game, playing in frozen Ralph Wilson Stadium, grinding it out in the chill of the Buffalo winter? Will you earn that cool drink that tastes of success as you savor memories of O.J., Drew Bledsoe, Marv Levy, Jim Kelly or Doug Flutie marking yet another victory? We'll let you know. Test your skills. Wrack your brain. It's the ultimate Buffalo Bills IQ test! If you love Bills football then you’ll love this book, and you will definitely be given plenty of chances to prove your mad-trivia skills: eight chapters and 200 questions. That’s what you’re up against, and we’re keeping score. This book, however, is not just a test of your fandom – it is also a celebration of the many legends who have made the Bills one of the most successful and celebrated franchises in football history.