Buffalo Bill's Life Story: An Autobiography

Rating:
Summary: A book for American history buffs
Review: This is an interesting book about William F. Cody, known popularly as Buffalo Bill, as told by himself. Hunter, guide, scout for the U.S. Army, and ultimately a showman, he tells about his adventures in a straight descriptive style. I found the first half of the book the most interesting, as he tells of his childhood and development. The many subsequent adventures are often fascinating. His various adventures and undertakings gradually take on a similarity from one chapter to the next, and the book gradually loses momentum. Cody expresses little if any sympathy about the massive buffalo killing that took place during his time, some for pure sport rather than for food gathering. Also, in the descriptions of his participation in wars against the American Indians, I found little if any sympathy for their situation. The book must be read with the knowledge that he was, after all, a hunter and army scout, in a century when nothing was going to stand in the way of the development and expansion of the country.