What They Didn't Teach You About the Wild West

Rating:
Summary: Interesting. Worth the read....
Review: As any historian will tell you, there are many sides to an historic event and the story is told from the viewpoint of the victors. Wright attempts to illustrate unknown facts, and clarify popular misconceptions about historical events in "What They Didn't Teach You about the Wild West." While I enjoyed Wright's interpretation of history, I found the format to be at times confusing. Facts were jumbled together in large chapters without subheadings which made browsing confusing. Perhaps this book would be better if arranged in chronological order? This complaint was small, however in light of what "What they-" has to offer.

The parts I particularly enjoyed were the colonization facts, information about early prostitution and early American 'attitudes' towards women, other races and cultures. Perhaps if there is a reprint, there should be a chapter about gender roles included?

Definitely interesting enough to pick up for scholars and writers of western fiction. A good solid work.

Rating:
Summary: A range of lively facts
Review: From the origins of 'dude' in dude ranch to the history of the Afro-American cowboy and his prominence in the west, What They Didn't Teach You About the Wild West gathers a range of lively facts which provides a fun and involving collection for leisure browsers and history students seeking supplemental reading.

Rating:
Summary: A Supplement to Those Old Movies
Review: Mike Wright is a TV writer in Chicago who won an "Emmy". This book covers some of the 19th Century West, from around 1816 (the year without a summer) to about 1916. Thirteen chapters cover various topics from that century, and tells you things left out of the movies and TV shows.

Those over forty remember various movies and TV shows about cowboys and cattle herds ("Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", etc.). But this era lasted only about 25 years. A cow sold for $4 in TX, $40 in KS; we would call them arbitrageurs nowadays. People preferred the taste of longhorn cattle over domestic beeves. Is there something to be relearned here? Free-range meat?

It retells the importance of the railroads in the history of the 19th century America, and the Chicago stockyards (another memory). Railroads long ago spent their Govt. subsidies; trucking still benefits from Govt. super-highway system.

Mike Wright questions Wild Bill Hickok's claim to having killed "a hundred men", saying it was maybe 15 or so as a cattle town lawman. But Wm. Hickok had been a Jayhawker, Civil War soldier, Army scout, etc. I wouldn't dispute that claim, exaggerated or not.

Rating:
Summary: A Supplement to Those Old Movies
Review: Mike Wright is a TV writer in Chicago who won an "Emmy". This book covers some of the 19th Century West, from around 1816 (the year without a summer) to about 1916. Thirteen chapters cover various topics from that century, and tells you things left out of the movies and TV shows.

Those over forty remember various movies and TV shows about cowboys and cattle herds ("Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", etc.). But this era lasted only about 25 years. A cow sold for $4 in TX, $40 in KS; we would call them arbitrageurs nowadays. People preferred the taste of longhorn cattle over domestic beeves. Is there something to be relearned here? Free-range meat?

It retells the importance of the railroads in the history of the 19th century America, and the Chicago stockyards (another memory). Railroads long ago spent their Govt. subsidies; trucking still benefits from Govt. super-highway system.

Mike Wright questions Wild Bill Hickok's claim to having killed "a hundred men", saying it was maybe 15 or so as a cattle town lawman. But Wm. Hickok had been a Jayhawker, Civil War soldier, Army scout, etc. I wouldn't dispute that claim, exaggerated or not.

Rating:
Summary: What I learned was You (Mike) need to do more research!
Review: This book is filled with highlights of the West and stories of "regular" people going/living in the West.