Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace

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Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace

John M. Burke
Edited and with an introduction by Chris Dixon

The Papers of William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody Series

400 pages
15 photographs, 58 illustrations

Paperback

October 2012

978-0-8032-4072-8

$32.95 Add to Cart
eBook (PDF)
Ebook purchases delivered via Leaf e-Reader

October 2012

978-0-8032-4456-6

$32.95 Add to Cart

About the Book

Advance man, press agent, and publicist extraordinaire, John M. Burke (1842–1917) was instrumental in turning William F. Cody into the iconic persona of Buffalo Bill. And with this biography, published in 1893, Burke put the finishing touches on the legend that persists to this day. This new, definitive edition includes the full text and all the photographs and line drawings of Burke’s original, while providing critical background on the literary sources, historical characters, and events that figure in the work.


With “a few plain truths, unadorned,” Burke purported to give a frank account of Buffalo Bill’s life. Hostile Indians, gunfights, cattle stampedes: Cody’s Wild West was fraught with peril at every turn. This “Chevalier Bayard of American Bordermen” exemplified courage and daring while often narrowly escaping certain death and earned the respect and admiration of not only his fellow frontiersman but also European royalty. Burke recounts Cody’s duel with Chief Yellow Hand; his role as army scout, buffalo hunter, Pony Express rider, and international celebrity; and his associations with well-known figures like Kit Carson, Sitting Bull, General Phil Sheridan, and Queen Victoria. A brilliant instance of mythmaking by a true believer, Burke’s portrait of Buffalo Bill Cody as frontiersman and hero is a tribute to the romance of the Wild West and a canonical volume in the American story.


 

Author Bio

Chris Dixon is a senior research fellow in the School of Humanities at the University of Strathclyde and editor of Four Years in Europe with Buffalo Bill (available in a Bison Books edition).

Praise

"A must for Cody enthusiasts."—Johnny D. Boggs, Roundup Magazine

"[Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace offers] readers a fresh look at Cody and his famous self, Buffalo Bill."—J. Thomas Murphy, Annals of Iowa

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations 
Series Editor's Preface 
Editor's Introduction: The Mysterious Major Burke  
Acknowledgments 
Buffalo Bill from Prairie to Palace 
Notes 
Bibliography 
Index 

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