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An illuminating new perspective on the crafting of Wild West legend

Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City Re-creating the Frontier West By Kevin Britz and Roger L. Nichols

“Shootin’—Lynchin’—Hangin’,” announces the advertisement for Tombstone’s Helldorado Days festival. Dodge City’s Boot Hill Cemetery sports an “authentic hangman’s tree.” Not to be outdone, Deadwood’s Days of ’76 celebration promises “miners, cowboys, Indians, cavalry, bars, dance halls and gambling dens.” The Wild West may be long gone, but its legend lives on in Tombstone, Arizona;

AUGUST 2018 Deadwood, South Dakota; and Dodge City, Kansas. In Tombstone, Deadwood, and $32.95s CLOTH 978-0-8061-6029-0 Dodge City, Kevin Britz and Roger L. Nichols conduct a tour of these iconic towns, 280 PAGES, 6 X 9 revealing how over time they became repositories of western America’s defining 25 B&W ILLUS., 1 MAP myth. Beginning with the founding of the communities in the 1860s and 1870s, this

U.S. HISTORY book traces the circumstances, conversations, and clashes that shaped the settle- ments over the course of a century. ORDER ONLINE AT OUPRESS.COM Drawing extensively on literature, newspapers, magazines, municipal reports, politi- cal correspondence, and films and television, the authors show how Hollywood and ORDER BY PHONE popular novels, as well as major historical events such as the Great Depression and INSIDE THE U.S. 800-848-6224 EXT. 1 both world wars, shaped public memories of these three towns. Along the way, Britz INTERNATIONAL 919-966-7449 and Nichols document the forces—from business interests to political struggles— CALL CENTER HOURS that influenced dreams and decisions in Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City. 8:30AM-5:00PM EST After the so-called rowdy times of the open frontier had passed, town promoters ORDER BY E-MAIL tried to sell these towns by remaking their reputations as peaceful, law-abiding [email protected] communities. Hard times made boosters think again, however, and they turned ORDER BY FAX back to their communities’ rowdy pasts to sell the towns as exemplars of the western FAX: 800-272-6817 (24 HOURS) frontier. FAX: 919-962-2704 (24 HOURS) An exploration of the changing times that led these towns to be marketed as reflec- Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City SIGN UP FOR NEW BOOK ANNOUNCEMENTS, tions of the Old West, opens an illuminating SPECIAL OFFERS, AND MORE AT OUPRESS.COM new perspective on the crafting and marketing of America’s mythic self-image. Kevin Britz (1954–2011) received his Ph.D. in History from the University of UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS IS DISTRIBUTED THROUGH

LONGLEAF SERVICES, INC. THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA IS Arizona under the direction of Roger L. Nichols. Roger L. Nichols is Professor AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY INSTITUTION. WWW.OU.EDU/EOO Emeritus of History at the University of Arizona and author of numerous works on Native American history, including Warrior Nations: The United States and Indian Peoples.

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