Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Known for buckskins, profanity, shooting, and an "unladylike" proficiency in mule driving, the belligerent, hard-drinking, and always complicated Calamity Jane also built a reputation for her career as a practical nurse and midwife no to mention her stints as a dance hall girl. Etulain (Lincoln and Oregon Country Politics in the Civil War Era) painstakingly sifts through unreliable reports-including those from the illiterate legend herself-and public records to establish likely biographical details while using contemporary and modern media sources to detail the evolution of Calamity Jane's legacy. Interestingly, this unusual and extensive examination of her contributions to American folklore adds depth not only to the lionized Wild West figure, but also reflects the late-19th-century national trend in celebrating the disappearing frontier, further immortalizing Calamity Jane by pairing her with Wild Bill Hickok, whom she only knew for five weeks, and Jesse James, whom she never met. Etulain's careful and honest research illuminates Jane's historical place in frontier history while revealing her humanity through both his admiration for her multifaceted character and frustration with her willful obfuscation-an adroit way to honor such an elusive character. 61 b&w illus. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In this exhaustively detailed biography of Calamity Jane, Etulain (history, Univ. of New Mexico; Writing Western History: Essays on Major Western Historians) seeks to set the historical record straight on the life of this near-mythical Wild West figure. Etulain meticulously reviews and critiques a vast array of research materials including newspaper articles, dime novels, historical documents, and archival materials to create a balanced and encyclopedic portrait of the larger-than-life persona who was born Martha Canary in Missouri in 1856. As an experienced historian of the American West, the author is understandably interested in fact over storytelling, but at times this work reads more like an annotated bibliography than a biography. Verdict Etulain's dogged determination to present and often rebut seemingly every single source that mentions his subject will likely delight researchers, academics, and history buffs seeking an exacting account of the materials used to re-create Calamity Jane's life. However, recreational readers will likely find his approach tedious. Biography fans might prefer James D. McLaird's Calamity Jane: The Woman and the Legend, while fiction readers may like Pete Dexter's gritty novel Deadwood or Larry McMurtry's Buffalo Girls.-Ingrid Levin, Salve Regina Univ. Lib., Newport, RI (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The former director of the Center for the American West at the University of New Mexico offers a biographical study of Calamity Jane and the narratives that have shaped perceptions of her remarkable life. Born Martha Canary to a family of Missouri farmers in 1856, Calamity Jane is one of the great romantic figures of the Old West. Countless newspaper and historical accounts about her exist, but as Etulain (Lincoln and Oregon Country Politics in the Civil War Era, 2013, etc.) points out, much of that information is inaccurate. What is known for certain is that by the time Calamity turned 11, both parents were dead. How she, an illiterate girl on her own, managed to survive and care for her younger siblings remains a mystery. Evidence points to Calamity's having adopted male clothing and manners, including a fondness for smoking and drinking. After almost a decade of living a transient's life, she landed in Deadwood, South Dakota, where she became a celebrated associate of the legendary Wild Bill Hickok as well as a favorite topic of both journalists and dime-store novelists. Some accounts state that she also sold sex to survive and that during her brief time with Hickok, she became the legendary gunman's lover and the mother of his child. Etulain, however, never advances these claims due to lack of conclusive evidence. Instead, he focuses on what can be verified, such as the fact that Calamity gave birth to a daughter long after her association with Hickok and that, while she lived with a number of men, only one ever became her husband. Etulain also spends considerable time looking at the many interpretationsnovelistic, filmic and theatricalthat have sprung up about Calamity in the century since her death in 1903. While adding nothing new to her historical portrait, they have nevertheless demonstrated the extraordinary "staying power of Western legends" in public consciousness. For lovers of the Wild West and its colorful history. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
