Legends and Tales of the American West

by Richard Erdoes (Editor)

From Davy Crockett, Wild Bill Hickok, and Calamity Jane to Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and Frank and Jesse James, here are more than 130 colorful stories of the pioneers, cowboys, outlaws, gamblers, prospectors, and lawmen who settled the wild west, creating a uniquely American hero and an enduringly fascinating folk mythology.

In this wonderfully boisterous treasury of tall tales, everyone and everything is larger than life and bragging is elevated into an art form.  Many of these stories are of real people and real events; more than a few, however, grew taller and funnier as they made their rounds from wagon train to campfire to rodeo to miners' quarters.  But even if it is far from established that Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett were able to kill three men with one bullet or subdue ferocious grizzly bears with their fists, they come vividly to life here as beloved characters who have become part of the fabric of the American imagination.

Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library

Genres: Folklore, Mythology, Fiction, Classics, Folk Tales, Fantasy, Literature

464 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Richard Erdoes was an artist, photographer, illustrator and author. He described himself as "equal parts Austrian, Hungarian and German, as well as equal parts Catholic, Protestant and Jew..."

He was a student at the Berlin Academy of Art in 1933, when Adolf Hitler came to power. He was involved in a small underground paper where he published anti-Hitler political cartoons which attracted the attention of the Nazi regime. He fled Germany with a price on his head. Back in Vienna, he continued his training at the Kunstgewerbeschule, the University of Applied Arts, Vienna.

He also wrote and illustrated children's books and worked as a caricaturist for Tag and Stunde, anti-Nazi newspapers. After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938 he fled again, first to Paris, where he studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere, and then London, England before journeying to the United States.

In New York City, Erdoes enjoyed a long career as a commercial artist, and was known for his highly detailed, whimsical drawings. He created illustrations for such magazines as Stage, Fortune, Pageant, Gourmet, Harper's Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, Time, National Geographic and Life Magazine, where he met his second wife, Jean Sternbergh (d. 1995) who was an art director there. The couple married in 1951 and had three children. Erdoes also illustrated many children's books.

An assignment for Life in 1967 took Erdoes to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for the first time, and marked the beginning of the work for which he would be best known. Erdoes was fascinated by Native American culture, outraged at the conditions on the reservation and deeply moved by the Civil Rights Movement that was raging at the time.

Erdoes wrote histories, collections of Native American stories and myths, and wrote about such voices of the Native American Renaissance as Leonard and Mary Crow Dog and John Fire Lame Deer. In 1975 the family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico where Erdoes continued to write and remained active in the movement for Native American civil rights.

His papers are preserved at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University.

Reviews

[Julius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well now, I was wedged a mite between the appropriation of the proper ratin' to give this here book, but finally, bein' a constrained feller with no heavy yearning to grant it a needlessly gracious four star, as it was a good read but fallin' short o' the stuff as deeply pulls this dusty-throated traveler's heart, I settled as comfortably as a man can on a three.

This here book is full o' yarns as what made up this proud, great country (back when it was more proud-like than great) an' should induce the feller as takes a hankering between it's pages to myriads of reflection and recollection. Lots o' high and heavy stories full up these weathered pages; stories to make ya shiver, laugh, cry, rage, lie, an' most likely a high handle of all five at some point or another. Yessir, I found the tales quite interestin', and perused 'em with all the care of a mama hen gathering up her chicks for feeding. A tried and true American man don't just learn about American folklore in this book. A tried and true American man reading this book learns a deal about how the folks that came before him--maybe his great-grandfather's great-grandfather--to this wild, hot, dangerous, and bee-autiful land thought, and how they went about makin' up stories and weavin' yarns...and tellin' more lies in a day than a hive has bees!

Yessir! A fine educational experience reading this book is, as well as a comfortable wagon ride into the type of entertainment that can only be brought on a man when he's a-reading a good bunch a false hooey that some people may have actually believed once upon a time. And I do say man, sir, for not every one o' these tales is for young'ns ears 'round a campfire at night. Still, it's well worth a man's time, I says (so long as he don't have no wrangling to see to or a watering hole as requires his adept inspection; we all know how that can be).

[Mark Slauter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the Barns & Noble Collectible edition. I was expecting something a bit different that wouldn't include Paul Bunyon assisting the government in building a nuclear bomb. If you're anticipating something along the lines of dime store novels or tales of the wild west as would have appeared in print media of the 1800s, this isn't it.

[Mikey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Classic midwestern yarns such as the story of Paul Bunyan creating an atomic bomb to spearhead a USA WWII victory (seriously!).

An unusual (although welcoming) inclusion in the Pantheon Fairytale and Folklore library. There is a noteworthy absence of traditional motif (consequently, taxonomy). There is a fine line between bravado and braggadocio; much of midwestern "folklore" intentionally overshoots. Enmeshed in this thematic underpinning are some fantastic tales.

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fascinating, and frustrating, collection of folklore of the American West. Both wildly racist and deeply felt in the bones of my local culture as a person who has lived their entire life in the locations described. But for each tale that makes you roll your eyes at the vicious treatment of Native Americans, there's a another imbued with good humor, wide eyed awe, or unspeakable terror. Basically the bedrock of American Myth.

[Hannah Chaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

7/10: this was such a quick, fun, entertaining little palette cleanser! lots of very quick (3 pages at the most) little lore stories that i enjoyed reading (especially has a history major and reenactor) and placing into historical context. definitely has some not so PC language but that’s to be expected of old lore and tales from the 18th and 19th century.

[Kenny D · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book delivers on what it’s title promises and there isn’t much more to say about it then that. It’s a fun and quick read that showcases the grit, charm, oddities, and grotesqueries of the American frontier. I’d recommend it as a time-waster but don’t expect Shakespeare from it.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author did a very good job covering the American frontier from Colonial Days to the end of the American West. At times the author seems a bit puzzled by the American psyche but does a good job covering it. The stories are well written and a good representation of Americana

[Sally]

I'm not really finished with the book but I'm finished with it for now. I'll rate it when I've read the rest of the legends.