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Seeking Pleasure in the Old West
"Pioneering Americans of the nineteenth century did not merely rush for gold, lust for land, and thrust aside the West's original inhabitants. These mountain men, cowboys, homesteaders, and cavalry troopers played nearly as hard as they worked, exploiting to the hilt what little leisure they could steal from their labors. Nor did they only carouse-drink, gamble, and womanize-as the West's fiction might suggest. They were spectators at bull and bear fights in California; actors in amateur theatricals in Army garrisons; and participants in communal barn raisings and quilting bees on the prairie. This is a delightful look at a very neglected aspect of the story of westering Americans."-Richard H. Dillon, author of Meriwether Lewis, Fool's Gold, and The Legend of Grizzly Adams. "The men on Lewis and Clark's 1804 expedition square-danced to fiddle music. Cowboys' leisure pursuits included singing, storytelling, dominoes, reading, and foot races. U.S. Army soldiers played the newfangled game of baseball and even enjoyed debating and attending concerts. Dary's irresistible narrative recreates card games on Mississippi steamboats, New Orleans balls, frontier campfires and cafe-theatres, Santa Fe saloons, and Wyoming bicycle clubs and mineral spas, and it charts the emergence of a middle class that came to disapprove of prostitution, gambling, drinking, bear-baiting, and buffalo-hunting. An engaging chronicle."-Publishers Weekly. "As David Dary proves in this pleasurable book, the Old West was not all trouble and toil. Much is to be learned here-from mountain men and Indians to cowboys and homesteaders-about how to have fun, no matter the circumstances."-Dee Brown, author of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee. "This lively and good-humored narrative takes the reader on a journey to a time before pleasure ruled lives, a time when fun was where you found it and was what you did when you had time."-Dallas Morning News. "This delightful volume describes activities ranging from the simple and the homespun to the bawdy and elaborate."-Booklist. "A treasury of the colorful characters who spent their brief hour on that wild and woolly stage."-Kansas City Star.
364 pages, Paperback
First published November 14, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 31, 2012
Seeking Pleasure in the Old West gets a four star rating in recognition of its contribution to understanding of life on the Western frontier. The book is very detailed, sometimes to the point of being mundane. Likewise, the author did considerable research and organized it well. The book is not captivating reading, but that was probably not the author's goal in any event.
January 21, 2019
This work is a cultural study of the west. Movies and TV shows give the impression that a lot of the pleasures sought in the old west were gambling, drinking and women. However, there were a lot of families that moved to the west. The settlers found pleasure in singing, dancing and socializing. They established schools that doubled as libraries. Touring groups would visit the various towns and put on theatrical productions or other forms of entertainment. A small portion of this book also discusses the pleasures sought by those visiting the west and not moving to it.
April 10, 2012
The title of this book may seem misleading to readers looking for accounts of bawdy behavior on the frontier. Social historian David Dary doesn't pretend that church picnics were the height of fun in the Old West, but much of what his book describes are innocent pastimes. While saloons, brothels, and so-called pleasure palaces do get their mention, the book is chiefly a compendium of simple leisure activities and forms of entertainment.
Organized by chapter somewhat roughly by social groups (mountain men, Indians, emigrants, soldiers, cowboys), locations (along rivers, along railroads, in mining areas), and regions (Southwest, Northwest), the book imposes a kind of order over a vast encyclopedia of loosely related information. There's no grand theme, thesis or narrative holding it all together, so casual readers can dip into the book wherever impulse takes them without getting lost.
I particularly liked the chapter on soldiers, which briefly summarizes the campaigns of the Army of the West and the establishing of forts during the 19th century. Because the focus is on the passing of time between the waging of war (against Mexico, against the Indians), we get a different picture of military life than is the norm in history books. I enjoyed the accounts taken from the journals of soldiers and officers' wives of simple pleasures taken in the pristine wilderness of the prairie and of social events like theatricals, concerts, Fourth of July celebrations, holiday feasts, and dances organized for entertainment at the forts.
Familiar with cowboy culture, I found less that was new to me in the "Cow Country" chapter, but Dary provides a snapshot of this extensive subject that represents it fairly. His speculations on the rise and evolution of singing cowboys, particularly on the cattle drives, is interesting. Snippets of song lyrics help to illustrate this oral tradition.
The book's many photographs and illustrations complement the text well, although the limitations of early photography often required subjects to be stiffly posed. The physical spontaneity that's an essential part of many forms of pleasure eludes the camera. Thus, for instance, there are numerous photos of men playing cards. Altogether the book represents a heroic effort to assemble a picture of a vast subject. The value of this book is less in the overall generalities and more in the specific details, especially in the excerpts from journals and other documents where pleasures taken are vividly described.
Organized by chapter somewhat roughly by social groups (mountain men, Indians, emigrants, soldiers, cowboys), locations (along rivers, along railroads, in mining areas), and regions (Southwest, Northwest), the book imposes a kind of order over a vast encyclopedia of loosely related information. There's no grand theme, thesis or narrative holding it all together, so casual readers can dip into the book wherever impulse takes them without getting lost.
I particularly liked the chapter on soldiers, which briefly summarizes the campaigns of the Army of the West and the establishing of forts during the 19th century. Because the focus is on the passing of time between the waging of war (against Mexico, against the Indians), we get a different picture of military life than is the norm in history books. I enjoyed the accounts taken from the journals of soldiers and officers' wives of simple pleasures taken in the pristine wilderness of the prairie and of social events like theatricals, concerts, Fourth of July celebrations, holiday feasts, and dances organized for entertainment at the forts.
Familiar with cowboy culture, I found less that was new to me in the "Cow Country" chapter, but Dary provides a snapshot of this extensive subject that represents it fairly. His speculations on the rise and evolution of singing cowboys, particularly on the cattle drives, is interesting. Snippets of song lyrics help to illustrate this oral tradition.
The book's many photographs and illustrations complement the text well, although the limitations of early photography often required subjects to be stiffly posed. The physical spontaneity that's an essential part of many forms of pleasure eludes the camera. Thus, for instance, there are numerous photos of men playing cards. Altogether the book represents a heroic effort to assemble a picture of a vast subject. The value of this book is less in the overall generalities and more in the specific details, especially in the excerpts from journals and other documents where pleasures taken are vividly described.
April 19, 2022
If you’re into this time period it’s a must read. It really gets you to the “what was life really like”, and all your past lives will ache with nostalgia.
April 17, 2015
Entertaining!
Favorite quote:
"As many western towns grew into cities during the early twentieth century...new diversions emerged...People began to find pleasure in watching and listening instead of participating."
Favorite quote:
"As many western towns grew into cities during the early twentieth century...new diversions emerged...People began to find pleasure in watching and listening instead of participating."
May 13, 2014
Interesting look at finding the fun in what could've been an otherwise harsh existence.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews