Rodeo Queens and the American Dream

by Joan Burbick

Uses stories and interviews to provide a glimpse into the history and lives of past and present "sweethearts of the rodeo."

Genres: Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Petra X · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent read. A really fascinating look at an American subculture that explores some of the more unknown facets of racism - the desire of Native American women to also be Rodeo Queens. Their non-acceptance for the most part by the white majority led them to establish their own competitions.

Interviewed, mostly years later, these rodeo queens of all colours and flavours, come across as a set of strong, lovely women and the rodeo queen circuit with its mixture of skill, beauty and yeeha!-ness sounds like great fun.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting the book I was prepared for a world of glitz and glamour. The story of Rodeo Queens over the ages. But what I got was so much more.

Rodeo Queens and the American Dream offers insight into the 'real' American West and the rodeo world of today and yesterday, from the perspective of women who lived it. However, the role rodeo played is different for each queen, and there are definite changes over time.

Burbick's account brings reality to a head. The West and the rodeo are not one and the same, as they're often portrayed to be. Yet, in today's highly commericialized rodeoing world that pepetuates the myth of idyllic American West living and strong moral values, there's really no connection to that hertiage of earlier queens.

Being a rodeo queen is hard work, it's demanding, and certainly requires skill.

In the early days women were crowned on merit--horsemanship and real experience were key. As promoters of rodeo, sales naturally played a role as well. But as times pressed on and rodeo faced it's death, the money aspect took over. Today, being a rodeo queen is probably more closely related to being Miss America than being an actual cowgirl.

Tens of thousands of dollars are fed into outfits, training and travel. Ticket sales play a huge part in the election process. Many girls aren't even raised with horses, but instead learn to ride and interact with the queens' animal of choice.

Overall, I thorougly enjoyed Joan Burbick's book. It raises important environmental and political issues, all through the interesting and enchanting tales of various rodeo queens.

[Sara C · Rating 5 out of 5]

biographies/interviews of several women who were rodeo queens mainly back in the 50's as I recall. Read this book at WSU for a class on literature of the American West. This class/book investigated the myths of the American West and tried to contextualize it with the harsh realities of living in the West. Joan Burbick was a professor at WSU and retired shortly after I read this book.

[Harron68 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's my fault for expecting too much from the book. I give it 3 stars for how it, like rodeos, and sports in general, have all gone the way of big business and the dominate (W.A.S.P.) culture. Back in small NW towns in the '40s, becoming a rodeo queen was about being pretty AND having some riding skills. Many towns used the rodeos as money-making enterprises funded by the city town fathers (big ranchers and local businesses) who took the opportunity to have queens and court princesses elected as much by how many tickets to the rodeos they could sell as for beauty, personality and riding skills. In those days only the young women from powerful town fathers, who already had begun the competition for their "girls" victories funded with big bucks, needed to apply.
The author parallels the "white girls only" queens with Native American queen contests. Rarely did they or the powwows combine with the official rodeo celebrations. Rarely did they mix.
One of the strongest elements of the evolution of the rodeo queen selections was how the tenor of the times didn't much influence rodeos or the queen contests. Only in fashion, hair and outfits was influence strong. Attendance did wane with the Vietnam decade and after and didn't recover until Hollywood rediscovered the West with films and the Reagan years.
The interviews of the first few in the book (from the '40s) were the most interesting and authentic in how queens reflected something of contestant beauty and ranch life. As the years and former queens become nearer to our times, the falseness of rodeos and the images of the queens are more clear. The long time it took for women's barrel racing to be part of the festivities again shows the macho male dominance of the western culture.
The coming of the "professional circuit" with its big bucks, huge corporate sponsorship, outsider competitors and costs moved rodeo and rodeo queens to an extreme nature far from local rodeos. A shame, but we see it and the spend-big-bucks ways in all sports and in American life over time.
The book becomes depressing, but it is a true look at rodeos and how far removed they are from the always hard life of ranchers, especially for the little guys. Three stars and a rhinestone or two!

[Kallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Burbick talks to former rodeo queens and present day contestants about this iconic Western America tradition, and researches newspaper archives. In doing so she exposes the myth of the west and how that is so tied to what being American is supposed to mean. There is no room for diversity, in this myth, grown increasingly separate from the ranching way of life as that way of life disappeared. Though the early queens actually rode the countryside where they lived, on horses that worked cattle, present-day would-be rodeo queens do not have that experience. Their pursuit of the title is more about becoming a public, promotional figure and a stepping stone to corporate success. But then, as Burbick writes, that boosterism aspect of rodeo is also historic and began with Wild West Shows that totally misrepresented the conflict between Native Americans and white expansion. In those shows, it was the righteously honorable white people who faced impossible odds and won against merciless savages. This attitude -- one of racism and "you know what I mean" ethics as the only true American way, prevails in western conservatism to this day. And it is not an attitude that accepts ethnic diversity or diversity of roles for men and women. The Rodeo Queen's original role? To promote a virtuously western image, add a gloss of pretty, smiling innocence to the rough, tough, cussing cowboy world. There is the "right way" this worldview promotes, and every other way that is wrong and threatens the 'real America.'
SPOILER:
It is no wonder that this study, begun with such enthusiasm and admiration interviewing women who grew up ranching and riding -- women who at least were real horsewomen -- ends on a disillusioned note, at the Miss Rodeo America pageant in a totally unreal Las Vegas, U.S.A.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book looks at rodeo queens of the rural American West and their changing role over the decades. Starting off as a hard-working and hard-riding lady of the ring, who's skills with a horse were all-important, the rodeo queen has devolved into a gaudy show pony who's main qualification is her ability to sell sell sell. I liked this book, but it made me sad.

[Suzie Quint · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first 200 pages of this were very interesting, but then the author got on her soap box and inserted herself and it was no hard task to know that she thought the rodeo circuit had become a money-grubbing pageant that had nothing to do with anything, and everything from there on was about slamming the rodeo.

[HeavyReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a really interesting read. I didn't know anything about this topic before reading this book, so it was a good learning opportunity for me. Accessible and easy to read.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot from this book written by a Washington State history professor. It also had a great bibliography at the end.