Buffalo Bill: Scout, Showman, Visionary

by Steve Friesen

William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was America’s first celebrity. He lived during a time of great geographic and technological expansion, a time when American mass media became dominant. Cody was there at every step, the right person at the right place at the right time. It was through those brilliant efforts that Cody the man became Buffalo Bill the celebrity and, eventually, Buffalo Bill the legend.

Buffalo Bill: Scout, Showman, Visionary stands apart from other historical tributes to Buffalo Bill’s life and times. Based upon the collection of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave, this book provides a new perspective on William F. Cody through a detailed look at his personal effects and memorabilia from his larger-than-life shows.

Steve Friesen is the director of the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave. Like Buffalo Bill, Friesen was raised in Kansas. He attended Bethel College in Newton, once characterized by Buffalo Bill as the wildest and wickedest town in the West. Friesen has a master’s degree in American folk culture from the State University of New York’s Cooperstown Graduate Program. He’s married to Monta Lee Dakin, whom he met at a national museum conference in Philadelphia. They married the following year and have two children.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography

166 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Mariangel]

A not too long but complete biography of Buffalo Bill, with many photos of himself and his items on display at the museum in Cody, Wyoming.

Daniel: El padre de Buffalo Bill quería que no hubiera esclavos en Kansas, y los esclavistas le apuñalaron. Buffalo Bill, cuando era más mayor, quiso hacer un show sobre el oeste, porque le gustaba mucho el oeste y las costumbres de los indios, porque el oeste que conoció toda su vida estaba desapareciendo. El show de Buffalo Bill tuvo mucho éxito en todo EEUU y en Europa. Pero mucha gente criticaba el show porque mostraba las costumbres indias y ellos querían que los indios fueran como ellos. Cuando Buffalo Bill ya estaba muerto, empezó una pelea por dónde debería estar enterrado. La mayoría de la familia quería que estuviera enterrado en Lookout Mountain, porque Buffalo Bill antes de morir, dijo que quería estar enterrado ahí. Los otros querían que le enterraran cerca de Cody, porque él fundó esa ciudad. Y ahora menos gente está protestando y en vez de eso han hecho dos museos, uno en Cody y otro en Lookout Mountain.

[Hanna]

Excellent simple, but comprehensive, overview of the life of William F "Buffalo Bill" Cody, with a great balance of photographs and biography. Indeed, it is almost as much of a pictorial history as it is a biography of Buffalo Bill's showman's life.

Details of Buffalo Bill's Wild West "shows" are heavy on the historical facts: they toured here, there, any everywhere at these times and during these years; they incorporated so-and-so and Bill had friendships with this person and that Indian. There are fewer details of what a show might entail, the programming schedule, and etc.--only general details of who participated, like Annie Oakley with her sharpshooting stunts.

The author, naturally, has an obvious bias/affection toward Buffalo Bill Cody, but he does not completely ignore the ignominious parts of Cody's personal life (though likely much of it is glossed over, which is not irrational, since the text is limited). His fractured marriage is addressed, but so is his close relationship to his foster son.

For a brief summary of one man giving the world a vision of the Wild West, this book is extremely well put-together and the photographs of numerous artifacts provide a wonderful visual of this part of American history.

[Brandy]

I bought this on vacation while we were at the Buffalo Bill Museum of the West in Cody, WY. It was a good account of his life with some nice pictures.

[PottWab Regional Library]

SM

[Paul Goebel]

Great images, good detail, interesting history!