In Search of the American Cowboy

Perhaps one of the most romanticized images in America at the turn of the century is that of the Wild West. One of the most celebrated images of the Wild West was that of the cowboy, America's defender of the frontier. The American cowboy became a figure of construction by businessmen and literature, and in recent years, a figure of reconstruction by modern historians. The businessmen and literature presented a highly glamorized view of the American cowboy that encouraged growth in the cattle industry and on the newly built railroads, and fed the imaginations of Americans. In attempts to disarm the inaccuracies of these cowboy myths, modern historians have emphasized the more dreary and difficult aspects of the cowboy's life. Although both sides draw on factual evidence, there is evidence of myth-making in both presentations.…