Choice Review

Between the 1880s and the 1930s, Wild West shows provided entertainment in the US and in Europe. Moses examines the contradiction between condemnation of the shows as wholly exploitative and Native Americans' more generous views of their experiences. Buffalo Bill Cody was the best known of the "showmen," taking his troupe to London, Paris, and Rome, but increasingly other shows traveled throughout the country. In 1893 the Columbian Exposition opened in Chicago. The exhibition in the Anthropological Building was designed to provide a scientific portrayal of Indians; Cody's show was not up to those standards. However, it was the "Show Indians" whose images endured. Indian self-portrayals as icons of the West continued to thwart assimilationist efforts, and the celebration of warfare countered reformers' views that Indians were abandoning their "savage" ways. As time went on, the business part of the shows became more unsavory as the numbers of performers increased and the competition among companies became stiffer. Although the new entrepreneurs did not treat Indians in the positive way that had been established by Cody, in the end the shows "blended reality and legend, past and present," and Moses does not see "Show Indians" as pawns or victims. He argues that the Indians generally earned a good living and enjoyed recreating their history. Moses looks "behind the scenes" in his analysis of this entertainment enterprise that dominated popular culture about the West for nearly 50 years. Well documented; useful bibliography. All levels. G. M. Bataille University of California, Santa Barbara