Writing the Range: Race, Class, and Culture in the Women's West

Destroying the myth that women in the American West were merely the worried wives or saucy saloon singers portrayed in the movies, the 29 essays in this collection show that females played a vital role on the American frontier. The essays often have a critical aspect, making specific arguments about the role women played in the settling of the West, but what is perhaps most enlightening about the book are biographical sketches demonstrating that the some of the most remarkable people taming the frontier were women.