Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Wanted, dead or alive! First hand accounts of the American West

oliver9184 · 05-09-2010, 05:10 AM

I'm looking for recommendations for some eyewitness accounts of what we call the "Wild West". These would ideally document frontier life in the states/territories roughly west of the Mississippi, from the Civil War up to the First World War, though earlier pioneering accounts are of interest. Mark Twain's Roughing It is a good example of what I'm looking for; something readable and hopefully not too dry and serious. Also of interest is anything that examines how and why the West has been romanticized and embedded in the popular consciousness over the last hundred years or so, that can hopefully illustrate the disparity between truth and legend. Thanks to anyone who can point me in the right direction. I've put this in the entertainment board as my interest in purely recreational.

05-09-2010, 05:10 AM	#1 (permalink)
oliver9184 Psycho	Wanted, dead or alive! First hand accounts of the American West I'm looking for recommendations for some eyewitness accounts of what we call the "Wild West". These would ideally document frontier life in the states/territories roughly west of the Mississippi, from the Civil War up to the First World War, though earlier pioneering accounts are of interest. Mark Twain's Roughing It is a good example of what I'm looking for; something readable and hopefully not too dry and serious. Also of interest is anything that examines how and why the West has been romanticized and embedded in the popular consciousness over the last hundred years or so, that can hopefully illustrate the disparity between truth and legend. Thanks to anyone who can point me in the right direction. I've put this in the entertainment board as my interest in purely recreational.