Book Description
Forget Doris Day singing on the stagecoach. Forget Robin Weigert's gritty portrayal on HBO's Deadwood. The real Calamity Jane was someone the likes of whom you've never encountered. That is, until now.

This book is a definitive biography of Martha Canary, the woman popularly known as Calamity Jane. Written by one of today's foremost authorities on this notorious character, it is a meticulously researched account of how an alcoholic prostitute was transformed into a Wild West heroine.

Always on the move across the northern plains, Martha was more camp follower than the scout of legend. A mother of two, she often found employment as waitress, laundress, or dance hall girl and was more likely to be wearing a dress than buckskin. But she was hard to ignore when she'd had a few drinks, and she exploited the aura of fame that dime novels created around her, even selling her autobiography and photos to tourists.

Gun toting, swearing, hard drinking--Calamity Jane was all of these, to be sure. But whatever her flaws or foibles, James D. McLaird paints a compelling portrait of an unconventional woman who more than once turned the tables on those who sought to condemn or patronize her. He also includes dozens of photos--many never before seen--depicting Jane in her many guises. His book is a long-awaited biography of Martha Canary and the last word on Calamity Jane. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Self-Made Calamity
Though it's not mentioned in this biography, it's worth noting that cowboy artist C.M. Russell, who was more or less Calamity's contemporary, and who shared at least one mutual friend, cowboy Teddy Blue Abbott, never painted nor even mentioned Calamity in any of his artwork, stories, or recollections. It was Russell who wrote, "The worst old timer I every knew, looks dam good to me." James McLaird's painstaking new book suggests that perhaps Russell didn't find Calamity scandalous but dull.

Martha Jane Canary / Calamity Jane was, in her childhood and adolescent years, an example of resourcefulness and grit. She survived a broken home, neglect, and abandonment. That she survived at all, much less as a camp follower who chanced to visit some famous camps, would be enough to earn her a footnote in history books. Had she never returned to Deadwood after her first visit, she'd probably have some polite mention in the town's history. When she came back a second time, she was an item of nostalgia; but when she returned a third time, she was a nuisance and embarrassment.

James McLaird has done nothing less than a phenomenal job, and possibly a thankless one. He sifted and sorted through every book, article, memoir, and dime novel that might make mention of Calamity in order to establish just who she was and how much of her legend had any basis in fact. And the truth is neither flattering nor thrilling. If Calamity has anything to be memorialized for, apart from occasional nursing duties, it would be her travels. When not following the U.S. Cavalry into the Black Hills, she followed the railroad as it pushed its way across the West. She hobnobbed with Wild Bill Hickock, but probably never shared a bed with him. She was nowhere near General Custer and the 7th Cavalry when they encountered Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. She tended bars, drove wagons, whored, drank, and fought till she was asked to leave town, and might have continued to do so comfortably if she hadn't become a celebrity. Behind her dime novelesque façade, she was a bitter alcoholic, aging prematurely and sinking toward an early death in her late 40s.

McLaird paints as sympathetic a portrait as he can. Calamity fell victim both to herself and the legend she engendered. Some years after her death, she was exploited again by Jean McCormick, a con artist who fabricated an elaborate and clumsy hoax to "prove" she was the daughter of Calamity and Wild Bill Hickock. McLaird commendably restrains his sarcasm and lets irony speak for itself. The McCormick ruse not only found believers in the 1940s, but continues to have adherents in these days of "Deadwood."

The Most Thorough, Reliable Information on Calamity Jane
In the past 20 years I've read a lot of information on Calamity Jane, and James Mclaird's book is the most reliable, well-researched book on the subject of this woman. Most of the information floating around about her is false, and Mclaird painstakingly dissects myth from fact, including how each myth or rumor was started in the first place. Since reading Calamity Jane:The Woman And The Legend, I feel like a pseudo-expert on her myself, and can easily spot misinformation and poor research whenever I see it in other publications. I highly recommend this read for Old West enthusiasts, students who are looking for a topic, and anyone interested in what a genuinely thorough biography is supposed to be. If you're considering another source on her life other than this one, don't bother because it's probably a jumble of misinformation. This book is the only way to go.

Worth Reading
An interesting review of Jane's life. Well written, this book shows the real Calamity Jane not just the Dime Novel Legend. Make no mistake, Jane lived a hard life, but her story is well worth your time to read.

Decent Biography of a Western Myth
This well researched and documented biography of Mary Canary a.k.a. Calamity Jane (1856-1903) lifts the veil behind a Western myth.The real Calamity Jane really did have a calamitous life.She spent most of her life in the roughest spots - as a military camp follower, in rough and tumble mining towns, and in the ever raucous and short lived railroad junction towns springing up as the tracks were laid across the country.She made her living as a dance hall girl, prostitute, laundress, cook, Madame, and similar pursuits.She was a life long alcoholic and was clearly dissipated at an early age.Later in life, some ways, she lived off the kindness of others or cashed in on her unearned fame as a frontier hero.

McLaird does a good job of uncovering the real Calamity Jane and explaining how her myth was built up through Western dime novels and newspaper reporters, thirsty for good stories.For example, stories about Calamity the camp follower turned into her being a scout for the army.As her legend grew, the stories became even more farcical.Later in life Calamity cashed in on these stories to garner sympathy and support from others.But ultimately she died young, most likely simply from alcoholism.

The downfall to this biography is twofold.First, the author could have cited other writers that discuss the process of Western myth building and incorporated that into his thesis.Secondly, the prose is very matter of fact and rather bland.I found the topic fascinating but the writing style a bit boring, so at times the biography gets a little tedious and academic.

Nevertheless, it does offer another solid academic work on Western myth building, with Calamity Jane maybe the biggest farce of them all.

Packed with depth and detail on known facts and you won't find a better coverage elsewhere
Calamity Jane is a major figure in Western history so it's not surprising numerous titles have been written about her previously: what is surprising is that Calamity Jane: The Woman And The Legend has so much new material to reveal. Here's the definitive biography of one Martha Canary, written by one of the best modern authorities and packed with meticulous research. McLaird had to study conflicting accounts of her life and adventures to arrive at the truth: Calamity Jane comes packed with depth and detail on known facts and you won't find a better coverage elsewhere.
... Read more

Book Description
Who was Calamity Jane? Simply a legend created by a popular novelist? Or did Calamity Jane, born Martha Jane Cannary, really live the life she claimed? Doris Faber sorts out fact from fiction to tell the true story of a remarkable American woman who was part of the legend that celebrated the freedom and adventure of the West. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Readers review
The book contains very interesting photographs. However, it provides very limited information on Calamity Jane herself. Just the basics regarding her life are discussed. I think the book is too expensive for what it is offering. ... Read more

Book Description
Stories about Calamity Jane have fascinated readers forgenerations.This book, one of the first authoritative factualsources, separates the mythical, romanticized Calamity depicted in dimenovels and Hollywood films from the real, flesh-and-blood woman.Afterthirty-five years, it is back in print with new scholarship to place itin historical perspective and re-examine the legend. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Scholarship suffers from extreme prejudice
History is full of contradictions and ironies. This book is one of them.

How else can you explain how the one book historians claim is the most historically authentic Calamity Jane narrative, appears to have been written by the one scholar who despises her the most?

After years of exhaustive scholarly research, what does Roberta Beed Sollid have to say about Calamity Jane? In the introduction, Ms. Sollid calls..."the much publiciz-ed Calamity Jane, a well-meaning but good-for-nothing frontierswoman."

And, Calamity Jane is not the only one insulted in this book. A number of individuals and whole categories of human beings are described in negative terms. Even tourists visting the historic town of Deadwood, South Dakota, are described as "gullible".

Now, I do not mind that Ms. Sollid attempts to debunk the Calamity Jane myth and bring the real life of Martha Jane Cannary into the light of history. She does give the world new primary source material from her interviews of Deadwood citizens, and overall, she collects a considerable amount of authentic material.

But, Ms. Sollid cannot seem to keep her negative feelings out of what should have been a scholarly work, and I believe that this predjudices the text in both content and conclusion. Calamity Jane deserves better.

Dated De-Mythologizing
In 1949 when this work was being researched, it was a major focus for historians of the American West to correct the exaggerated romantic legends that had grown up around many memorable frontier figures.In our skeptical day and age that focus is far less helpful.Roberta Sollid did an excellent job of debunking the many unsubstantiated stories that surround "Calamity Jane".Unfortunately, this work totally fails to help us understand the real person and how she came to survive as a frontier woman who frequently fulfilled roles usually reserved for men.

Interesting Factual Investigation
This was a source for my term paper in college. The author is somewhat confusing as she consistently identifies several lies about Calamity Jane before telling the facts. Some of the time I couldn't figure out if what she was currently discussing was fact or fiction. However, after sorting through her analysis I was able to put together an exceptional list of facts that lead to an A on the paper. I would recommend this as a reference tool because it is the one book on Jane that I have found to actually assist in disproving the fictions of her life.

The amazing truth behind hollywood myth of Calamity Jane.
It's a thrill to see this historic treasure back in print. I found the 1951 edition of Sollid's "historical criticisim" in the basement of my University in a cracked and brittle condition. After spendingmonthsof wading through the various versions of Calamity Jane's life here was afirst hand investigation into not only all the source material I had readbut also of jail records, court reports, newspaper archives and interviewswith Deadwood oldtimers who knew "Calam'". The term"historical criticisim" is somewhat misleading if it implies adull achedemic read. Sollid's passion for her subject leads her to boardthe bus in the summer of 1949 to visit numerous towns in Montana, SouthDakota and Wyoming where she searched local archives and interviewedtownsfolk ranging from Catholic nuns to the Deadwood bar-tender who waspallbearer at Calamity Jane's funeral. As Sollid progresses her scholarlytext begins to ignite. This book contains many photos of Calam' that I hadnever seen elsewhere, including a macabre photo given to Sollid by theundertakers' widow. This gem of a book cuts through the glamorisation ofCalamity Jane by Hollywood fake up artists and challenges the equallyabsurd sketches of her character by predominatelymale historians of the20th century. A wonderfull tribute to the memory of Martha Cannary Burkea.k.a. Calamity Jane. Discover the woman behind the myth. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

PORTRAITS OF WILD BILL


I have read all 8 books of this mini-series, and enjoyed each one.I have many books of non-fiction concerning Wild Bill on my shelves also. For me these fiction books are very enjoyable offering interesting views of Hickok both fictional and not as they meander along.

As of this writing, Leisure Books is getting ready April 1, 2008, to reprint the entire series, and that alone should give some indication of the past interest in this mini-series of a few years back.

It's too bad the other reviewer here did not see the value in this series, it is really an enjoyable read for one and all who enjoy western fiction.And few other real life personages from our western past has had more 'fiction' doled out about his life, many times under guise of 'non-fiction'.At least in Judd Cole's entertaining books it is correctly labeled fiction rather than fact.

Recommended series.And should any reader enjoy the CHEYENNE series from Judd Cole which preceded the Wild Bill series, be prepared to buy those, all 22, for Leisure is also republishing them beginning April 1st, 2008.

Coming soon to a bookstore near you, 'bookaroos'.

Semper Fi.

*DONT* WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY
The book " Dean Man's Hand " is a horrible book. The author puts way too many adjectives in the story. If you read it, you'll know what I mean. Every single sentence has like 5 or 6 adjectives. After a while, it gets boring to read. The only parts I like are when Joshua keeps annoying Wild Bill, the main character. One time, Wild Bill and Joshua went to meet a friend of Wild Bill. While they were going there, they found the girl who loves Wild Bill. She didn't know it was him because she hadn't seen him in years. So she was about to shoot him. I also DO NOT like how the author uses too many big words. Even though I know what they mean, it gets annoying to not just have simple words. She uses words that I have never heard and have to ask my dad. I think that's good, because it gives you a bigger vocabulary, but it gets frustrating that I have to put down my book and go ask my dad what it means. Do not waste your time or your money. It is a dull book that I would not reccomend to anyone. ... Read more

Book Description
Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Larry McMurtry rediscovered the myth of the Old West and gave it new life in books such as LONESOME DOVE and ANYTHING FOR BILLY. McMurtry once again looks to the Old West and brings to life the legendary Calamity Jane in BUFFALO GIRLS.

Calamity Jane is the West -- a larger than life figure, living in her friend Dora's cathouse in Miles City. Grown old and reclusive, she is content remembering the excitement of her past and relating it in letters to her daughter -- until old friend Buffalo Bill Cody and his Wild West Show come to town. Buffalo Bill makes Calamity an offer that she can't refuse -- a chance to relive her glory days.

"Calamity Jane is as real and as moving a heroine as Larry McMurtry has ever created." (Publisher's Source) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

buffalo girls
enjoyed this book because I like stories of the old west.Others may find it boring.Not half as good as lonesome dove.

A Wonderful Journey With Legends Of The West
This review refers to the Audio Cassette Book (Unabridged,Simon and Schuster)Edition of "Buffalo Girls" by Larry McMurtry and read by Betty Buckley. Reviews are mixed together. This audio book has the ISBN of :0671727818.

I found "Buffalo Girls" to be a most enjoyable listen. Although it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I loved the characters and hated to leave them when the book was finished. I liked it enough though, that somewhere down the line, I will listen to it again.

This novel interweaves famous historical figures, places and events with stories of great friendships and life at a time when the Wild West was becoming a bit more civilized. Calamity Jane, more subdued in her mid-life years, writes letters to her daughter Jane about her colorful life, pals and travels. Her friend Dora DuFran runs a brothel, but always has a room ready and waiting for her beloved Calamity. Their friendship is long and true. They consider themselves, probably the last of the "Buffalo Girls". Calamity also reminisces of her love for Wild Bill(dead for sometime now), adventures with traveling buddies, Jim Ragg (who's love for hunting beaver is his main focus on life),Bartle Bone and "No Ears" an old Indian with great foresight. Now all in their older years(and Calamity on a long drinking binge), they join up with Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull, and head to England on a great ship to perform in Cody's Wild West Show, the last great adventure of their lives.

I have always enjoyed stories of the Wild West and the legends that lived it. Calamity has been one of my favorites, and there have been so many different interpertations of this woman who defied the expectations of womanhood in the 19th century. Most recently I have come to love the Calamity on "Deadwood", and have a feeling, that that Jane comes closest to the real deal. If you have seen it , you know she is not exactly glorified. So when I first started listening to Betty Buckley, she seemed too feminine and too sweet to be Jane. I also was expecting a more adventurous storline. But I have to say, considering the fact the this Jane is older, maybe a litttle tired, and more reflective of life, that Miss Buckley was an excellent choice. And the storyline as well was one more of the love between these friends, and the strong bonds developed over the years.There are also some great touches of humor sure to bring a smile. As other have said, the ending is totally unexpected, but this is afterall a novel, and you wouldn't want it to be totally predictable.

There are 8 cassettes with a total running time of 12 hours to get completely involved with the characters and McMurtry takes you on a wonderfully descriptive trip back in time. The quality and sound is excellent, and I loved the Western folk songs and the lonesome cowboy harmonica playing at the end of each side.

So I would say if you are looking for an action-adventure packed type of Western, you should probably pass this one by. But if you love tales of these legendary, bigger then life figures, and want a new take on them, this book is perfect.

Saddle Up with Calamity Jane once more, Happy Trails, and enjoy the read....Laurie

The end of the frontier
We are in the last part of the 19th Century in this novel, and the Wild West has breathed its last. The book is peopled with real legends (Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill, Sitting Bull) and fictional curiosities (Jim Ragg and Bartle Bone - two Mountain Men, and No Ears - an Indian with exceptional eyesight). McMurtry relates a sad, elegiac farewell to times past. The ever-interesting characters and their views of the world, which are wise and funny and fascinating, make the novel top-notch in the McMurtry canon.

Calamity Jane And The End Of The Wild West Era
Once again Larry McMurtry delivers the goods in this tale of The Old West . We are introduced to Calamity Jane who spends a lot of time writing letters to her daughter by the light of a campfire. Calamity Jane joins a Western Touring Company and the sea voyage to America is particularly memorable. There is also another character worth mentioning, namely a Native American called No Ears who views the world in terms of deep philosophical thought. Towards the end of the book we see Calamity Jane lamenting her lost youth and sadly reflects on the Glory Days of the Old West that she was once a part of. Larry McMurtry has writen a fine novel with a real, believable female character which is something most writers in this genre are unable to accomplish.Another wondrous tale from a Master Of His Craft.

Not McMurtry's best, but fun to read anyway
McMurtry's "westerns" are usually big sprawling sages, brimming with great characters, over-flowing with plot developments, packed with humor and tragedy.They make you feel the openness of America's west.In such novels as Dead Man's Walk or The Berrybender Narratives, we get a sense of what the west was like just as white men began to explore it.We see it through the eyes of simple folk, usually, as well as through the Indians.We understand how each side views the other.We understand how cruel the land and circumstance can be.

Other books, such as Streets of Laredo, show the west as still wild but becoming ever more tame.The Indians are less and less of a threat, towns are growing, the "wild" people who inhabited the land are feeling cramped.The buffalo and beaver are gone.

BUFFALO GIRLS fits into the latter category.But the books I mentioned above are different in a couple of key ways.1)they are longer and more ambitious in scope, 2) paradoxically, the feel more controlled and unified in vision.BUFFALO GIRLS has a smaller cast than most McMurtry sagas, and the time frame covered (except for a hasty final couple of chapters) is fairly short.Yet by the end we feel as though we've kinda slopped all over the place.

Don't get me wrong, there is much to admire.Good characters (Calamity Jane is the "hero" of the book, but she often takes a back seat in the narrative, almost completely disappearing for chapters at a time) are here.Especially good is No Ears, the elderly Indian who remembers the old times and now has no real place among his own kind, so he hangs on with Jane and her male friends...old trappers, scouts and early settlers.He's well thoughout out, sympathetic and funny.We also have Dora DuFran, Jane's great friend who runs a saloon/brothel, and her long-time love,Blue, a man she shares great passions with, but can't get him to marry her.Another key character is Buffalo Bill.The book shows us how his famous show is put together, and paints Bill as a sympathic character.

The best part of the book comes in the middle.Jane and her friends, including No Ears, sign on to the Wild West show, and take an ocean voyage to England.Their experiences in England are terrific fun...well-written, imaginative and full of unexpected turns.There are some scenes at the London Zoo, of all places, that are lovely.

So, while the book has much to offer, it is also weighed down by a nearly constant state of sadness.All the characters are constantly thinking about their own deaths.Some DO die, of course, it wouldn't be a McMurtry book otherwise.But there's a mood of deep despair over the book, and while I admire McMurtry for creating this mood, it isn't always the most pleasant thing to endure.I found that unlike many of his other books, this one wasn't hard to put down.It's heavy going, because of the mood, and McMurtry's somewhat slopping pacing.When you're done, you feel like you've read a book twice as long.

I do recommend the book for fans of McMurtry.Even his lesser efforts are worthwhile.However, if you're new to McMurtry and want to try him...don't start here.Try the Lonesome Dove sage, preferably from the first book.You won't be sorry you did. ... Read more

Book Description
DEADWOOD, DAKOTA TERRITORIES, 1876: Legendary gunman Wild Bill Hickcock and his friend Charlie Utter have come to the Black Hills town of Deadwood fresh from Cheyenne, fleeing an ungrateful populace. Bill, aging and sick but still able to best any man in a fair gunfight, just wants to be left alone to drink and play cards. But in this town of played-out miners, bounty hunters, upstairs girls, Chinese immigrants, and various other entrepeneurs and miscreants, he finds himself pursued by a vicious sheriff, a perverse whore man bent on revenge, and a besotted Calamity Jane. Fueled by liquor, sex, and violence, this is the real wild west, unlike anything portrayed in the dime novels that first told its story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (24)

Enjoyed it...
The novel that the series was based on....without the language the series had to offer. Smooth read.

A Pleasant Surprise
I watched the Canadian History Channel's presentation of Deadwood last fall and became an instant fan. When my wife presented me with a copy of the 1986 novel I was immediately suspicious that this would be western pulp with no basis in history. Boy was I wrong! This novel could be sub-titled "The Charlie Utter Story". Charlie's colorful career is the vessel that carries you through this wonderful period of history; a history that's filled with comedy, tragedy, and always fascinating characters. Al Swearingen turns out to be somewhat more liberal in his sexual tastes than his HBO namesake. Handsome Dick, Bill's wife Agnes, Captain Jack, Pink Buford, the Bottle Fiend, the China Doll, the vile Boone May, and Sol Star's involvement in the great Deadwood fire could provide the basis for many new seasons of the HBO show.

Pete Dexter is a genius who has taken American histoy and turned it into one of the most entertaining books that I've read in the past year.

Deadwood
Pete Dexter's Deadwood hews closely to historical reality. The characters are there from the well-known Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane Cannary to the lesser known but vital Charlie Utter, Hickok's widow, Agnes Lake, the China Doll, and a host of others. The events are there from the murder of Hickok to the great Deadwood fire. Are the characters drawn accurately? It seems so - certainly more accurately than the HBO series of the same name (You won't find HBO's Al Swearengen in Dexter's pages).

Much of the book is taken up with tortured internal dialogues, especially of Hitchcock's buddy Charlie Utter. Many of the characters are at least half insane and in poor Jane's case, well over half. Cruelty is the rule not the exception. Dexter's `Deadwood' is an unhappy place.

By the way, according to a story from the Rapid City Journal newspaper posted on the web page `Deadwood Discovered, the HBO series is not based on Dexter's book and Dexter says he does not watch the show - his loss in my opinion.

Highly recommended.

Beautifully Written
I have read a few of Pete Dexter's books and after having watched HBO's version of "Deadwood," wanted to give this book a try.Let me make this perfectly clear: I do not like westerns as a genre, in film or in prose.

This book strays from HBO's interpretation (or vice versa) so please go into reading this with an open mind.There will be differences if you are familiar with the HBO series.The book is a standout for several reasons, but for brevity's sake I'll keep it...brief.The story telling and language are vivid.The humor is somewhat different and did have me laughing inappropriately-loud in public places.Most importantly, the book and its characters convey complex emotions and ideas with relatively simple language -- a characteristic unique amongst any previous books that I have read.A solid buy.

Not my cup of tea
Clearly a mesmerizing book, beautifully written, darkly comic, carefully put together. I'm not the right audience. First, I am a huge fan of the HBO series "Deadwood," loosely based on this novel, and so I was disappointed to find what liberties had been taken with the book. A word of warning to anyone standing in my shoes: The characters in the book do not have the redeeming qualities of those in the television series, and, while the prose of the book is vivid, the dialogue lacks the lushness of the television script.

Second, I just don't really like traditional "westerns," and for all the protests that this book is not typical, that's still its underlying genre. I'm especially put off by the sexual dynamics, which are at one and the same time overly sentimental and brutish. Too much talk of "peeders" for a girl like me. The frontier setting permits the reduction of human life and emotion to its barest bones, but doesn't make it any the more realistic.

An accomplished book, but all in all I found it a disappointment. My bad, as they say. ... Read more