Overview

At every turn in the development of what we now know as the western, women writers have been instrumental in its formation. Yet the myth that the western is male-authored persists. Westerns: A Women's History debunks this myth once and for all by recovering the women writers of popular westerns who were active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the western genre as we now know it emerged. Victoria Lamont offers detailed studies of some of the many women who helped shape the western. Their novels bear the classic hallmarks of the western-cowboys, schoolmarms, gun violence, lynchings, cattle branding-while also placing female characters at the center of their western adventures and improvising with western conventions in surprising and ingenious ways. In Emma Ghent Curtis's The Administratrix a widow disguises herself as a cowboy and infiltrates the cowboy gang responsible for lynching her husband. Muriel Newhall's pulp serial character, Sheriff Minnie, comes to the rescue of a steady stream of defenseless female victims. B. M. Bower, Katharine Newlin Burt, and Frances McElrath use cattle branding as a metaphor for their feminist critiques of patriarchy. In addition to recovering the work of these and other women authors of popular westerns, Lamont uses original archival analysis of the western-fiction publishing scene to overturn the long-standing myth of the western as a male-dominated genre.

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9780803237629

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Reviews

Westerns does far more than add women and stir; it is a tremendous gift to scholarship, restoring women's contributions to American literary history and laying a more accurate and inclusive foundation for future work. -Jennifer S. Tuttle, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature Compelling. . . . A valuable read for all those interested in the intersections of gender and culture in early twentieth century America. -Michigan Historical Review Westerns: A Women's History is a readable excursion into female authors, their experiences, and their perspectives, within an important genre. In unmasking and then undoing female erasure from the beginnings of the American Western novel, Lamont makes important points and deftly defends them. Her book is enjoyable and significant. -Thomas E. Simmons, Journal of American Culture Westerns: A Women's History introduces a whole new set of woman authors and texts to be included in the study and teaching of Western American literature as well as a new and compelling origin narrative of the Western literary genre. -Randi Tanglen, English: Journal of the English Association In recovering legacies among western women writers, Lamont herself achieves major stature as a feminist scholar of the West. -Cathryn Halverson, Western American Literature Westerns is recommended reading not only for fans of classic Westerns and of feminist literary recovery, but indeed for all readers interested in the history of the American West and the origins of contemporary feminisms. -Emma Morgan-Thorp, Canadian Literature For more than a century, the mythic western cowboy has been consistently hypermasculine. Victoria Lamont's Westerns: A Women's History prods the boundaries of this image while debunking the myth that literary westerns were consistently written by men. -Cynthia Culver Prescott, South Dakota History Lamont's work rests upon an impressive amount of archival work in little-known ephemera. . . . [Westerns] introduces a new group of works that may be taught on courses focused on the West or inserted into other contexts and critical discussions, causing us to reorganize, question, and revise our existing frameworks. -Nicole Tonkovich, Legacy Westerns: A Women's History resurrects the work of well-known western women authors during an era when their stories of strong female characters in the frontier West enjoyed popular readership. -Renee M. Laegreid, Western Historical Quarterly Westerns: A Women's History proves to be an immense pleasure: an essential, revelatory rewriting of the early history of the western novel. -Scott Simmon, Pacific Historical Review Lamont has made the subject of the western important all over again. . . . As a piece of feminist recovery work, Lamont has reordered the scholarly record about a canonical national tradition. By definition this is a major work. -Krista Comer, author of Surfer Girls in the New World Order This book promises nothing less than to 'tell an alternative origin story of the popular western,' and it succeeds in spades. Through a series of brilliant readings, canny archival research, sheer wit, and even laugh-out-loud moments, Lamont decisively changes the face of women's westerns. In the process she makes her reader rethink not just the genealogy of popular westerns, but the gender, class, and race dynamics of the literary marketplace, early feminisms, and scholarly blind spots. . . . This book leads the way in that rethinking, with wit, flair, and deep persuasiveness. -Christine Bold, author of The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1880-1924

This book promises nothing less than to `tell an alternative origin story of the popular western,' and it succeeds in spades. Through a series of brilliant readings, canny archival research, sheer wit, and even laugh-out-loud moments, Lamont decisively changes the face of women's westerns. In the process she makes her reader rethink not just the genealogy of popular westerns, but the gender, class, and race dynamics of the literary marketplace, early feminisms, and scholarly blind spots. . . . This book leads the way in that rethinking, with wit, flair, and deep persuasiveness. -Christine Bold, author of The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1880-1924 -- Christine Bold Lamont has made the subject of the western important all over again. . . . As a piece of feminist recovery work, Lamont has reordered the scholarly record about a canonical national tradition. By definition this is a major work. -Krista Comer, author of Surfer Girls in the New World Order -- Krista Come In recovering legacies among western women writers, Lamont herself achieves major stature as a feminist scholar of the West. -Cathryn Halverson, Western American Literature -- Cathryn Halverson * Western American Literature * Westerns: A Women's History introduces a whole new set of woman authors and texts to be included in the study and teaching of Western American literature as well as a new and compelling origin narrative of the Western literary genre. -Randi Tanglen, English: Journal of the English Association -- Randi Tanglen * English: Journal of the English Association * Westerns: A Women's History is a readable excursion into female authors, their experiences, and their perspectives, within an important genre. In unmasking and then undoing female erasure from the beginnings of the American Western novel, Lamont makes important points and deftly defends them. Her book is enjoyable and significant. -Thomas E. Simmons, Journal of American Culture -- Thomas E. Simmons * Journal of American Culture * Compelling. . . . A valuable read for all those interested in the intersections of gender and culture in early twentieth century America. -Michigan Historical Review * Michigan Historical Review * Westerns does far more than add women and stir; it is a tremendous gift to scholarship, restoring women's contributions to American literary history and laying a more accurate and inclusive foundation for future work. -Jennifer S. Tuttle, Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature -- Jennifer S. Tuttle * Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature *

Lamont has made the subject of the western important all over again... As a piece of feminist recovery work, Lamont has reordered the scholarly record about a canonical national tradition. By definition this is a major work. -Krista Comer, author of Surfer Girls in the New World Order -- Krista Come This book promises nothing less than to 'tell an alternative origin story of the popular western,' and it succeeds in spades. Through a series of brilliant readings, canny archival research, sheer wit, and even laugh-out-loud moments, Lamont decisively changes the face of women's westerns. In the process she makes her reader rethink not just the genealogy of popular westerns, but the gender, class, and race dynamics of the literary marketplace, early feminisms, and scholarly blind spots... This book leads the way in that rethinking, with wit, flair, and deep persuasiveness. -Christine Bold, author of The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1880-1924 -- Christine Bold

This book promises nothing less than to tell an alternative origin story of the popular western, and it succeeds in spades. Through a series of brilliant readings, canny archival research, sheer wit, and even laugh-out-loud moments, Lamont decisively changes the face of women s westerns. In the process she makes her reader rethink not just the genealogy of popular westerns, but the gender, class, and race dynamics of the literary marketplace, early feminisms, and scholarly blind spots. . . . This book leads the way in that rethinking, with wit, flair, and deep persuasiveness. Christine Bold, author of The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1880 1924 --Christine Bold (09/15/2015)

Author Information

Victoria Lamont is a professor of English at the University of Waterloo. She is the author of The Bower Atmosphere: A Biography of B. M. Bower (Bison Books, 2024) and the coauthor of Judith Merril: A Critical Study.  

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