Across the Great Divide: Cultures of Manhood in the American West

by Matthew Basso, Laura McCall, Dee Garceau

Overview

In Across the Great Divide, some of our leading historians look to both the history of masculinity in the West and to the ways that this experience has been represented in movies, popular music, dimestore novels, and folklore.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415924719
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/11/2001
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	318
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Matthew Basso is a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at the University of Minnesota.Laura McCall is Associate Professor of History at Metropolitan State College in Denver, and a co-editor of A Shared Experience: Men, Women, and the History of Gender. Dee Garceau is Assistant Professor of History at Rhodes College and the author of The Important Things in Life: Women, Work & Family in Wyoming.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS Introduction Laura McCall 'Tell Me With Whim You Walk and I will Tell you Who You Are':Honor and Virtue in Eighteenth-Century Colonial Mexico Ramon A. Gutierrez Bulls, Bears and Dancing Boys:Race, Gender and Leisure in California Goldrush Susan Lee Johnson Manly Gamblles:The Politics of Risk on the Comstock Lode, 1860-1880 Guther Peck Cool to the End: Public Hangings and Western Manhood Durwood Ball White Men, Red Masks: Appropriations of Indian Manhood in Imagined Wests David Anthony(Tyee-me)Clark and Joane Nagel A Distinction and Antagonistic Race: Constructions of Chinese Manhood in the Inclusion Debates, 1869-1878 Karen Leong Nomads, Bunkies, Cross-Dressers, and Family Me: Coyboy Identity and the Gendering of Ranch Work Dee Garceau Domesticated Bliss: Ranchers and Their Animals Karen Merrill Man-Power: Montana Copper Workers, State Authority, and the (Re)Drafting of Manhood in World War II Matthew Basso On The Road: Cassady, Kerouac, and Images of Late Western Masculinity Craig Leavitt 'All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes':The Utilization of Cowboy-Hero Image in Contemporary Asian American Literature Steven Lee 'I guess your warrior look dosen't work every time': Challenging Indian Masculinity in the Cinema Brian Klopotek Tex-Sex-Mex: American: American Identities, Lone Star, and the Politics of Radicalized Sexuality Jose Limon

Editorial Reviews

"...the collection offers scholars of gender studies and the West a benchmark for future work...[an] important contribution to a broader understanding of the history of gender in the West." — Journal of Interdisciplinary History
"Provocative, engaging and masterful, Across the Great Divide is simply superb. Bringing together essays from distinguished scholars and rising stars, this benchmark collection is an exciting contribution to the study of gender, one that will be read and discussed for years to come." — Vicki Ruiz, Arizona State University
"This path-breaking collection of the best new scholarship on manhood in the American West takes us a refreshing distance across the great divide between myth and history. For anyone who finds real men more interesting than desperados and the Marlboro Man, Across the Great Divide will be an engrossing read." — Elizabeth Jameson, University of Calgary
"These essays make an important contribution to our understanding of how masculinity was constructed and contested in the American West, a process that contributed to a national construction of gender that linked racism, nationalism, and masculinity in complex ways." — Theda Perdue, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
"In this expansive and path-breaking collection, western manhood escapes from all stereotypes. Brilliant essays offer fresh insights into the meanings of manhood for a wide range of westerners from diverse class, ethnic and racial backgrounds. Across the Great Divide examines several great divides: male/female, white/non-white, working class/middle class, east/west. The book is a must for anyone interested in gender, diversity, the west-and great stories." — Elaine Tyler May, University of Minnesota
"Useful insights in this publication." — American Historical Review
"I hope this fine volume will inspire further scholarship and additional collections of accessible essays... (an) important contribution to a broader understanding of the history of gender in the West." — American Studies

From the Publisher

Historians and anthropologists examine the gender systems, analyses of masculinity, and revisionist scholarship in western US history. The topics include honor and virtue in 18th-century colonial New Mexico, the politics of risk on the Comstock Lode from 1860 to 1880, public hangings, constructions of Chinese manhood in the exclusionist debates of 1869-78, ranchers and their animals, the utilization of the cowboy- hero image in contemporary Asian-American literature, and challenging Indian masculinity in the cinema. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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