Show Town: Theater and Culture in the Pacific Northwest, 1890-1920

Like many western boomtowns at the turn of the twentieth century, Spokane, Washington, enjoyed a lively theatrical scene, ranging from plays, concerts, and operas to salacious variety and vaudeville shows. Yet even as Spokanites took pride in their city’s reputation as a “good show town,” the more genteel among them worried about its “Wild West” atmosphere. In Show Town, historian Holly George correlates the clash of tastes and sensibilities among Spokane’s theater patrons with a larger sh...