He Was Some Kind of a Man: Masculinities in the B Western explores the
construction and representation of masculinity in low-budget western
movies made from the 1930s to the early 1950s. These films contained
some of the mid-twentieth-century's most familiar names, especially for
youngsters: cowboys such as Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, and Red Ryder.
The first serious study of a body of films that was central to the youth
of two generations, He Was Some Kind of a Man combines the author's
childhood fascination with this genre with an interdisciplinary
scholarly exploration of the films influence on modern views of
masculinity.
McGillis argues that the masculinity offered by these films is less
one-dimensional than it is plural, perhaps contrary to expectations.
Their deeply conservative values are edged with transgressive desire,
and they construct a male figure who does not fit into binary
categories, such as insider/outsider or masculine/feminine. Particularly
relevant is the author's discussion of George W. Bush as a cowboy and
how his aspirations to cowboy ideals continue to shape American policy.
This engagingly written book will appeal to the general reader
interested in film, westerns, and contemporary culture as well as to
scholars in film studies, gender studies, children's literature, and
auto/biography.