From Davy Crockett, Wild Bill Hickok, and Calamity Jane to Paul Bunyan,
Pecos Bill, and Frank and Jesse James, here are more than 130 colorful
stories of the pioneers, cowboys, outlaws, gamblers, prospectors, and
lawmen who settled the wild west, creating a uniquely American hero and
an enduringly fascinating folk mythology.
In this wonderfully boisterous treasury of tall tales, everyone and
everything is larger than life and bragging is elevated into an art
form. Many of these stories are of real people and real events; more
than a few, however, grew taller and funnier as they made their rounds
from wagon train to campfire to rodeo to miners' quarters. But even if
it is far from established that Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett were able
to kill three men with one bullet or subdue ferocious grizzly bears with
their fists, they come vividly to life here as beloved characters who
have become part of the fabric of the American imagination.
With black-and white illustrations throughout
Part of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library