When Calamity Jane and the Lady Wildcats was first published in 1927, Thomas Beer, with tongue in cheek if not in check, noted the book's underlying theory: "The women of the pioneer epoch--say, from 1840 to 1890--had their feet planted on a resonant drum of man's sexual necessity. They could choose the measure of the dance and the amount of noise to be exacted from creatures in a state of animal tension. Wifehood, polyandry, and an excused rapacity were open to the shrewd." Arguments and assents to that theory aside, Aikman's book is still good fun. Our fascination with Calamity Jane has, if...

Deadwood, South Dakota, has been a source of American legend for over one hundred years. European exploration, Indian wars, gold booms and busts, presidential visits, frontier shootouts, and the natural beauty of the surrounding Black Hills have all captured the imagination of Americans and foreigners. Deadwood: The Golden Years recreates the town that assimilated all that its geography, gold, natural disasters, and the extremes of human behavior could throw in its way. Deadwood was a microcosm of the American frontier and the gold rush town. This history of Deadwood emphasizes its...