In this fascinating book Monica Rico explores the myth of the American West in the nineteenth century as a place for men to assert their masculinity by "roughing it" in the wilderness and reveals how this myth played out in a transatlantic context. Rico uncovers the networks of elite men--British and American--who circulated between the West and the metropoles of London and New York.

Each chapter tells the story of an individual who, by traveling these transatlantic paths, sought to resolve anxieties about class, gender, and empire in an era of profound economic and social...