Wild Women of the Wild West (review)

Fifteen women who made a mark in the Old West—from household names like Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley, to the less widely recognized names like Paiute leader Sarah Winnemucca and entertainer Lotta Crabtree—step into the spotlight in this picture-book collection of brief biographies. Each entry is approximately a page in length, accompanied by a dignified portrait (most are based on photographs) and a more lighthearted pen sketch spilling over the border. Winter tries his derndest to whip up equal levels of excitement for each featured character, but it's not easy to make public speaker Mary Lease or philanthropist Nellie Cashman quite as enticing as monte dealer "La Tules" Barcelo or outlaw Belle Starr. Several of these ladies have actually been tamed quite a bit for this presentation, and readers who are interested enough to pursue additional research will readily discover that Winter has been holding out on some fascinating tidbits: Ms. Starr was shot from behind and killed, possibly by her own son, and performer Lola Montez was an oft-wedded and bedded European courtesan long before she trod the boards with her "spider dance" out West. It's still a browsable collection of colorful and notable ladies, though, and their variety makes a quiet point about the complexity of an era that was more than just rawhide and six-shooters. A bibliography is appended, as is a timeline that sets the featured women into the context of events in the West from 1848 through 1898.