About the Book:

Born in rural Ohio in 1860, Annie Moses rose from poverty to become Annie Oakley, the diminutive star of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show who could outshoot any man. She comes fully to life in this rousing biography by Walter Havighurst, the respected historian of the Old Northwest. In her probing introduction to this Bison Book edition, Christine Bold considers the striking incongruities, the symbolic meanings, of Annie Oakley’s life and career.

Book Review:  ★★★★★★

This is one of those books that I came across through one of the book clubs that I belong to.  It was selected by a very precocious 9 year old that is very advanced for her age!  When it was first suggested that she wanted to read a book about Annie Oakley I hesitated.  Not for any particular reason, other than this is a person that I had never really had any interest in studying.But that is the point of book clubs, to explore different types of books, and topics that you would normally not explore yourself.

That said, I am really glad that her mother came across this book.  When you belong to a book club that has a 9 year old in it, you have to be very cautious, and selective about some of the things that you read.  It is hard to find books that don’t have excessive language, sex, violence, or are written beyond that level of comprehension.  Not that I am trying to be a prude, or even trying to be overly zealous or clean.  But this is a topic that I have heard some suggestions about Annie Oakley, mainly that her lifestyle may have been more involved with other things besides guns.

This book provided an excellent reading opportunity.  Not only did it present a great story about the American West, but it also presented the story of a young girl that made her life, happily in a most unusual means.  Her ability with guns was rivaled only by her ability to sew, and create her own costumes.

It is also and interesting look into the life of a woman who refused to live her life within the confining structure that society dictated that she should.  Annie Oakley was not afraid to be herself, and to explore what it meant to be a woman, and still be able to hold her own in a man’s world.  It was refreshing to read about a woman that made her living in a man’s world — as a man would, but was still able to keep her femininity in tact.  She wasn’t afraid to be herself, and to share that self with others.

This book gives the reader a great insight into this paradox of a woman.  If I had one complaint about the book it would be that it tended to focus on the Buffalo Bill Cody Wild West Show, more than that of Annie Oakley herself.  But I don’t think this was a deliberate ploy of the author’s.  I honestly think, after doing a little more looking into the history of Annie Oakley, that she was a very private person, and that she allowed her persona to be her public life — so that she could keep her private life private.

I also found the background story of the Buffalo Bill Cody show an interesting look into not only the rise of vaudeville, and circuses in America — but it presented an interesting look into the early development of public entertainment in America.  This was an act that started out broke, or nearly so — and managed to make it big by providing something that was the stuff of legends and dreams.  It also, in my opinion, laid the ground work for what would develop into the American love affair with entertainment as a whole.  It was more than a means of escapism.  It was a means of experiencing a life outside of what the audience would consider their typical lives.  It is the means of millions of Americans, and eventually world wide, of exploring what it meant to live another kind of life — in a foreign, and sometimes hostile environment.  It was the safe method of experiencing danger.  This was the beginnings of the American dream of living beyond the here and now — and the passion that we have for being entertained in all that we do.

I really enjoyed reading this book, and I would recommend it as an easy, and enjoyable biography.

Tags: America, Biography, Friendship, History, Non-Fiction

Category: Biography/Autobiography, History, Non-Fiction