Rodeo Queens: And the American Dream - Softcover

Burbick, Joan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1586482041 ISBN 13: 9781586482046

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2004

Synopsis

Rodeo has always been considered a supremely masculine sport, a rough and tumble display of macho strength and skill. But author Joan Burbick shows us the other side of rodeo: the world of rodeo queens--part cowgirl and part pageant princess--who wave and smile and keep the dream of the ideal Western woman alive.

So who are the women behind the candy-red chaps, Farrah Fawcett curls, and rhinestone tiaras? Burbick traveled the backroads of the rural West for years, trying to find out. She interviewed dozens of queens, including rodeo royalty from the 1930s and 40s, women who grew up breaking wild horses, branding calves, and witnessing the sad decline of the ranching life. Stories from white and Native American rodeo queens in the 1950s and 1960s, the golden age of rodeo, reveal the conflicts over gender and race that shaped the rodeo and the Cold War politics of small Western towns. Finally, rodeo queens from the 1970s to the present describe a more fiercely commercial rodeo, driven largely by TV-ratings and sponsorships, glitter and hairspray.

Illustrated throughout with wonderful photographs, this rich tapestry of women's voices echoes and challenges our clichés of the rural West. Their combined stories of fulfilled dreams and lost hopes reveal the tenacity of the myth of the American West, a place of muscled men, golden-haired women, relentless beauty and tragic limits.

About this title

About the Author:

Joan Burbick teaches American Studies at Washington State University. Born in Chicago, she has lived in the Palouse region of northern Idaho and eastern Washington for the last twenty years, writing, raising a family, and, in her free time, working with horses.

Review:

"...combines a native's understanding of the territory with an outsider's skepticism." -- Hartford Courant, November 10, 2002

"A wonderful souvenir of a rural and urban spectator sport...an invaluable collection of memories from [Western] women." -- Bookpage, October 2002

"In the testosterone-tossed world of rodeo, Burbick serves up a delectable slice of Americana, illuminating the world of rodeo queens." -- Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 24, 2002

"[Burbick's] intriguing book shows how changes in the role of rodeo queen have reflected changes in...the American West." -- Dallas Morning News, January 3, 2003.

"[Burbick] turns a stereotype into individuals and portrays them sympathetically, avoiding feminist cant. The result is fresh." -- Seattle Times, September 10, 2002

"[What's] interesting...is the historical framework-political, economic, social and cultural-that Burbick builds around the women's stories." -- The Oregonian, November 10, 2002

"a sympathetic treatment...Both feminists and rodeo enthusiasts will have to reckon with this illuminating book." -- Choice, May 2003.

"delightful... From contestants to queens, these remarkable women and their life stories are exciting and heartwarming. A true treasure." -- True West, August/September 2003.

"what it's like to be a woman in farm country,... an ultimately tough situation that strains typical notions of feminism." -- Salt Lake Tribune, August 10, 2003.

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1586482041
• ISBN 13: 9781586482046
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256