{"product_id":"the-real-wild-west-the-101-ranch-and-the-creation-of-the-american-west-9780312192860","title":"The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West","description":"\u003cp\u003eFounded in 1893  the 101 Ranch was famous across the country for its touring Wild West shows  which featured countless cowboys and cowgirls  including Buffalo Bill  Geronimo  and Bill Picket. Playing to packed arenas from coast to coast  and even in Europe  the 101 Ranch show came to embody the spirit of the frontier for the entire nation. The Miller brothers  who owned the ranch  also found themselves involved in the formation of Hollywood and western movies  and the ranch produced many of the earliest western film stars  including Tom Mix and Buck Jones. Ten years in the making  this epic story of the 101 Ranch is nothing less than a sweeping history of the West of myth and reality. Indeed  the history of the ranch begins in Kentucky in the early 1840s and continues through most of the first half of the twentieth century. Describing the legendary cattle drives from San Antonio along the fabled Chisholm Trail  as well as the hardscrabble life of cattlemen  Michael Wallis paints an indelible portrait of the frontier as it expanded westward in the middle of the nineteenth century. Colonel George Washington Miller  the founder of the 101  participated in these cattle drives  and Wallis follows Miller from Kentucky through Missouri and Kansas and into the Cherokee Outlet in northern Oklahoma  where he founded the 101 Ranch on the banks of the Salt Fork of the Arkansas River. Although the 101 was an enormous  viable ranch that produced huge profits for the Millers  the family became best known for its touring shows  in which ranch hands showed off the kind of bronc-busting activities they performed on the ranch. Their re-creation of life in the West captured the imaginations of Americans across the country who longed to preserve the frontier  even as it began to disappear. The massive popular interest in the West  evidenced by the crowds at the 101 Ranch shows  also sparked a growth in western movies  and the Miller brothers were there to participate. Dozens of Hollywoods earliest films were shot on location at the ranch  and man of the 101 Ranch cowboys starred in these motion pictures. Following the Miller brothers through their barnstorming years  Wallis also portrays the origins of the mass entertainment industry that flourishes today  and shows how this industry helped to undo the West of reality and preserve it as a popular mythology. Full of incredible characters and unbelievable stories  this is an evocative reflection of the story of America itself  in all its grandeur and all its foibles.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45647031795765,"sku":"ByrdShop_031219286X","price":40.64,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780312192860.jpg?v=1781686275","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-real-wild-west-the-101-ranch-and-the-creation-of-the-american-west-9780312192860","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}