Women Who Charmed the West

As with her previous six or seven non-fiction books about women, this one deals with the most famous and infamous actresses to entertain in America's Wild West. Anne Seagrave once again brings to life some of the colorful characters from United States history. The legendary actresses included in this volume include Lillain Russell, Sarah Bernhardt, Maude Adams, Helena Modjeska, Adah Isaacs Menken, Lillie Langtry, Caroline Chapman, Laura Keene, Annie Oakley, Florence Tamara, Corabella Knight, Blanch Bates and the stunningly beautiful and energetic Eva Tanguay as well as a few of their male friends such as William F.(Buffalo Bill) Cody and Diamond Jim Brady. This reviewer was only aware of a few of these historically important actresses, although several more recent actresses have adopted their famous names. This book paints a word picture of just what it was like to be a woman entertainer in this era of history. Actors of both sexes were regarded as "immoral, sinful, loose" and held in the lowest regard by the same public that often flocked to see their performances. Women weren't even allowed to attend theatrical performances until 1850 when a few respectable women began to ignore society's scorn by going to the theater. East coast society held actresses in contempt. It was the western United State Frontier that welcomed these talented actresses with open arms, friendly smiles, and lots of money. San Francisco became known as the theatrical capital of the West. It wasn't until the early 20th Century that actresses began to be accepted into the mainstream culture by other women. This series of books is published by a regional press that is interested in preserving local history. Each of these thin books is easy to read because they are made up of a series of articles or chapters on individual characters complete with biographical sketches and illustrated with historic photos. They are much like lively chapter-length obituaries and in many cases are the most comprehensive source of information about the people portrayed. This reviewer would also recommends four of the other books by this author including "Daughters of the West," "Soiled Doves: Prostitution of the Early West," "High Spirited Women of the West," and "Women of the Sierra." These books serve as a very valuable resource to the pioneer women who helped make the United States what it is today.

Just love these books. Have read all of them I think. This is an easy way to enjoy history, without the fiction.