The Wild West: The Mythical Cowboy and Social Theory

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile theory, Hard to get to
Review: With great interest and intent, I have sat before this book three times now, pencil in hand, in an attempt to filter through to the essence of this theory. It's in there somewhere but it's hard to find because the inforamtion is not cohesively organized. And even more unforgivable, although it lists an editor, the editor was either out to lunch or must have simply rubber stamped the text. Either author or editor should have done the outlining work for me and augmented or repeated only where necessary.

The introduction touches on the premises and touches on the overall content contained in the chapters and conclusion. One gets a sense of the theory proposed and of the references offered to support the thesis. But beyond the introduction and throughout, the logic of the writing goes in circles with unnecessary repetition and leaves one saying, "Okay, I think I get it. I even want to agree and I think the proof is in there somewhere." But I want and need certainty and this writing style leaves mostly uncertainty.

I think this is a case of an academic writing with his academic peers as audience. We have all run across this before (and here I am stuck with a mere BA in Mass Communication). The "series" editor states that the series "... is to make theoretical issues more accessible to students ..." but this style of writing is inexcusable.

If this is the analysis that explains post-frontier America, and especially the post-frontier American West, I want to know and want others to know but few outside of academia will give it as much chance as I have. I'll return to it periodically but it moves way down on my priorities due to the amount of filtering involved. It doesn't have to be so difficult and it shouldn't be.