In Search of the Golden West: The Tourist in Western America

Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1990. First Bison Book Printing . Trade Paperback. Very Good. 5 1/2" x 8. Whang, Adolph - Cover Design. 233 Pages plus a Six Page Index. This is a 1990 Bison Book reprint. Very light wear to cover edges and corners.. Interior text pages are flawless. The first transcontinental railroads brought fashionable easterners to the American West. In the 1880s and 1890s they traveled in sumptuous Palace Cars and stayed at luxury hotels. Westerners with an eye on promotion turned to what they took to be their own traditions. After 1900, a wilder West became popular; the Indian was rediscovered, and the cowboy returned to the saddle, if only during fiestas and rodeos. Increasing numbers of tourists headed for natural curiosities like the sequoias of Yosemite and the geysers of Yellowstone. Then mass-produced automobiles and cheap air, rail, and bus fares changed the face of western tourism forever. This book offers splendid old-time photographs and descriptions of nabobs, hucksters, naturists, dudes, realtors, and motorists -- all those who sought the reality and created the myth of the Golden West. The author, who has written a new preface for this Bison Book edition, is a pioneer in studying sociocultural trends in western history.