This collection of essays is not a narrowly focused account of William F. Cody and his Wild West enterprises, but rather a view in the context of worldwide events and conditions that were taking place at the same time. Like the vastness of the American West, it reaches out to share with us a wingspread of diff ering takes on the man, his troupe, and their giant achievements. The book’s subtitle refers to its contents as “transnational,” in the sense that its essays are earnest attempts to transcend the usual restrictions of ethnicities, cultures, and nations. Even the vast Atlantic is spanned, if not without various mishaps. Th e rich range of subjects considered include Cody the person (enigmatic, heroic, and tragically fl awed), his show business legend, the diversity of the Wild West participants, the “fake news” fl avor of its supposed docudramas, the astonishing range of the places it toured (US, UK, and Europe), and much more. Th ese are discussed in relation to aspects of “mass culture” in ways that refreshingly go beyond the traditional ways of describing his life. Inevitably, the essays are wideranging. Th ey are at times amusing, instructive, and the cause for double takes. Th e reader is thereby encouraged to think twice about the standard depictions of Cody and the Wild West, including his “branding” components, such as his manner of speaking, the way he dressed and presented himself, as compared to such equally puzzling characters as Wild Bill Hickok, Th eodore Roosevelt, and Oscar Wilde. Among its provocative readings are accounts of the public personas of Wilde, Roosevelt, and Cody in relation to longheld assumptions about manliness. Th ere is one essay in particular that begins with a newsman’s account of a conversation with a celebrity who precisely fi ts our stereotypes of Wilde. We are then suddenly taken aback to learn that it is not a description of Oscar Wilde at all, but of Buff alo Bill. One of the strangest accounts in the book is about the attempt by Italian fascists in 1939 (the year that World War II began) to claim that Cody was not an American, but an Italian named Domenico Tambini, and that he and Mussolini were from the same region of country. Th ere are also two thoughtful refl ections about sharpshooting superstar Annie Oakley, the secondhighest paid performer, who was nearly as popular as Buff alo Bill. At fi ve feet tall, she listed her age as six years younger than she was, and carefully fashioned her costumes for the purpose of looking more girlish and chaste. She advocated women’s emancipation, in part by teaching young women to shoot. One cannot help but wonder what her views would be in current American society, with its access to highpowered guns.

中文翻译：

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流行前沿：布法罗比尔的狂野西部和跨国大众文化编辑。弗兰克·克里斯蒂安森

这本论文集并不是对威廉 F.科迪和他的狂野西部企业的狭隘描述，而是在同时发生的全球事件和条件的背景下的观点。就像美国西部的广袤一样，它伸出手来与我们分享对这个人、他的剧团和他们的巨大成就的不同看法。这本书的副标题将其内容称为“跨国”，因为它的文章是对超越种族、文化和国家通常限制的真诚尝试。即使是广阔的大西洋也被跨越，如果不是没有各种不幸的话。考虑的主题范围广泛，包括科迪这个人（神秘的、英勇的、有缺陷的）、他的演艺界传奇、狂野西部参与者的多样性、其所谓的纪录片的“假新闻”风味，其巡演的惊人范围（美国、英国和欧洲）等等。这些都与“大众文化”的各个方面相关，以令人耳目一新的方式超越了描述他生活的传统方式。不可避免地，论文的范围越来越广。它们有时很有趣，很有启发性，并且是双重拍摄的原因。因此鼓励读者三思对科迪和狂野西部的标准描述，包括他的“品牌”组成部分，例如他的说话方式，他的穿着和展示自己的方式，与同样令人费解的角色相比狂野的比尔·希科克、西奥多·罗斯福和奥斯卡·王尔德。其挑衅性读物包括对王尔德、罗斯福、和科迪关于长期以来关于男子气概的假设。有一篇文章特别以新闻记者与一位名人的谈话开始，这位名人正好符合我们对王尔德的刻板印象。然后我们突然惊讶地发现它根本不是对奥斯卡王尔德的描述，而是对 Buff alo Bill 的描述。书中最奇怪的描述之一是关于意大利法西斯主义者在 1939 年（第二次世界大战开始的那一年）声称科迪不是美国人，而是一个名叫多梅尼科·坦比尼的意大利人，并且他和墨索里尼来自国家的同一地区。还有两个深思熟虑的关于神枪手的超级巨星安妮奥克利的反思，安妮奥克利是收入第二高的表演者，几乎和 Buff alo Bill 一样受欢迎。她身高五英尺，比实际年龄小六岁，并精心制作她的服装，目的是让她看起来更加少女和纯洁。她提倡女性解放，部分是通过教年轻女性射击。人们不禁想知道她对当今美国社会的看法是什么，因为它可以使用大功率枪支。