R ebecca S cofield . Outriders

Rebecca Scofield’s Outriders: Rodeo at the Fringes of the American West is an important and welcome contribution to the understanding of rodeo and its place in American history. When Clifford Westemeier wrote the first scholarly book on the origins of American rodeo in Man, Beast, Dust: The Story of Rodeo (1947), he avoided unabashedly glorifying it within the myth of a white, masculine, heroic West. Instead, he placed the emergence of rodeo in the context of a changing and turbulent American society; admitted some cowboys deserved the unsavory reputation they earned; described the extraordinary skills, determination, and discriminations against African American, Native, and women athlete performers; and explained how rodeoers who engaged in 1930s labor strikes against rodeo producers helped create a professionalized sport, at least for male athletes. Scofield continues this tradition of critically connecting the sport to American society and culture, exploring topics that reflect contemporary issues and...

American history · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Athletes · Context (archaeology) · Culture of the United States · Ethnology · Literature · Mythology · Native american · Reputation · Social science · Sociology · White (mutation) · Classics · Gender Studies · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Medicine