WANTED: A girl who will love, honest, true and not sour;a nice little cooing dove, and willing to work in flour.

Desperate to strike it rich during the Gold Rush, thousands of men traveled West to the emerging frontier, where they outnumbered women twelve to one. Only after they arrived did some of them realize how much they missed female companionship.

Hearts West brings to life true stories of mail-order brides of the Gold Rush era. Some found soul mates; others found themselves in desperate situations. Complete with the actual hearts-and-hands personal advertisements that began some of the long-distance courtships, this fascinating book provides an up-close look at the leap of faith these men and women were willing to take.

If countless books and movies are to be believed, America’s Wild West was, at heart, a world of cowboys and Indians, sheriffs and gunslingers, scruffy settlers and mountain men—a man’s world. Here, Chris Enss, in the latest of her popular books to take on this stereotype, tells the stories of twelve courageous women who faced down schoolrooms full of children on the open prairies and in the mining towns of the Old West.

Between 1847 and 1858, more than 600 women teachers traveled across the untamed frontier to provide youngsters with an education, and the numbers grew rapidly in the decades to come, as women took advantage of one of the few career opportunities for respectable work for ladies of the era. Enduring hardship, the dozen women whose stories are movingly told in the pages of Frontier Teachers demonstrated the utmost dedication and sacrifice necessary to bring formal education to the Wild West. As immortalized in works of art and literature, for many students their women teachers were heroic figures who introduced them to a world of possibilities—and changed America forever.

“What we want to do is give our women even more liberty than they have. Let them do any kind of work that they see fit, and if they do it as well as men, give them the same pay.”
William F. Cody-1899
With rough-riding cowboys, sure shots, and fantastic reenactments of battles and train robberies, Buffalo Bill Cody brought the myth of the Old West to life for audiences all over the world. His Wild West Show was wildly popular – and some of the most popular cowboys in it were girls. Buffalo Gals tells the stories and celebrates the achievements of these thrill-seeking women, through historic photos, stunning, authentic publicity posters, and the meticulous research of western history writer Chris Enss.
Cody’s cast of wild women captivated audiences – whether they were riding bulls, breaking bucking broncos, roping steers, doing bareback tricks, or out-shooting all comers. The Wild West show made celebrities of women the likes of bronco rider Lillian Smith, dancer-actress Guiseppina Morlacchi, and sharpshooter Annie Oakley, endearing them not only to the audience but to Buffalo Bill as well. He praised the trick sidesaddle riding skills of Della Ferrell and Georgia Duffy and marveled at rider Lulu Parr’s ability to stay on a bucking bronco until it was broken. Altogether, these gals were an unforgettably spunky cast of characters who saddled up and rustled their dreams.

During the gold rush, women worked alongside men panning and digging for gold and silver in the mountains of Colorado, California, and all the way up to Alaska. While many books have been written about the frontier women who ran brothels and boarding houses in mining towns, none have told the true stories of ladies who labored as hard as men out in the mines. A wonderful collection of true Americana, this book includes archival photographs of lady miners as well as the mines and boomtowns.

From the earliest days of the western frontier, women heeded the call to go west along with their husbands, sweethearts, and parents. While many of these women were attached to the army camps and outposts that dotted the prairies, others were active participants in the skirmishes and battles that took place in the western territories. Each of these women–wives, mothers, daughters, laundresses, soldiers, and shamans–risked their lives in unsettled lands, facing such challenges as bearing children in primitive conditions and defying military orders in an effort to save innocent people.
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon tells the stories of twelve such brave women who served their country on the early frontier. These heroic women–Buffalo Soldiers, scouts, interpreters, nurses, and others–displayed a depth of courage and physical bravery equal to or surpassing that of many men of the time. Their remarkable commitment and willingness to throw off the constraints of nineteenth-century conventions helped build the West for generations to come.

From Catherine Hayes, the “Irish prima donna,” and Maude Adams, “the most popular actress in America,” to the legendary Sarah Bernhardt, Gilded Girls profiles fourteen of the liveliest, wildest, and most talented female entertainers ever to light up the boards of the western frontier. You’ll meet “the Jersey Lily,” who was wildly admired by men as various Oscar Wilde, Mark Twain, Diamond Jim Brady, and Judge Roy Bean; Mrs. Leslie Carter, a scandal-plagued society women who became a famous actress as an act of revenge against her patrician ex-husband; a French-Creole beauty known as the “Frenzy of Frisco” who took up the Zionist and feminist causes in between her daring acting roles; and “Klondike Kate,” a flame-haired entertainer who took Alaska’s gold rush country by storm but suffered a very public heartbreak.
Some of the fascinating women are renowned even to this day, others are remembered only in the pages of history, but all personified the daring, colorful, and independent spirit of the Old West.

In these pages you’ll meet a soiled dove who longed for a fairy-tale romance but instead fell for an ailing miner; a quiet schoolmarm who risked life and limb for her adventuresome husband; a spinster who refused to reveal the secrets of her heart despite a proposal from a dashing, prominent rancher; an actress who found her true love when she needed him most; and a rich couple who lost everything except their intense dedication to each other.The romances of thirteen couples are explored in this book and represent the variety of relationships and love affairs that added color, controversy, and commitment to the unmatched days of the Old West. (6 x 9, 160 pages, b&w photos)