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In this study, historian Michael Allen examines the image of the rodeo cowboy and the role this image has played in popular culture over in the 20th century. He sees rodeo as a significant American folk festival and the rodeo cowboy as the surviving avatar of a nearly vanished authentic figure - the real cowboy, who embodies the skills and values of traditional western rural culture.
About the author
Michael Allen is on faculty at the University of Washington, Tacoma. He was born and raised in Ellensburg, Washington. After serving with the U. S. Marines in Vietnam, he worked for three years as a towboat deckhand and cook on the Mississippi River. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in early American history from, respectively, Central Washington State College, University of Montana, and University of Washington. He has taught at Tennessee Technological University, Deep Springs College, Montana State University, Billings, and, since 1990, at UW Tacoma. Michael Allen has published five books:
Western Rivermen, 1763-1861 (1990);
Frontiers Of Western History (1997, with Mary Hanneman);
Rodeo Cowboys In The North American Imagination (1998);
A Patriot's History Of The United States (with Larry Schweikart); and
Congress And The West, 1783- 1787 (forthcoming). Michael Allen is President of the Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame. He lives in Tacoma with his wife Mary, and their children, Jim, Davy, and Caroline.
Summary
The rodeo cowboy, that figure of rugged independence and solitary courage, continues to evoke the spirit of a vanished frontier and the hardy pioneers who conquered it. In this study historian Michael Allen examines the image of the rodeo cowboy and the role this image has played in popular culture over the past century.
