The Life and Legends of Calamity Jane by Richard W. Etulain (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Life and Legends of Calamity Jane by Richard W. Etulain Donna J. Barbie The Life and Legends of Calamity Jane. By Richard W. Etulain. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014. viii + 381 pp. Illustrations, bibliography, index. $24.95 cloth. Professor emeritus Richard Etulain’s most recent publication offers a biography of Calamity Jane, one of America’s most renowned western women, and an examination of legends that arose during and after her lifetime. Twenty years in the making, this work is painstakingly researched. Focused on the historical who, what, where, and when, Etulain scours census reports, newspapers, memoirs, and earlier biographies and essays to “stitch together” Calamity’s tale from “thousands of bits and fragments” (5). The centerpiece of this work is the American frontier of the upper Great Plains. Inter-weaving the narrative of Calamity’s life with [End Page 398] broad cultural contexts, Etulain describes the birth of Deadwood during the Black Hills gold rush (56–57) and the importance of railroads to the West (116–17). In essence, Etulain highlights Calamity’s compulsions to chase opportunity and adventure, as well as detailing America’s obsession with this seemingly unconstrained woman who ventures beyond civilization. Fortunately, the book includes dozens of illustrations, including photographs of Calamity, depictions of places she frequented, and images from works that first celebrated her. Etulain also catalogs novels, films, and television programs that have maintained the legend, providing photographs from those popular productions. Etulain’s work is filled with playful prose. He sardonically refers to Calamity’s tight “social schedule” (50). Later he notes that she was incarcerated as a result of “partying and bundling excessively with John Barleycorn” (54) and comments on the “pungency of Calamity’s earthy vocabulary” (58). Frequently using the first-person “we,” Etulain serves as the storyteller of a compelling part of American history. He presents a narrative that, at times, rivals modern-day “reality” television with such sensational elements as multiple lovers or “husbands,” domestic abuse, uncertain paternity, and possible child neglect and abduction (133–40, 176). In an attempt to broaden Calamity’s story, Etulain asserts that she “ached for social acceptance” and respectability (136–37) and that “an illuminating pattern” reveals that her life was “more stable and less chaotic” when she was involved with a male companion (176). Despite aspirations to paint a portrait of a softer would-be lady, the bulk of Etulain’s evidence supports Calamity’s image as the wild woman of the West. Etulain notes that he adopts no theory, but allows primary materials to guide him (xvi). The work, however, might have been richer had he probed the “whys” of Calamity’s life and legends. For instance, Etulain tiptoes into gender realities when he notes that she “bruised and broke social expectations” (128). He also explores whether Calamity had been a prostitute, a question that has occupied other scholars, ultimately claiming that no evidence proves that she sold sex (xv). Discussion of frontier sex-role scripts and cultural realities of sex workers during that era could have proved useful. The Life and Legends of Calamity Jane is thorough, measured, and readable. As Etulain claims, the general public “will remain fascinated with . . . the lively, unorthodox woman of the Old West” (344). Etulain has also left room for further investigations, particularly by scholars who seek to illuminate why Americans are gripped by stories of the wilderness. Donna J. Barbie Humanities and Communication Department Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Copyright © 2015 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska-Lincoln