Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... The Look of the Old West (original 1955; edition 1955)by Foster-Harris.
Work InformationThe Look of the Old West: A Fully Illustrated Guide by William Foster-Harris (1955)
None Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The author has endeavored to use a microscope on the details of the people who spread across the western plains of America. He touches on the large picture, especially any inaccuracies we have been given in film and fiction. It is, however, a book of its time. There is little to no mention of the natives who inhabited the land, though to be fair, his focus was on those from the east coast of America who traveled and made their home in the western plains. It was far more than I wanted to know about the Cavalry, soldiers and such of the 1860s through 1890s. Every detail of the uniform and weaponry is discussed, described and analyzed. It also went through many of the other denizens from the West, discussed the whys and wherefores and hows of travel, livelihoods, abodes and such. There is a throwaway chapter on women's dress and that is it for the women. Clearly not an important factor to this author. It would be a terrific book for an author, reenactor, researcher or anyone who wanted to recreate the West with proper details. The author's folksy wording did not endear him to me, and although I love all things West, I grew very tired of this book as a reading book. I loved this book as a child, especially the early chapters on Civil War uniforms and western weapons --the later chapters on matters like barbed wire did less for me. It does give extremely detailed accounts of what people wore, eat with, fought with, and in general lived with, the practical facts which as the author says historians leave out. It also does so in a cheerful conversational style. no reviews | add a review
Illustrated with images of sabers, steamboats, handguns, hats, saddles, and more, this is a valuable resource for historians, re-enactors, costumers, and others. With encyclopedic knowledge and an extensive collection of Old West memorabilia handed down to him from Civil War veterans, cowboys, frontiersmen, and Native Americans, William Foster-Harris truly understood what the days of cowboys and trail drivers looked and felt like. His book offers the fashions and feel of the Old West from the end of the Civil War through the 1890s by detailing the styles of the period; military dress for the Union and Confederate armies; weaponry of the time; and more. Illustrated with clear, precise drawings to assist the descriptions, few books present a better idea of how the West really looked. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)978.01History and Geography North America Western U.S. -1799LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
That said, this book is still a solid resource. Foster-Harris writes as a man who grew up around Civil War veterans. He speaks of western settlement from a perspective of immediate hearsay and his own life experience in Oklahoma, and it is absolutely intriguing. Just be aware of the context of the time it was written and that it is not representative of the full western experience. ( )