Buffalo Bill: Last of the Great Scouts – The Biography and History of America’s Wild West Icon

Helen Cody Wetmore’s classic account of the life of Buffalo Bill is action-packed and informative, doing full justice to the legend that was William Frederick “Buffalo Bill” Cody. As Buffalo Bill’s younger sister, Helen Cody Wetmore was in a great position to comment on her brother’s adventures in the Old West, and his personality. Beginning as a contracted hunter, it was only when Cody’s prowess in buffalo shooting was chronicled by New York based author and publisher Ned Buntline that he attained great fame. Although stories Buntline published were partly fabricated and mostly exaggerated, William Cody was stunned by the attention and fame was duly lavished upon him. After proving his abilities in a series of hunting contests, he launched his show: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West. Cody made an enormously successful enterprise out of performing and re-enacting dramatic events and battles of the Western frontier. The show employed Native Americans and former cavalrymen, thrilling crowds in their thousands.