Cowboy Politics : Myths and Discourses in Popular Westerns from the Virginian to Unforgiven and Deadwood.
Nelson, John S.
Cowboy Politics : Myths and Discourses in Popular Westerns from the Virginian to Unforgiven and Deadwood. - 1st ed. - 1 online resource (413 pages) - Politics, Literature, and Film Series . - Politics, Literature, and Film Series .
Intro -- Cover -- Cowboy Politics -- Cowboy Politics -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- "The Signs in This Book Spoke to Him" -- Westerns Make Many Political Myths -- Westerns Can Be Enormously Surprising -- Western Politics Come In Many Varieties -- Political Myths Can Inform Political Theory -- Notes -- Chapter 2 -- "The Stories of the West Are Many" -- The West Is The Sunset Land -- Westerns Teach Us How To Read Their Politics -- Westerns Explore Many Political Themes -- Westerns Practice Aesthetics As Politics -- Westerns Concern Western Civilization -- We Focus On A Novel, A Film, And A Drama -- Notes -- Chapter 3 -- "Strike First and Then Give Tongue" -- The Wild West Is A Wild Zone -- The Wild West Is The Liberal's New World -- The New World Features The Natural Law -- Civilization Is For Handling Vengeance -- The Natural Law Is The Law Of The Jungle -- The Law Of The Jungle Features Speech -- The Jungle Law Is The Code Of The West -- The West Cultivates Honor And Anger -- Notes -- Chapter 4 -- "Without Law, Man Becomes a Beast" -- Westerns Seek Individual Rationality -- Individual Rationality Undoes Feud-alism -- The West Needs Fathers, Police, Or Sheriffs -- Westerns Target Feud-al Honor And Anger -- Notes -- Chapter 5 -- "The Cowboy Represents That Independent Spirit" -- Westerners Seek Fresh Starts And Freedoms -- Westerners Pursue Order, Justice, And Action -- Westerners Develop Individuals And Institutions -- Westerners Prize Perfectionist Self-reliance -- Westerners Advance Response-able Societies -- Westerners Want Representation By Characters -- Westerners Trust Largely Reluctant Leaders -- Westerners Admire Self-reliant Women -- Westerners Explore Supplements To Liberalism -- Notes -- Chapter 6 -- "Live with Honor and [Leave] Our Mark" -- Anarchies And Baronies Suffer Feud-al Politics. Western Lands Can Move Even The Rocks To Speak -- Republican Virtues Counter Civil Vices And Vulnerabilities -- Honorable Characters Do Beauty, Goodness, And Truth -- Law And Prudence Cultivate Second-nature Judgment -- Notes -- Chapter 7 -- "What's He Going to Get Out of This?" -- Western Interests Are Characters-in-action -- Western Interests Lead To Land Stewardship -- Western Interests Are Subjective Up Close -- Westerns Interests Are Objective Afar -- Western Characters Show Heroic Objectivity -- Notes -- Chapter 8 -- "Why Had He Waited So Long to Speak?" -- First, The New World Is Always Already Passing -- Second, Virtuosity Is Second-nature To Us Now -- Third, Assess Characters As Interests -- Fourth, Trust Deeds, Not Words -- Fifth, Public Limits For Women Trace To Male Interests -- Sixth, Romance Preserves But Subverts Family Patriarchy -- Seventh, Thinking Is A Kind Of Conversation -- Eighth, Plain Speech Resists Coercion And Seduction -- Ninth, Plain Speech Suffers From Self-deception -- Tenth, Tracking Contests Conspiracy As Secret Speech -- Notes -- Chapter 9 -- "A Track Is Not Only Marks upon the Earth" -- Westerns Presage More Than Foreshadow -- Westerns Want Cultures Of Honor And Character -- Western Paths Make Places For Green Politics -- Westerns Read Characters From Traces And Faces -- Western Track Politics Through Tropes -- Western Heroes Come Mainly In Four Kinds -- Western Duel-isms Spur Composite Characters -- Notes -- Chapter 10 -- "It's Not Revenge He's After -- It's a Reckoning" -- The Unforgiven West Moves Beyond Modernity -- The Unforgiven West Enforces Authority With Terror -- The Unforgiven West Adds Assassination To Showdown -- The Unforgiven West Turns Often Into Horror -- The Unforgiven West Turns Also To Mythmaking -- Notes -- Chapter 11 -- "Accurate Description [with] Poetry to the Language". The Unforgiven West Makes Myths Self-consciously -- The Unforgiven West Faces Icons Of Experience -- The Unforgiven West Counters Duel-isms -- The Unforgiven West Stresses Orality And Literacy -- Notes -- Chapter 12 -- "A Show Had to Be Real and Yet Not Real" -- Western Truths Can Be Plain But Vexing -- Western Realisms Can Be Bracing But Tragic -- Western Vistas And Values Position Bodies -- Westerns Prize Technology, Easterns Discipline -- Westerners Seek Celebrities And Spectacles -- Notes -- Chapter 13 -- "Revenge Broke It, and Disease" -- Forgiveness Arises From Magnanimity -- Forgiveness Relies On Public Discourse -- Forgiveness Involves Self-forgiveness -- Forgiveness Is Earned As Well As Learned -- Westerns Forgive And Forget In Making Myths -- Notes -- Chapter 14 -- "Tell Him Something Pretty" -- Shows A Late-developing Community -- Is An Epic Gangster Serial And A Western -- Politics Are Ample In Populism -- Theatrical Realism Gets Stymied -- Discourses Span Swearing And Shakespeare -- Monologues Rehearse Realism -- Fools Rebuke Realism -- Notes -- Chapter 15 -- "In Whose Keeping Would the Horse Have Been?" -- Westerns Make Common Sense As Cowboys Train Horses -- Satires Illuminate And Complicate Western Conventions -- A Horse With No Name Shows Deadwood's Potential -- A Horse With No Name Spurs Deadwood's Decline -- "ain't That A Kick In The Head?" -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author.
Cowboy Politics uses key works of literature, film, and television to explore how westerns address political challenges of Western civilization. This book tracks how westerns supplement liberal politics with republican, populist, perfectionist, and environmentalist politics.
9781498549486
Politics and literature--United States--History.
Electronic books.
PS374.W4.N45 2017
813.087409
Cowboy Politics : Myths and Discourses in Popular Westerns from the Virginian to Unforgiven and Deadwood. - 1st ed. - 1 online resource (413 pages) - Politics, Literature, and Film Series . - Politics, Literature, and Film Series .
Intro -- Cover -- Cowboy Politics -- Cowboy Politics -- Contents -- Preface -- Chapter 1 -- "The Signs in This Book Spoke to Him" -- Westerns Make Many Political Myths -- Westerns Can Be Enormously Surprising -- Western Politics Come In Many Varieties -- Political Myths Can Inform Political Theory -- Notes -- Chapter 2 -- "The Stories of the West Are Many" -- The West Is The Sunset Land -- Westerns Teach Us How To Read Their Politics -- Westerns Explore Many Political Themes -- Westerns Practice Aesthetics As Politics -- Westerns Concern Western Civilization -- We Focus On A Novel, A Film, And A Drama -- Notes -- Chapter 3 -- "Strike First and Then Give Tongue" -- The Wild West Is A Wild Zone -- The Wild West Is The Liberal's New World -- The New World Features The Natural Law -- Civilization Is For Handling Vengeance -- The Natural Law Is The Law Of The Jungle -- The Law Of The Jungle Features Speech -- The Jungle Law Is The Code Of The West -- The West Cultivates Honor And Anger -- Notes -- Chapter 4 -- "Without Law, Man Becomes a Beast" -- Westerns Seek Individual Rationality -- Individual Rationality Undoes Feud-alism -- The West Needs Fathers, Police, Or Sheriffs -- Westerns Target Feud-al Honor And Anger -- Notes -- Chapter 5 -- "The Cowboy Represents That Independent Spirit" -- Westerners Seek Fresh Starts And Freedoms -- Westerners Pursue Order, Justice, And Action -- Westerners Develop Individuals And Institutions -- Westerners Prize Perfectionist Self-reliance -- Westerners Advance Response-able Societies -- Westerners Want Representation By Characters -- Westerners Trust Largely Reluctant Leaders -- Westerners Admire Self-reliant Women -- Westerners Explore Supplements To Liberalism -- Notes -- Chapter 6 -- "Live with Honor and [Leave] Our Mark" -- Anarchies And Baronies Suffer Feud-al Politics. Western Lands Can Move Even The Rocks To Speak -- Republican Virtues Counter Civil Vices And Vulnerabilities -- Honorable Characters Do Beauty, Goodness, And Truth -- Law And Prudence Cultivate Second-nature Judgment -- Notes -- Chapter 7 -- "What's He Going to Get Out of This?" -- Western Interests Are Characters-in-action -- Western Interests Lead To Land Stewardship -- Western Interests Are Subjective Up Close -- Westerns Interests Are Objective Afar -- Western Characters Show Heroic Objectivity -- Notes -- Chapter 8 -- "Why Had He Waited So Long to Speak?" -- First, The New World Is Always Already Passing -- Second, Virtuosity Is Second-nature To Us Now -- Third, Assess Characters As Interests -- Fourth, Trust Deeds, Not Words -- Fifth, Public Limits For Women Trace To Male Interests -- Sixth, Romance Preserves But Subverts Family Patriarchy -- Seventh, Thinking Is A Kind Of Conversation -- Eighth, Plain Speech Resists Coercion And Seduction -- Ninth, Plain Speech Suffers From Self-deception -- Tenth, Tracking Contests Conspiracy As Secret Speech -- Notes -- Chapter 9 -- "A Track Is Not Only Marks upon the Earth" -- Westerns Presage More Than Foreshadow -- Westerns Want Cultures Of Honor And Character -- Western Paths Make Places For Green Politics -- Westerns Read Characters From Traces And Faces -- Western Track Politics Through Tropes -- Western Heroes Come Mainly In Four Kinds -- Western Duel-isms Spur Composite Characters -- Notes -- Chapter 10 -- "It's Not Revenge He's After -- It's a Reckoning" -- The Unforgiven West Moves Beyond Modernity -- The Unforgiven West Enforces Authority With Terror -- The Unforgiven West Adds Assassination To Showdown -- The Unforgiven West Turns Often Into Horror -- The Unforgiven West Turns Also To Mythmaking -- Notes -- Chapter 11 -- "Accurate Description [with] Poetry to the Language". The Unforgiven West Makes Myths Self-consciously -- The Unforgiven West Faces Icons Of Experience -- The Unforgiven West Counters Duel-isms -- The Unforgiven West Stresses Orality And Literacy -- Notes -- Chapter 12 -- "A Show Had to Be Real and Yet Not Real" -- Western Truths Can Be Plain But Vexing -- Western Realisms Can Be Bracing But Tragic -- Western Vistas And Values Position Bodies -- Westerns Prize Technology, Easterns Discipline -- Westerners Seek Celebrities And Spectacles -- Notes -- Chapter 13 -- "Revenge Broke It, and Disease" -- Forgiveness Arises From Magnanimity -- Forgiveness Relies On Public Discourse -- Forgiveness Involves Self-forgiveness -- Forgiveness Is Earned As Well As Learned -- Westerns Forgive And Forget In Making Myths -- Notes -- Chapter 14 -- "Tell Him Something Pretty" -- Shows A Late-developing Community -- Is An Epic Gangster Serial And A Western -- Politics Are Ample In Populism -- Theatrical Realism Gets Stymied -- Discourses Span Swearing And Shakespeare -- Monologues Rehearse Realism -- Fools Rebuke Realism -- Notes -- Chapter 15 -- "In Whose Keeping Would the Horse Have Been?" -- Westerns Make Common Sense As Cowboys Train Horses -- Satires Illuminate And Complicate Western Conventions -- A Horse With No Name Shows Deadwood's Potential -- A Horse With No Name Spurs Deadwood's Decline -- "ain't That A Kick In The Head?" -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- About the Author.
Cowboy Politics uses key works of literature, film, and television to explore how westerns address political challenges of Western civilization. This book tracks how westerns supplement liberal politics with republican, populist, perfectionist, and environmentalist politics.
9781498549486
Politics and literature--United States--History.
Electronic books.
PS374.W4.N45 2017
813.087409