TY - JOUR
AU - Gallagher, Sara
AB - Dude ranches in America have been growing in popularity for decades. Drawn by mountain or desert settings, fresh air, and a variety of outdoor activities, hundreds of thousands of tourists every year decide to vacation at dude ranches across the West. The history of such vacation destinations is the subject of author Lynn Downey’s new book American Dude Ranch: A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West. Downey takes readers where it all began, the first recorded dude ranch in Medora, North Dakota, in 1881, and introduces us to the influence of dude ranches on Western tourism, fashion, film, and television. The book includes discussions about destinations in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arizona and notes the special features and activities offered to guests at each ranch. Throughout the book, Downey explains how deeply connected dude ranches are to the history and culture of the American West. What began as a novel experience for wealthy Eastern city dwellers became a new industry, and as the twentieth century progressed the dude ranch became a gateway of sorts to preserving the mythology of the frontier and the figure of the cowboy. As she traces this history, Downey explores the myriad ways dude ranches adapted to offer this experience to a new generation of clientele. An important point about Downey’s research—and conclusions—is that it is neither encyclopedic nor unabridged. She briefly tackles lesser-known topics about dude ranches, such as the role of women’s liberation in development of the dude ranching industry, the history of segregation on ranches, and anti-Semitism in Western tourism. She also makes it clear how she chose the ranches she chronicles in the book. “Except for writing about the histories of the founding dude ranches of the late 19th and 20th centuries,” Downey says, “I do not discuss the many ranches still in business today. Every dude ranch has a fascinating story and writing about all of them could fill a whole book” (p. xv). Nevertheless, American Dude Ranch lays a foundation for the exploration of dude ranching culture for future scholars to explore. Scholars of the popular American West will find American Dude Ranch an insightful introduction to dude ranching. Scholarly readers can find some interesting points of connection between their scholarship and the history of dude ranching. For instance, Downey highlights Black-owned-and-operated dude ranches, such as Nolie and Lela Murray’s ranch in Apple Valley, California, as well as the contributions of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous men and women on these ranches. Such topics may be of interest to scholars specializing in the contributions of non-white and women settlers to Western tourism. Downey’s book may also appeal to a wider, non-specialist audience, especially novice historians who are interested in the history of tourism in the American West, as well as readers who are familiar with modern day dude ranches. © The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Western History Association. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/pages/standard-publication-reuse-rights)
TI - American Dude Ranch: A Touch of the Cowboy and the Thrill of the West. By Lynn Downey
JO - Western Historical Quarterly
DO - 10.1093/whq/whad012
DA - 2023-01-14
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/american-dude-ranch-a-touch-of-the-cowboy-and-the-thrill-of-the-west-v1c85mXKWT
SP - 168
EP - 168
VL - 54
IS - 2
DP - DeepDyve
ER -