Pistol Packin' Madams - by Chris Enss (Paperback)

About the Book

Between 1840 and 1870 hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic dreamers embarked on the 2000-mile journey into the wide-open frontier of the United States in search of free land gold adventure and a better life Although only a few women were numbered a

Book Synopsis

Between 1840 and 1870, hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic dreamers embarked on the 2,000-mile journey into the wide-open frontier of the United States in search of free land, gold, adventure, and a better life. Although only a few women were numbered among the very first pioneers, those who did take the risk changed the face of the United States forever. The Western woman left the restrictions and conventions of her way of life behind and carried the struggle of emancipation into areas sacred to the male. She competed in business and politics, bronco busting, smoking, drinking, gambling, and gun-toting. This book celebrates the stories of the non-conforming, gun-toting pioneers who settled the West.

From the Back Cover

The picture of the early American West would not be complete without a fashionably dressed madam standing at the top of the saloon stairs surveying the activity below. More than just casual observers, these tough-talking and whip-smart women often had a pistol hidden in the folds of their skirts, ready to take on cowboys, ranchers, lawmen--any man who dared to cause trouble on the premises or to threaten their livelihood. In a time when most women were dependent on husbands and fathers, madams--the women who owned, managed, and maintained brothels--took fate into their own hands, using feminine wiles and an abundance of sheer grit to make a living on the hard edge of the frontier West. Pistol Packin' Madams examines the stories of these resourceful, oft-maligned women, whose combined adventures offer a colorful portrait of the early days of the West.

Review Quotes

"Hard workin', hard livin', and hard lovin', these pistol-packin' madams were the brave and colorful business women of the old west. What an inspiration . . . ."
--Kim Dickens, Deadwood's Joanie Stubbs

About the Author

Chris Enss is an award-winning screen writer who has written for television, short subject films, live performances, and for the movies, and is the co-author (with JoAnn Chartier) of Love Untamed: True Romances Stories of the Old West, Gilded Girls: Women Entertainers of the Old West, and She Wore A Yellow Ribbon: Women Patriots and Soldiers of the Old West and The Cowboy and the Senorita and Happy Trails (with Howard Kazanjian) Her research and writing and reveals the funny, touching, exciting, and tragic stories of historical and contemporary times.

Enss has done everything from stand-up comedy to working as a stunt person at the Old Tucson Movie Studio. She learned the basics of writing for film and television at the University of Arizona, and she is currently working with Return of the Jed" producer Howard Kazanjian on the movie version of The Cowboy and the Senorita, their biography of western stars Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.