The Hero of a Hundred Fights: Collected Stories from the Dime Novel King, from Buffalo Bill to Wild Bill Hickok by Ned Buntline

Adele H. Bealer

doi:10.1353/wal.2013.0051

The Case Against Ned Buntline: The “Words, Signs, and Gestures” of Popular Authorship

Prospects ◽

10.1017/s0361233300005299 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 249-272 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Peter G. Buckley

Keyword(s):

Buffalo Bill ◽

Ned Buntline

Today few people read the works of E. Z. C. Judson, better known as “Ned Buntline”; at least one might have made that claim with confidence before the recent reprinting of his Adventures of Buffalo Bill (1870). He is now remembered as an early practitioner of Western scouting tales, the first promoter of “Buffalo Bill,” before William Cody jettisoned him as a liability, and as the inventor of long-barrelled six-guns, the “Buntline Specials.”

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The Lynching and Rebirth of Ned Buntline: Rogue Authorship during the American Literary Renaissance

Text Matters ◽

10.18778/2083-2931.09.10 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 167-184

Author(s):

Mark Metzler Sawin

Keyword(s):

19Th Century ◽

Life Writing ◽

Popular Press ◽

Specific Event ◽

Buffalo Bill ◽

Literary Journal ◽

Ned Buntline ◽

American Author ◽

19Th Century America ◽

Literary Renaissance

Though largely unknown today, “Ned Buntline” (Edward Zane Carroll Judson) was one of the most influential authors of 19th-century America. He published over 170 novels, edited multiple popular and political publications, and helped pioneer the seafaring adventure, city mystery and Western genres. It was his pirate tales that Tom Sawyer constantly reenacted, his “Bowery B’hoys” that came to define the distinctive slang and swagger of urban American characters, and his novels and plays that turned an unknown scout into Buffalo Bill, King of the Border Men. But before “Ned Buntline” became a mainstay of the popular press, he had been on his way to becoming one of the nation’s highbrow literary elites. He was praised by the leading critics, edited an important literary journal, and his stories appeared in the era’s most prestigious publications. This study examines how and why “Ned Buntline” moved from prestigious to popular authorship and argues that the transformation was precipitated by one very specific event: in 1846, Edward Z. C. Judson was lynched. A close examination of Judson’s life, writing, and the coverage of him in the newspapers of the day (including the remarkable story of how he survived a lynching) demonstrates that the same issues that led to his lynching also led to his rebirth as a new kind of American author.

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The Case Against Ned Buntline: The “Words, Signs, and Gestures” of Popular Authorship

Prospects ◽

10.1017/s0361233300006748 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 13 ◽

pp. 249-272 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Peter G. Buckley

Keyword(s):

Buffalo Bill ◽

Ned Buntline

Today few people read the works of E. Z. C. Judson, better known as “Ned Buntline”; at least one might have made that claim with confidence before the recent reprinting of his Adventures of Buffalo Bill (1870). He is now remembered as an early practitioner of Western scouting tales, the first promoter of “Buffalo Bill,” before William Cody jettisoned him as a liability, and as the inventor of long-barrelled six-guns, the “Buntline Specials.”

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Pixel Cowboys and Silicon Gold Mines: Videogames of the American West

Pacific Historical Review ◽

10.1525/phr.2008.77.2.273 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 77 (2) ◽

pp. 273-303 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

John Wills

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

Computer Technology ◽

American West ◽

Western History ◽

Gold Mines ◽

Buffalo Bill ◽

Dime Novel ◽

Late Twentieth ◽

Wild West ◽

Late Twentieth Century

This article explores representations of the American West in computer and videogames from the late 1970s through 2006. The article reveals how several titles, including the early Boot Hill (1977), invoked classic nineteenth-century western motifs, employing the six-shooter, wagon train, and iron horse to sell late twentieth-century entertainment technology to a global audience. Such games allowed players, typically adolescent males, to recreate a version of history and to participate actively in the more violent aspects of the ““Wild West.”” The arcade Western emerged as a subgenre within computer entertainment, offering a distinctive, interactive amalgam of popular frontier-based fictions, including the nineteenth-century dime novel, Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show, and the modern Hollywood western. Computer technology thus served established myths surrounding the ““Wild West,”” even as New Western History was challenging their authenticity.

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