Top of page

Exhibition Geppi Gems

Westerns

Before the last land rush in the United States occurred, Americans became nostalgic for the Wild West. Periodicals began devoting issues to stories about such outlaws as Billy the Kid, turning them into larger-than-life heroes. Western novels as a genre, translated well into illustrated dime novels and later into radio, comics, film, and television. Set in the American West during the nineteenth century, the storytelling could be, as in the case of Wyatt Earp, based on historical figures, or about such events as the 1889 land rush in Oklahoma. The genre focused on mavericks who avidly sought romance and adventure.