Description
Judy Busk, Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 2004, large hardbound, 248 pages.
There are two stereotypes of pioneer women: the silently suffering, “submissive but sturdy” woman in “sunbonnet, baby at breast, rifle at the ready, dedicated to restoring civilization as rapidly as possible” and women like the Calamity Jane who “drank, smoked, and cursed and was handy with a poker deck, a six-gun, and a horse.” These images are reinforced in art, literature, films, and inspirational literature. It begs the question of who these women really were. In 1993, Judy Busk decided to find out. …