A prolific writer of “dime novels,” Edward Zane Carroll Judson, better known by the pen name Ned Buntline, spun the legend of Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok from the sparse threads of actual events. The Hero of a Hundred Fights collects some of his stories (including the one introducing Buffalo Bill), but, as editor R. Clay Reynolds observes, interest in them will likely be historical, not literary. The University of Texas at Dallas humanities professor adds a fascinating account of the early days of mass-market publishing and the origin of the genre that shapes the American imagination even today, the Western. The tireless Buntline established many of the conventions (and eventually clichés) familiar from the Westerns. (David Luhrssen)
