Rodeo Queens: On the Circuit with America's Cowgirls - Paperback

Rodeo Queens is a bittersweet journey into the lives of women who have worked the rodeo circuit in the rural West from the 1930s to the present. For over eight years, Joan Burbick traveled the backroads of the West, searching for "rodeo queens," the women who promote and perform in the elaborate pageantry of the rodeo. She interviewed dozens of queens in their living rooms, kitchens, barns, and ranches. She followed current queens down the rodeo road from tiny Western towns to the show- biz glitter of Las Vegas. Through their stories we witness dramatic changes in the rodeo, including the decline of skilled horse handling, the fierce conflicts over gender and race, and the intense commercialization of the rodeo. Combined with Burbick's wonderful collection of rodeo queen photographs, this rich tapestry of women's voices echoes and challenges our clichés of the rural West. Their stories of fulfilled dreams and lost hopes reveal the tenacity of the myth of the American West, a place of muscled men, golden-haired women, relentless beauty and tragic limits.