Cowgirls: Women of the Wild West
Match their male cowboy counterparts these feisty women  certainly didroping calves; herding cattle; branding steer; trick  riding in the rodeo; even living up to the famous lyrics of Annie Get  Your Gun,Anything you can do, I can do better. Its no  coincidence that this timeless musical classic is all the rage on  Broadway again today, for as this new literary tribute shows, the  contributions of Americas cowgirls are boundless and  brilliant. From the sad end of the life of Ella Watson, to the  splendor of the rodeo days with Cowgirls of the 101 Ranch Wild West  Show, to the Hollywood Western sirens like Josie Sedwick and Barbara  Stanwyck, COWGIRLS is a visual feast, detailing the sagas of the  Wests finest female pioneers with many never-before published  photographs.The writing/photography team of Elizabeth Clair Flood and William  Manns, who also brought Cowboys & the Trappings of the Old West to  life, researched the history of these famous ladies for five years,  many times drawing on the rare collectibles of Western aficionados  across the country to illustrate the colorful history of these women.In addition to show casing famous photographs of the daring ladies,  Flood and Manns even highlight the magnificent clothing and gear that  evolved as rapidly as the spirit of the cowgirls themselves, many  times showing original items side by side with historical  photographs. Divided into six chapters, COWGIRLS covers the migration  of women out west and the necessity for them to work the land and  cattle, to the glory days of rodeo and cowgirl images in Hollywood and  works of art.Floods writing is crisp and witty, and Manns photographs are  dazzling. Their passion for all that is Western speaks to the  adventurer in all of us throughout COWGIRLS, and to the female spirit.  --COWBOY AND INDIANS