Abby Brooks

Will Wright

Raising cattle is hard work, but Chet Wilde's been doing it since he was a boy. It's the kind of grind that takes a toll on a man and reveals who he is, deep down. What kind of man is Chet? He may just be the last real cowboy. He carries himself with a quiet dignity that commands respect from everyone he meets. Lately though, Chet's started wondering if there's more to life than work. Christy Harris hoped moving halfway across the country would help her escape the problems in her life. Namely, her abusive boyfriend, Mark. Not willing to let go that easy, Mark follows her west, determined to maintain control over every aspect of her life. Christy's at her wits end, and is losing hope of ever being happy. After a chance encounter brings them together, the chemistry between Chet and Christy is undeniable. When Chet witnesses Mark's abusive nature, he's not the kind of man to sit idly by. Is Christy ready to recognize the difference between control and protection? Will Chet's feelings for her be too much? Or, will she accept the same truth he already has? They're meant to be together.

Taking What Is Mine

From the Preface: The purpose of this book is to explain the Western's popularity. While the Western itself may seem simple (it isn't quite), an explanation of its popularity cannot be; for the Western, like any myth, stands between individual human consciousness and society. If a myth is popular, it must somehow appeal to or reinforce the individuals who view it by communicating a symbolic meaning to them. This meaning must, in turn, reflect the particular social institutions and attitudes that have created and continue to nourish the myth. Thus, a myth must tell its viewers about themselves and their society. This study, which takes up the question of the Western as an American myth, will lead us into abstract structural theory as well as economic and political history. Mostly, however, it will take us into the movies, the spectacular and not-so-spectacular sagebrush of the cinema. Unlike most works of social science, the data on which my analysis is based is available to all of my readers, either at the local theater or, more likely, on the late, late show. I hope you will take the opportunity, whenever it is offered, to check my findings and test my interpretations; the effort is small and the rewards are many. And if your wife, husband, mother, or child asks you why you are wasting your time staring at Westerns on TV in the middle of the night, tell them firmly—as I often did—that you are doing research in social science.

A Structural Study of the Western

Sixguns and Society

By Will. Wright. III

Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum, acquired since the Year 1838

Steven Kaplan

Selected Papers [from The] 2002 Conference [of The] Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery

The Image of the Outsider in Literature, Media, and Society

Acquired Since the Year 1838

Catalogue of Syriac Manuscripts in the British Museum

This book, written by the author of the celebrated volume Six Guns and Society, explains why the myth of the Wild West is popular around the world. It shows how the cultural icon of the Wild West speaks to deep desires of individualism and liberty and offers a vision of social contract theory in which a free and equal individual (the cowboy) emerges from the state of nature (the wilderness) to build a civil society (the frontier community). The metaphor of the Wild West retained a commitment to some limited government (law and order) but rejected the notion of the fully codified state as too oppressive (the corrupt sheriff). Compelling and magnificently suggestive, the book unpacks one of the core icons of our time.

Will Wright

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