The English essayist Charles Lamb once said, "Man is a gaming
animal." If he had known the American frontier gamblers depicted in
this book, he might have added "in spades," referring to the
avidity with which these "knight of the green cloth" pursued their
profession.
All of the pioneers who ventured into the American West of the
nineteenth century were gamblers in a sense, betting on the land,
the future, and themselves. They risked their fortunes and,
sometimes, their very lives. And for those too impatient to wait
for the bonanza of a rich ore strike, or for the cattle to
multiply, or for the town to develop, the gambling table offered an
opportunity for instant riches. The almost universal acceptance and
popularity of gambling games on the frontier was predictable, and
the rise of the professional gambler inevitable. It was a time of
almost unlimited personal freedom in a tolerant society, with few
to call gambling a sin, a crime, or a folly.
The American public was introduced to the frontier gambler very
early when a number of them became folk heroes and were interviewed
in the popular press of the time. Later, fictional characters made
known the western gambler stereotype now seen in movies and on
television. Seeking to separate the myth from the reality, Robert
K. DeArment gives us more than fiction in this book. Here we meet
the long vanished and almost forgotten historical frontier gamblers
who, between the years 1850 and 1910, were to be found playing
their trade in every settlement from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Klondike, Not many found fortunes, but some discovered at the
tables an exciting way of life, a calling true and real for them as
the law, medicine, or the clergy was for others.
DeAement's research into the lives of the well-known and
less-known frontier gamblers provide a story replete with the color
and excitement if the Old West. The Good Guys, the Bad Guys, and
their women--wives, mistresses, and colleagues in gambling
establishments--are here, honestly described in a refreshing,
readable manner.
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