Boomtown Saloons

Download or read book Boomtown Saloons written by Kelly J. Dixon and published by University of Nevada Press. This book was released on 2006-12-01 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The image of Old West saloons as sites of violence and raucous entertainment has been perpetuated by film and legend, but the true story of such establishments is far more complex. In Boomtown Saloons, archaeologist Kelly J. Dixon recounts the excavation of four historic saloon sites in Nevada’s Virginia City, one of the West’s most important boomtowns, and shows how the physical traces of this handful of disparate drinking places offer a new perspective on authentic life in the mining West. During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Comstock Lode’s mineral wealth attracted people from all over the world. At its peak, Virginia City had a cosmopolitan population of over 20,000 people. Like people everywhere, they sought to pass their leisure time in congenial company, often in one or another of the four saloons studied here. Dixon’s account of the role these four establishments played in the social and economic life of Virginia City offers keen insight into the businesses and people who made up the backdrop of a mining boomtown. The saloons in this study were quieter than legend would have us believe; they served relatively distinct groups and offered their customers a place of refuge, solidarity, and social contact with peers in a city where few people had longtime ties or initially any close contacts. Boomtown Saloons also offers an equally vivid portrait of the modern historical archaeologist who combines time-honored digging, reconstruction, and analysis methods with such cutting-edge technology as DNA analysis of saliva traces on a 150-year-old pipestem and chemical analysis of the residue in discarded condiment bottles. The book is illustrated with historical photographs and maps, as well as photographs of artifacts uncovered during the excavations of the four sites. Dixon’s sparkling text and thoughtful interpretation of evidence reveal an unknown aspect of daily life in one of the West’s most storied boomtowns and demonstrate that, contrary to legend, the traditional western saloon served an vital and complex social role in its community.Available in hardcover and paperback.

Download or read book Boomtown Saloons written by Kelly J. Dixon and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Boomtown Saloons also offers an equally vivid portrait of the modern historical archaeologist who combines time-honored digging, reconstruction, and analysis methods with such cutting-edge technology as DNA analysis of saliva traces on a 150-year-old pipestem and chemical analysis of the residue in discarded condiment bottles. Dixon's sparkling text and thoughtful interpretation of both physical and documentary evidence reveal a hitherto unknown aspect of material life and culture in one of the West's most storied boomtowns and demonstrate the vital, complex social role that the traditional western saloon served in its community."--BOOK JACKET.

Download or read book Virginia City written by Ronald M. James and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2012-05-01 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spent cartridges. The pieces of an original Tabasco Pepper Sauce bottle. Shards of a ceramic pot, stained red. For archaeologists each of the thousands of artifacts uncovered at a site tells a story. For noted Comstock authority Ronald M. James, it is a story resulting from decades of research and excavation at one of the largest National Historic Landmarks in America, the Nevada town that, with the discovery of the Comstock Lode, became a boomtown microcosm of the American West. Drawing on the work of hundreds of volunteers, students, and professional archaeologists, Virginia City: Secrets of a Western Past shows how every detail—from unearthed artifacts to reports of local saloons to plans for the cemetery to surviving nineteenth-century buildings—adds to our view of Virginia City when it was one of the richest places on earth. James recreates this unlikely epitome of frontier industry and cosmopolitan living, the thriving hub of corporate executives, middle-class families, miners, prostitutes, and barkeepers—and more foreign-born residents per capita than anywhere else in the country—in a spot that had begun its life a few years earlier as the mining camp of several lucky guys. An excavation of the history of Virginia City, a window on the heyday of the American frontier, James’s book is also an enlightening look at how archaeology brings the story of the past to life.

Download or read book Cocaine Changes written by Dan Waldorf and published by Temple University Press. This book was released on 1992-06 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In an arena of public policy where misinformation and disinformation reigns, ... facts are desperately needed, and Cocaine Changes gives us a bucketful of them. Anyone who values rationality and is concerned about the harmful efforts of our misbegotten drug policy should read this book." ?Ira Glasser, Executive Director, ACLU"I know of no other book that offers so much information on the subject so clearly and calmly presented. For anyone interested in the natural history of cocaine use in America now, Cocaine Changes provides the best, most comprehensive available resource." ?Lester Grinspoon, M.D., Harvard Medical School "This book puts the cocaine scare of the 1980s to the test and places cocaine in a more realistic perspective. By examining the lives of hundreds of heavy users, it discovers that even among this group, cocaine use is not always cocaine abuse." ?Kevin B. Zeese, Drug Policy Foundation "This provocative study challenges many of the prevailing myths about cocaine and crack use, and is essential reading for any researchers, educators, policymakers, law enforcement personnel, or concerned citizens who wish to make informed judgments." ?Patricia G. Erickson, Ph.D., Head, Drug Policy Research Program (Canada) "This book puts the cocaine scare of the 1980s to the test and places cocaine in a more realistic perspective. By examining the lives of hundreds of heavy users, it discovers that even among this group, cocaine use is not always cocaine abuse." ?Kevin B. Zeese, Vice-President and Counsel, Drug Policy Foundation

Download or read book Box Office Archaeology written by Julie M Schablitsky and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-06-16 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This distinguished group of archaeologists select key subjects and genres used by Hollywood and provide the historical and archaeological depth that a movie cannot--what really happened in history. Topics include Egypt, the Wild West, Civil War submarines, Vikings, the Titanic, and others.

Download or read book Frontier Gambling written by G. R. Williamson and published by G.R. Williamson. This book was released on 2012-05-15 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: E-Pub edition

Download or read book Archaeology of a Brothel in Nineteenth-Century Boston, MA written by Jade W. Luiz and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2022-12-30 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Archaeology of a Brothel in Nineteenth-Century Boston, MA provides an accessible and thought-provoking account of the archaeological understanding of nineteenth-century prostitution in Boston, Massachusetts. The book explores how the practice of nineteenth-century sex work involved a careful construction of fantasy for brothel customers. This fantasy had the potential to provide financial stability and security for the madam of the establishment, if not for the women working for them. Employing theories of embodiment, sexuality, and an archaeology of the senses, this study of the Endicott Street collection contributes a new methodological and theoretical framework for studying the archaeology of prostitution across time, space, and culture. The material culture recovered from brothel sites allows exploration of both the semi-private, "behind the scenes" narrative of sex work, as well as the semi-public, eroticised "performance space" where patrons were entertained. Few books on the archaeology of sex work exist and this volume will both provide an updated perspective on the history of sex work in Boston in the nineteenth century as well as tie advances in gender and embodiment theories to a compelling case study. The book is for students and scholars of historical archaeology, nineteenth-century urban America, and gender studies. Students studying feminist theory and archaeology of the senses will also be interested in the contents.