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Frontier Comrades: From the Fur Trade to the Ford Car
Frontier Comrades examines LBGTQ+ experience in the American West through six accounts of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lives, each in a different part of the West, moving chronologically from the fur trade era to the dawn of the automobile age.
- GenresNonfictionHistoryQueer
302 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 2, 2025
I have a hard time knowing what to make of this book.
I can't fault the thoroughness of Jim Wilke's research: he has clearly dug deep into whatever documentation is available not only of his subjects' biographies but also of their work and the places where they lived. There's excellent value here in terms of sheer informativeness.
But. This is a book ostensibly meant for general readers, and in that respect the very depth of that research dive becomes a problem: there's only so much interest a general reader can work up about stagecoach routes in gold-rush-era California. And we might want to know about how a "frontier," where norms are unsettled, makes room for the enactment of queer desire, but how much time do we want to spend with a man who despises "Indians" and wantonly slaughters bison? He doesn't magically become appealing just because he has sex with other men. So it's one thing to get a sketch of his life and some discussion of its significance, another to wade through as much detail as can be excavated.
At times, too, Wilke's prose wanders into unintelligibility: for instance, he says that a woman's family may just have "wanted the situation [her elopement with another woman] to go away, which allowed her deference to the sheriff greater purchase in obtaining her freedom on his receipt of her tearful promises." And his vocabulary is sometimes odd or outright jarring. Yes, "Indians" would have been the term used in the period he writes of, but does it follow that he has to use it? Is it appropriate to refer to a trans woman as "he" when describing her life before her social transition? (It's possible this person would be better understood as nonbinary in our terms, of course: there's no real way to know.)
In short, "Frontier Comrades" is both useful and something of a muddle. Thanks to U of Nebraska Press/Bison Books and NetGalley for the ARC.
I can't fault the thoroughness of Jim Wilke's research: he has clearly dug deep into whatever documentation is available not only of his subjects' biographies but also of their work and the places where they lived. There's excellent value here in terms of sheer informativeness.
But. This is a book ostensibly meant for general readers, and in that respect the very depth of that research dive becomes a problem: there's only so much interest a general reader can work up about stagecoach routes in gold-rush-era California. And we might want to know about how a "frontier," where norms are unsettled, makes room for the enactment of queer desire, but how much time do we want to spend with a man who despises "Indians" and wantonly slaughters bison? He doesn't magically become appealing just because he has sex with other men. So it's one thing to get a sketch of his life and some discussion of its significance, another to wade through as much detail as can be excavated.
At times, too, Wilke's prose wanders into unintelligibility: for instance, he says that a woman's family may just have "wanted the situation [her elopement with another woman] to go away, which allowed her deference to the sheriff greater purchase in obtaining her freedom on his receipt of her tearful promises." And his vocabulary is sometimes odd or outright jarring. Yes, "Indians" would have been the term used in the period he writes of, but does it follow that he has to use it? Is it appropriate to refer to a trans woman as "he" when describing her life before her social transition? (It's possible this person would be better understood as nonbinary in our terms, of course: there's no real way to know.)
In short, "Frontier Comrades" is both useful and something of a muddle. Thanks to U of Nebraska Press/Bison Books and NetGalley for the ARC.
October 4, 2025
Jim Wilke’s Frontier Comrades: From the Fur Trade to the Ford Car is a look at (mainly) the nineteenth century just into the twentieth, and how various queer people navigated life while on the fringes of society. In many instances, being out and away from the public enabled them to live happy lives—or at least freer lives than may have been afforded in more urban and populated settings.
This book is a little funky. It has tangents and explanations of different things only sort-of related, like mention of a house owned by Jose Castro who sold it to the Breens who were part of the Donner Party which then led to explanation of what helped to cause the disastrous conditions they found themselves in. That doesn’t really have anything to do with Charley Parkhurst but! I find it interesting myself, so I don’t mind.
The Breakenridge section was the skimpiest, and had the most obvious use of the above, where the author made certain to set the scene involving railroad lines. It doesn’t even get to anything gay until almost the end, and it’s extremely flimsy, just that Curly Bill had a“friendly feeling” about Breakenridge, unless you count Breakenridge ferrying around Vanderbilt and his partner Terry, which I don’t. Fred Dodge’s comment about him being “a nice girl” is about the strongest evidence put forward for his inclusion with the others.
A positive attribute of the book is that it pulls from various vocations and all along the spectrum with regard to being queer. There’s an adventurer of the west, a stagecoach driver, a laundress, a man of many jobs (including railroad worker) and eventual lawman, a postal worker, and a logger. It covers a gay man, a trans man, a trans woman, a gay man, a gay couple (women), and a gay man.
The passage about Mrs. Noonan just made me so sad, with how her death contributed to her husband’s death and how their memories were made into a mockery when all they wanted was to live normal lives like anyone else. Clara Dietrich and Ora Chatfield also upset me; Dietrich’s sweet, poignant declaration was really stirring.
Some of the people in it behaved distastefully, like Stewart kicking his partner out of their shared space which ended in the man contracting rabies and dying, or Breakenridge thinking it a “prank” to send the scalps of slaughtered indigenous people back to his sister. That, however, just paints a fuller, deeper picture of life then and the people that lived it, reminding us that there was awful along with the good.
I would recommend this book to people interested in queer history BUT who are more willing to get a deeper understanding of the landscape around the queer people instead of the people themselves. I was anticipating a little more insight into the romance conducted by the subjects, but this is more focused on what was occurring around them and the occupations they held. There are still interesting bits to be found, however, and some forgotten figures can be brought forth into the light once more.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a little funky. It has tangents and explanations of different things only sort-of related, like mention of a house owned by Jose Castro who sold it to the Breens who were part of the Donner Party which then led to explanation of what helped to cause the disastrous conditions they found themselves in. That doesn’t really have anything to do with Charley Parkhurst but! I find it interesting myself, so I don’t mind.
The Breakenridge section was the skimpiest, and had the most obvious use of the above, where the author made certain to set the scene involving railroad lines. It doesn’t even get to anything gay until almost the end, and it’s extremely flimsy, just that Curly Bill had a“friendly feeling” about Breakenridge, unless you count Breakenridge ferrying around Vanderbilt and his partner Terry, which I don’t. Fred Dodge’s comment about him being “a nice girl” is about the strongest evidence put forward for his inclusion with the others.
A positive attribute of the book is that it pulls from various vocations and all along the spectrum with regard to being queer. There’s an adventurer of the west, a stagecoach driver, a laundress, a man of many jobs (including railroad worker) and eventual lawman, a postal worker, and a logger. It covers a gay man, a trans man, a trans woman, a gay man, a gay couple (women), and a gay man.
The passage about Mrs. Noonan just made me so sad, with how her death contributed to her husband’s death and how their memories were made into a mockery when all they wanted was to live normal lives like anyone else. Clara Dietrich and Ora Chatfield also upset me; Dietrich’s sweet, poignant declaration was really stirring.
Some of the people in it behaved distastefully, like Stewart kicking his partner out of their shared space which ended in the man contracting rabies and dying, or Breakenridge thinking it a “prank” to send the scalps of slaughtered indigenous people back to his sister. That, however, just paints a fuller, deeper picture of life then and the people that lived it, reminding us that there was awful along with the good.
I would recommend this book to people interested in queer history BUT who are more willing to get a deeper understanding of the landscape around the queer people instead of the people themselves. I was anticipating a little more insight into the romance conducted by the subjects, but this is more focused on what was occurring around them and the occupations they held. There are still interesting bits to be found, however, and some forgotten figures can be brought forth into the light once more.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 15, 2025
Book Review: Frontier Comrades: From the Fur Trade to the Ford Car by Jim Wilke
Frontier Comrades is a groundbreaking exploration of LGBTQ+ lives in the American West, weaving together six meticulously researched accounts of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who shaped—and were shaped by—the frontier’s rugged landscapes and evolving social norms. Jim Wilke’s work bridges historical scholarship with narrative flair, offering a poignant corrective to the heteronormative myths of the Wild West.
Premise & Themes
Wilke traces queer experiences from the early 19th-century fur trade to the industrialization era symbolized by Ford’s Model T, revealing how marginalized communities carved out spaces of autonomy and solidarity. The book dismantles stereotypes of frontier isolation, highlighting clandestine networks, gender nonconformity in labor roles, and the intersection of race and sexuality in Western expansion. Themes of resilience, identity, and the tension between visibility and survival resonate throughout.
Execution & Research
The prose balances academic rigor with accessibility, though some chapters delve deeper into archival detail than others. Standout sections include a transgender trapper’s diary and the story of a lesbian homesteader partnership disguised as a “business arrangement.” Wilke’s attention to primary sources (letters, court records, oral histories) lends authenticity, while his analysis contextualizes these lives within broader socio-political shifts.
Character Depth & Narrative
Though nonfiction, the book reads like a collective biography, with each subject’s struggles and triumphs rendered vividly. A bisexual saloon owner’s defiance of vigilante justice and a gay cavalry soldier’s coded correspondence are particularly gripping. However, the structural focus on six discrete accounts occasionally fragments the narrative flow, leaving readers craving more connective analysis.
Originality & Impact
Wilke’s work fills a critical gap in both queer and Western history, challenging the erasure of LGBTQ+ figures from pioneer narratives. Its intersectional lens—particularly on Indigenous and mixed-race experiences—sets it apart from earlier studies.
Score Breakdown (Out of 5)
-Concept: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) – A vital, overdue examination of queer frontier lives.
-Research: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Rich primary sources, though some threads feel underexplored.
-Narrative Flow: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5) – Compelling but uneven pacing between accounts.
-Emotional Resonance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Humanizes history without sentimentalizing hardship.
-Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Scholarly yet engaging; glossary/timeline would help general readers.
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Frontier Comrades is a must-read for historians and LGBTQ+ literature enthusiasts, offering a revelatory window into the past with prose that educates and moves.
Who Should Read It?
-Fans of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue or The Gay Metropolis seeking historical depth.
-Scholars of gender studies, Western history, or queer theory.
-Readers who appreciate microhistories like The Radium Girls.
Who Might Not Love It?
-Those seeking a linear, novelistic narrative.
-Readers uncomfortable with academic tangents.
Acknowledgments:
Thank you to NetGalley and Jim Wilke for providing an advance review copy of Frontier Comrades in exchange for an honest review.
Frontier Comrades is a groundbreaking exploration of LGBTQ+ lives in the American West, weaving together six meticulously researched accounts of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals who shaped—and were shaped by—the frontier’s rugged landscapes and evolving social norms. Jim Wilke’s work bridges historical scholarship with narrative flair, offering a poignant corrective to the heteronormative myths of the Wild West.
Premise & Themes
Wilke traces queer experiences from the early 19th-century fur trade to the industrialization era symbolized by Ford’s Model T, revealing how marginalized communities carved out spaces of autonomy and solidarity. The book dismantles stereotypes of frontier isolation, highlighting clandestine networks, gender nonconformity in labor roles, and the intersection of race and sexuality in Western expansion. Themes of resilience, identity, and the tension between visibility and survival resonate throughout.
Execution & Research
The prose balances academic rigor with accessibility, though some chapters delve deeper into archival detail than others. Standout sections include a transgender trapper’s diary and the story of a lesbian homesteader partnership disguised as a “business arrangement.” Wilke’s attention to primary sources (letters, court records, oral histories) lends authenticity, while his analysis contextualizes these lives within broader socio-political shifts.
Character Depth & Narrative
Though nonfiction, the book reads like a collective biography, with each subject’s struggles and triumphs rendered vividly. A bisexual saloon owner’s defiance of vigilante justice and a gay cavalry soldier’s coded correspondence are particularly gripping. However, the structural focus on six discrete accounts occasionally fragments the narrative flow, leaving readers craving more connective analysis.
Originality & Impact
Wilke’s work fills a critical gap in both queer and Western history, challenging the erasure of LGBTQ+ figures from pioneer narratives. Its intersectional lens—particularly on Indigenous and mixed-race experiences—sets it apart from earlier studies.
Score Breakdown (Out of 5)
-Concept: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5) – A vital, overdue examination of queer frontier lives.
-Research: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Rich primary sources, though some threads feel underexplored.
-Narrative Flow: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5) – Compelling but uneven pacing between accounts.
-Emotional Resonance: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Humanizes history without sentimentalizing hardship.
-Accessibility: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Scholarly yet engaging; glossary/timeline would help general readers.
Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5) – Frontier Comrades is a must-read for historians and LGBTQ+ literature enthusiasts, offering a revelatory window into the past with prose that educates and moves.
Who Should Read It?
-Fans of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue or The Gay Metropolis seeking historical depth.
-Scholars of gender studies, Western history, or queer theory.
-Readers who appreciate microhistories like The Radium Girls.
Who Might Not Love It?
-Those seeking a linear, novelistic narrative.
-Readers uncomfortable with academic tangents.
Acknowledgments:
Thank you to NetGalley and Jim Wilke for providing an advance review copy of Frontier Comrades in exchange for an honest review.
December 7, 2025
Very solid and readable history, I'm glad I read it. Quite quickly too, it was a quick and fairly entertaining read.
I think the book is strongest at painting a picture of what life was like on the frontier in the American west. Daily life for folks fur trading or working in logging camps, mining camps, army camps. His writing is quite evocative. Maybe too much so: it felt a little embellished and a little too lengthy. But that made it an enjoyable read and his enhancements were responsible and narrative, not misleading.
The queer history part of the book is weaker. There's very little information about the sexuality of most of the subjects. How could there be? Many of them were living in a time before homosexuality or transgender identity were well defined. And to the extent it was known it was stigmatized or illegal. Of course there's little record. But then it's hard to tell a whole story of, say, a sheriff of Tombstone when the only evidence he was queer was a couple of close male friendships and some gossip from people after he died. I think the author is responsible here, I imagine that man really was homosexually inclined, but I'm not sure I learned a lot about what that was like for him.
The narrative is stronger in a couple of chapters that have written accounts of scandals. Mrs. Noonan's story is the best here, a transgender woman doing laundry for an army camp. Her story is a tragedy and the newspaper accounts are cruel. But they are well balanced by Elizabeth Custer's respectful recollection of the woman's life, some remarkable words of acceptance.
The Lesbian couple (Dietrich and Chatfield) is similarly well told through newspaper accounts. Alas, no sympathetic words and none of their own. I also loved the last chapter about a logger because it's all sourced to a Straight to Hell first-hand account written in 1975. I'd love to read that primary source!
Speaking of sources, I'm a bit confused on how much of this book is original research and how much is re-presented. The book itself is well footnoted, but a lot of the references are either to Jonathan Katz's Gay American history or else to Peter Boag's Same-Sex Affairs. Both great sources but I was unclear what scholarship Wilke added to their work. Certainly some, there's a lot more of Dietrich & Chatfield's story here.
Overall this is a good book of scholarship. I'm grateful for it because this historical record is so thin.
I think the book is strongest at painting a picture of what life was like on the frontier in the American west. Daily life for folks fur trading or working in logging camps, mining camps, army camps. His writing is quite evocative. Maybe too much so: it felt a little embellished and a little too lengthy. But that made it an enjoyable read and his enhancements were responsible and narrative, not misleading.
The queer history part of the book is weaker. There's very little information about the sexuality of most of the subjects. How could there be? Many of them were living in a time before homosexuality or transgender identity were well defined. And to the extent it was known it was stigmatized or illegal. Of course there's little record. But then it's hard to tell a whole story of, say, a sheriff of Tombstone when the only evidence he was queer was a couple of close male friendships and some gossip from people after he died. I think the author is responsible here, I imagine that man really was homosexually inclined, but I'm not sure I learned a lot about what that was like for him.
The narrative is stronger in a couple of chapters that have written accounts of scandals. Mrs. Noonan's story is the best here, a transgender woman doing laundry for an army camp. Her story is a tragedy and the newspaper accounts are cruel. But they are well balanced by Elizabeth Custer's respectful recollection of the woman's life, some remarkable words of acceptance.
The Lesbian couple (Dietrich and Chatfield) is similarly well told through newspaper accounts. Alas, no sympathetic words and none of their own. I also loved the last chapter about a logger because it's all sourced to a Straight to Hell first-hand account written in 1975. I'd love to read that primary source!
Speaking of sources, I'm a bit confused on how much of this book is original research and how much is re-presented. The book itself is well footnoted, but a lot of the references are either to Jonathan Katz's Gay American history or else to Peter Boag's Same-Sex Affairs. Both great sources but I was unclear what scholarship Wilke added to their work. Certainly some, there's a lot more of Dietrich & Chatfield's story here.
Overall this is a good book of scholarship. I'm grateful for it because this historical record is so thin.
August 31, 2025
In the introduction, James Wilke writes that Frontier Comrades is "a portrait of the American West and the frontier experience through the lens of six lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lives, examining how their self-perception was shaped and defined by their occupations and relationship to the lands that surrounded them." Sadly, that lens was often blurred to the point that the people who are supposed to focus the book become addenda to their own stories.
Wilke goes overboard giving context to his subjects' lives, so that I felt like I spent more time reading about stagecoach routes and troop movements than I did about people. His writing is also repetitive and down right redundant when he's explaining perfectly clear quotations.
Frontier Comrades does contain some good information about the American West in the 19th century and it does highlight a facet of the era that isn't widely discussed, but I really wish the writing had been better.
Received via NetGalley.
Wilke goes overboard giving context to his subjects' lives, so that I felt like I spent more time reading about stagecoach routes and troop movements than I did about people. His writing is also repetitive and down right redundant when he's explaining perfectly clear quotations.
Frontier Comrades does contain some good information about the American West in the 19th century and it does highlight a facet of the era that isn't widely discussed, but I really wish the writing had been better.
Received via NetGalley.
November 14, 2025
This is one of the better books I have read in queer historiography. Though certainly meant for a broader audience, I think this is a great introduction to queer history for many people. I appreciate Wilke's willingness to address the anachronism issue with labels and decision to still use modern labels. I get quite sick of authors tiptoeing around calling people in history gay. I do think there is some questionable pronoun usage when referring to trans people pre-transition, though (but I know this hasn't been fully established how to handle yet).
The chapter on Mrs. Noonan was the most fascinating, and I would love more on her. I think the chapter on Breakenridge fell short, as it seemed to be more about his "Western" life than his "gay Western" life.
All in all, this is valuable research and I appreciate the work Wilke has done to grow the queer historical narrative.
The chapter on Mrs. Noonan was the most fascinating, and I would love more on her. I think the chapter on Breakenridge fell short, as it seemed to be more about his "Western" life than his "gay Western" life.
All in all, this is valuable research and I appreciate the work Wilke has done to grow the queer historical narrative.
August 12, 2025
Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC!
While I greatly appreciate Wilke for bringing this topic to the public eye, as well as for the clearly extensive research he did to compile this book, I simply did not enjoy reading it. I know part of the problem is that historical records on the subjects of the biographical sketches is scant and mostly focused on the people around them rather than the subjects themselves; however, the volume went beyond providing context and nearly sidelined the subjects in some cases with details of troop movements and governmental history. One aspect I did find interesting was the comparison between being queer today and being queer on the frontier, and the types of freedom (and drawbacks) that a lack of labels afforded.
While I greatly appreciate Wilke for bringing this topic to the public eye, as well as for the clearly extensive research he did to compile this book, I simply did not enjoy reading it. I know part of the problem is that historical records on the subjects of the biographical sketches is scant and mostly focused on the people around them rather than the subjects themselves; however, the volume went beyond providing context and nearly sidelined the subjects in some cases with details of troop movements and governmental history. One aspect I did find interesting was the comparison between being queer today and being queer on the frontier, and the types of freedom (and drawbacks) that a lack of labels afforded.
August 8, 2025
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was an informative and interesting read about how things were done back then. Along with the lengths people would go and how people, especially the West,knew yet for the most part took it in stride.
December 23, 2025
I only wish it was longer! Really interesting history of people that have been overlooked in other histories of this period.
Read
November 28, 2025So these days I really stick mostly to fiction. I'll pick up an occasional book about the black plague, or body language, or ghost stories from Scotland, etc but it's less and less often as there are just too many books on my ever-growing TBR.
However I throw on the history channel for background noise while working pretty often. So when I saw this cover/book title I figured I'd check out the blurb at the very least because it so easily caught my eye. Then the blurb itself sounded interesting and here we are.
I absolutely don't regret taking a break from the fiction because this book was highly entertaining in so many ways. Obviously the historical part of it was full of interesting bits but I found the human side of it to be a far bigger part than I had expected it to be. This book doesn't just list out, "here is this story about this person in this time period,' it really gives you every possible detail available to flesh out the people discussed. As much as is possible looking back in history you feel like you can see them, where they lived and how. I was even finding myself learning random bits of information about various time periods in general I'd never heard before or thought about. Such as one account of getting the maid pregnant and the resulting marriage and where she and their son ended up living vs where he ended up living, how society took it, how they viewed it, etc. I'd never considered how that situation would have played out with how common of a story it is in the media both fictional and non.
All in all this book was extremely informative on the history side of things but also humanizing the people discussed as it gave you a look into the past. The figures we meet are across the board names I'd never heard of before but their stories are full of ups and downs and I found myself researching them online along side reading this book because I wanted to know more about them.
If you enjoy a good historical read this was well worth it.
Thank you to Netgalley and University of Nebraska Press (Bison Books) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
However I throw on the history channel for background noise while working pretty often. So when I saw this cover/book title I figured I'd check out the blurb at the very least because it so easily caught my eye. Then the blurb itself sounded interesting and here we are.
I absolutely don't regret taking a break from the fiction because this book was highly entertaining in so many ways. Obviously the historical part of it was full of interesting bits but I found the human side of it to be a far bigger part than I had expected it to be. This book doesn't just list out, "here is this story about this person in this time period,' it really gives you every possible detail available to flesh out the people discussed. As much as is possible looking back in history you feel like you can see them, where they lived and how. I was even finding myself learning random bits of information about various time periods in general I'd never heard before or thought about. Such as one account of getting the maid pregnant and the resulting marriage and where she and their son ended up living vs where he ended up living, how society took it, how they viewed it, etc. I'd never considered how that situation would have played out with how common of a story it is in the media both fictional and non.
All in all this book was extremely informative on the history side of things but also humanizing the people discussed as it gave you a look into the past. The figures we meet are across the board names I'd never heard of before but their stories are full of ups and downs and I found myself researching them online along side reading this book because I wanted to know more about them.
If you enjoy a good historical read this was well worth it.
Thank you to Netgalley and University of Nebraska Press (Bison Books) for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews