Wild West Women: Travellers, Adventurers and Rebels

by Rosemary Neering

From the Publisher
Travelers, adventures, and rebels, these aren't the women who built the west. Not nurses or teachers or crusaders for women's rights, they rarely show up in history books. They are a different breed of women. Adventurous and rebellious, they strayed outside the permitted and undertook the unexpected.

Most of the women who came to the west coast of Canada between the time of the gold rush and the 1940's settled in Vancouver or Victoria, or in the growing towns in the interior valleys. Out beyond the cities, a different world existed. Imaginative, determined, often raucous and somewhat raunchy, women in the wilds did what they wanted to do. They ran trap lines, hotels and bawdy houses, prospected for gold, lived in the wilderness, and married as many times as they wanted or not at all.

They lived in an era informed by Victorian expectations of what women should do and who she should be.

These are stories of the strength, in dependence and sheer determination of amazing individuals who lived a life that challenged the rules most women lived by.There are the rebels who challenged conventions that dictated how women should behave in an earlier time.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Canada

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2000

Reviews

[Rosie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fully admit first getting this book because I share the same first name as the Author. I also completely love the glimpse into the world of these women, who made their own way in the world and saw and did things and lived in a way unimaginable to most white western women of the time and many now.

Truly a frontier, often filled with decency where survival depends on knowledge, skill and toughness.

I love returning to this book for the inspiration and the love of the Canadian wilderness and countryside.

[Cynthia ChadekWalker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't blow my skirt up. Lots of ladies doing things like owning brothels, inns and leading hikes. Mostly married it seems.

[Alaina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book would have rated 3-4 stars if I'd had any interest in or knowledge of the Canadian frontier. As a book of women's history it falls right in the middle: the author presents many interesting women to the reader, but the writing is mediocre. This book would be a good starting-point for someone interested in gathering names, with the the intent of following up with more in-depth research in subjects like frontier life, female adventurers, etc.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, I'm itchin' for an adventure now! While the writing was very average, the stories of 'Wild West women' were anything but; from pastoral nomads to rowdy tavern owners, Neering has captured the essence of the wild, early days on the Canadian frontier.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Women pioneers in British Columbia Northwest

[Amy-Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wild west women - of Canada!

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting because it's based in this area.

[Luisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It was cool to hear of women trappers, singers, prospectors, pilots, adventurers in Western Canada.

[Joanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lot of brave women. I'm getting some books listed in the bibliography, Chiwid is my favorite.