The American Old West: How Hollywood Made It “Wild” to Make Money & Advance Gun Control

Everyone loves a good western. However, are they really realistic?

Western films are a great example of Hollywood distorting our perspective on history. Outlaws running loose and vigilantes dishing out justice – this so-called “Wild West” is a myth.

The infamous Dodge City, really wasn't so infamous. Historian Richard Shenkman writes that “In the real Dodge City, for example, there were just five killings in 1878, the most homicidal year in the little town’s Frontier history: scarcely enough to sustain a typical two-hour movie.”

Though this period wasn't by any means a paradise, and homesteaders did face their challenges, it's ccrafty settlers found ways through ingenuity and mutual cooperation - all done with very limited state interference - to create a stable order for generations to come.

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