Dime Novels

I always wanted to be a cowboy growing up. I am not really sure why but something about stories of the wild west caught my attention early on. There is something so luring about riding into the sunset on a noble steed. I think that all of the spaghetti westerns I watched with my dad played a big role in all of it. The tales of the American west colored my childhood dreams.

I think I have found a way to relive some of those early childhood dreams and a possible answer as to why stories of the west play such a prominent role in our national identity. It is the dime novel.

A dime novel is  short publication, roughly 100 pages, that has some story written for entertainment. They are closely related to comic books of our day and TV series. They were popular during the mid-1800's and their popularity extended into the early- 1900's. The format and look of these short novels changed over time but generally they were cheap (5 to 15 cents, usually 10), short, and available to a wide group of people.

We are indebted to these publications for many stories that we think of as classics today. Characters like Buffalo Bill, Jesse James, and many others have been immortalized through dime novel publications. Many detective stories were started through dime novels. I found a great site that contains thousands of dime novels so that anyone can read them. My favorite is a story about Jesse James.

The American West plays a huge role in our national identity. The Greeks and Romans had their epic poems. Homer lives on still. The English have stories of King Author and his round table. The Germans had the Grimm brothers entertaining the youth with stories and we have the wild west. Cowboys and other tales of the west have a huge impact on who we are. For example, stories of the pioneers create a special identity within the LDS community. I love the wild west, and I owe a huge debt to dime novels for perpetuating the stories, even if they are not all true.