“Fascinating. . . . [A] clearly written book. . . . Boag’s amazing research demonstrates that cross-dressing was a common phenomenon in [the American West]. . . . [An] impressive contribution to western and gender history.”
“Because it uncovers a wealth of stories that are overdue for telling, Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past is the ticket. If you’re a western history buff especially, you need to outfit yourself with this book soon.”
“Absorbing and essential reading for those interested in transgender history, the history of sexuality, and the history of the American West.”
“Innovative. . . . Fascinating. . . . This original and convincing book lays claim to the significance of cross-dressing for western as well as American history. . . . With a keen scholarly edge, [Boag] successfully breaks down gender and sexual binaries. . . . Re-dressing America’s Frontier Past not only displays the explanatory power that results from linking the analysis of human experience to memory but also establishes the author as the foremost historian of sexuality in the American West.”
"Both an enjoyable read an an illuminating addition to our knowledge of the real American frontier experience."
"Meticulously documented and eminently readable, the book is an essential contribution to our understanding of gender in American history."
"Boag has made a significant addition to the new histories of the Old West."
"Boag’s extensive research, well-written prose, and careful analysis make this slim volume a worthy addition to the bookshelves of sexuality and gender historians as well as queer and trans studies scholars interested in how narratives of nationalism and lived experiences of gender diversity intersect. Most of all, though, it is a great book for anyone seeking fascinating and moving tales about trans lives forged in unexpected places."
"Boag’s work in Re-dressing detailing the pervasiveness of crossdressers in the American West and their importance to early frontier communities will correct a glaring omission from the story of our nation’s past. This will, in turn, raise questions against those values and prejudices that have grown up with the prevailing myths of the American West and under whose limitations we continue to be confined. It is a well-researched, in-depth, carefully thought out examination of a neglected aspect of our national heritage, and one that has compelling relevance to contemporary society."
“The recovery of these accounts over a century later is an important step toward understanding a hitherto hidden aspect of our frontier past.”
"An important contribution to western history and the history of sexuality."
"An amibitious valuable book."
“An important, persuasive, and fascinating intervention in the literature on the American frontier." —Lisa Duggan, author of The Twilight of Equality? Neoliberalism, Cultural Politics, and the Attack on Democracy
“Peter Boag's Re-dressing America's Frontier Past does just that: it re-imagines the American West as a place where cross-dressing is abundant and its meanings are as varied as the individuals themselves. Vividly written and broad in scope, Boag's compelling narrative debunks the gendered myths of the west and writes hundreds of stories back into history.”
—Nan Alamilla Boyd, author of Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965
“Peter Boag’s Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past invites readers to reimagine fundamental ideas about sex, gender, and the history of the American West. Brilliant and perceptive, Boag rediscovers a past that once existed but that was forgotten as new ideas about sexuality emerged in the early twentieth century. Boag makes the lives of the West’s many cross-dressers central to his narrative, and the world they reveal gives us an opportunity to understand history in ways that are more comprehensive and humane. Boag's book sheds new light on the American frontier as well as the history of sex and gender.” —Albert Hurtado, author of Intimate Frontiers: Sex, Gender, and Culture in Old California
“Peter Boag uncovers the rich and heretofore hidden history of cross dressers with wit and wisdom, humor and humanity. He adds another crucial layer to our understanding of the West's complicated gendered past and in the process demolishes the region's mythical identity as a virile, white, masculine, heterosexual frontier. The book illuminates the sources of that limited view and liberates us from it.” —Sherry L. Smith, author of Reimaging Indians: Native Americans Through Anglo Eyes, 1880-1940
“A fascinating excursion into a side of western life rarely acknowledged today but surprisingly open and remarked upon at the time. Boag's thoughts on the reasons for the historical blurring are as provocative as his stories are intriguing and often poignant.” —Elliott West, author of The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story
“This book by the foremost historian of sexuality in the American West is a classic before its time. The history of Westerns cross-dressing is placed within numerous historical contexts, deeply researched, and presented with multiple nuances and thorough analysis. At the same time, we learn of the personal, of the many people who might never have had their significant stories. A stellar and stunning work!” —John R. Wunder, author of “Writing of Race, Class, Gender, and Power in the American West” in North America: Tensions and (Re)Solutions
“Original and provocative—Boag finds ample evidence of women and men in western towns and cities who challenged familiar binaries of heteronormative manhood and womanhood through cross-dressing, same-sex intimacy, and trans-gendered identities. But the real story is how communities made meaning of these identities. Boag links sexologists’ promotion of heteronormativity with notions of a redemptive frontier, anti-modernism, and national identity. The results are entirely new perspectives on the imagined West and its place in American history.” —Dee Garceau-Hagen, editor of Across the Great Divide: Cultures of Manhood in the American West
