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Reprinted from Maclean’s magazine, October 28, 1996:
At home on the range
writer Candace Savage publishes Cowgirls
Natural history writer Candace Savage shared the ambition of many little girls as she grew up in the 1950s–to be a cowgirl. Having never been closer to a horse than one on a merry-go-round, however, the Saskatoon-based Savage says she eventually realized her goal was not very practical. Still, the image of the “rootin’ tootin’ dame” crossing both the real and the gender frontiers stayed with her, so she set out to discover the reality behind such Hollywood creations as Dale Evans. In her book, Cowgirls, Savage uses prose and historical images to show them in all their glory. They range from rough-and-ready ranchers, to Wild west heroes like Annie Oakley, to TV and movie stars like Barbara Stanwyck, who was so fearless in performing her own stunts that the Blackfoot Indians she worked with on one film named her Princess Many Victories. Savage, whose research took her from the Glenbow-Alberta Institute in Calgary to the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Tex., says the cowgirl has become a powerful symbol of liberation for many North American women. Adds Savage: “She has always been there when we needed her most.”
