Download or read book Cowboys, Gangsters, and Beatniks written by Jason Andrew Narvy and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The purpose of this study is to reexamine dramas of the American West as stories of endemic individual alienation rather than of the traditionally accepted narration of Euro-American nation building. As our country has come to embrace new notions of citizenship, diversity, and tolerance, the Western genre--for many years understood as mere entertainment designed to celebrate Anglo manhood--has made a surprising resurgence in popular fiction, television, and film in ways that challenge the gendered and racial overtones associated with it. By examining the Western as a genre that presents the rootlessness, plurality, and inhomogeneous nature of the national character this study traces an inclusive narrative that depicts a shared experience of America's disparate populations--the collective memory of having been, at some point in our shared history, alienated from the status quo.