Review by Karen Ackermann
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The Pony Express is an American icon almost as familiar as the phrase "Mom, apple pie, and baseball." Say "Pony Express" and the revered image of the lone rider galloping across hostile Indian territory on a tough pony immediately comes to mind. It is an image that has become legendary thanks to its embellishment in dime novels, Mark Twain's Roughing It, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, John Ford's western film classics, the art of Frederic Remington, and scores of children's books. It is a familiar, beloved, and powerful image that encapsulates the bravery, bravado, individualism, and the willingness to take entrepreneurial risks that Americans have long believed represent themselves as a people. Has the image overpowered the truth? The author digs beneath the legends and myths in search of the real Pony Express. Did you know it was officially called the Central Overland California & Pike's Peak Express Company? Did you know that it ran from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California? Or that it only lasted for about 1.5 years, starting in 1860? Did you know that the telegraph put it out of business? As fast and reliable as the Pony Express had been when compared to other modes of mail transport, telegraph wires were faster--even if their operation lacked the romance of wiry young men and racing horses. By asking questions and searching for answers, daring to brook a well-entrenched icon, Corbett reveals a real past as fully as exciting as the legendary past. |
