Bulls-eye: A Photobiography of Annie Oakley

Annie Oakley was an American icon. Born in the backwoods of Ohio, she grew up supporting her poor family with game she shot with her dead father’s rifle. She proved a natural markswoman and launched a career in show business after she was discovered by Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show. She wowed audiences with target shooting, trick shots, daring horse riding and plenty of flair. She married another marksman, Frank Butler, and theirs was a life-long partnership of shooting together, travelling together, and performing from small towns in Ohio to the grand cities of Europe. Annie collected fans easily, becoming the adopted daughter of Sitting Bull who gave her the name, Little Sure Shot, shaking hands with the Prince and Princess of Wales and performing for the German Kaiser in a special exhibition where she is said to have shot a cigarette from his hand. The travelling Wild West show helped foster the myths of frontier western life that endure in American consciousness even today. Annie Oakley, who established herself as an American original and made herself famous in a man’s world, is a fascinating slice of that process. Her myth has endured in the form of movies, books, TV shows and plays. Sue Macy presents her compelling story through a fascinating readable text, extraordinary historical photographs, and quotes from Annie’s own writings and speeches. An afterword helps put Annie in modern context. An index, chronology, and bibliography make for easy reference.