The history of the Wild West has long been fictionalized in novels, films, and television shows. Catering to these popular representations, towns across America have created tourist sites connecting such tales with historical monuments. Yet these attractions stray from known histories in favor of the embellished past visitors expect to see.

In Mythic Frontiers, Daniel Maher illustrates how aggrandized versions of the past have been used to turn a profit. Examining the imagined frontier town of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Maher warns that disconnecting cultural heritage tourism from history minimizes the devastating consequences of imperialism, racism, and sexism and relegitimizes the privilege bestowed upon white men.