This collection of essays, commissioned for the book, covers aspects of the Western genre such as the early silent western, the western in German cinema, the television westerns of the 1950s, and the singing cowboys of the 1930s. It examines the topic of Native Americans and looks beyond America to examine the European western and to consider the significance of Mexico. The work also looks at the role of westerns in magazine advertising and in fashion, and the spate of TV documentaries on western topics.