The Art of the Classic Western Movie Poster! Edited by Ed Hulse

Acknowledging the iconic, but with plenty of room for the rare and unfamiliar, The Art of the Classic Western Movie Poster presents poster art created for several hundred classic (and not-so-classic) westerns produced from 1903 to 1978. More than 800 images—many reproduced as full page—make this the most comprehensive book of western movie poster art ever published, and the definitive history of a genre often underestimated for its impact on American audiences.

The book begins with an introduction that details how western movies became popular as a result of America’s fascination with the Wild West, as portrayed in dime novels and pulp-fiction magazines. How and when the genre archetypes—white hat vs. black hat, the cowboy’s love for his horse, the western hero as roving do-gooder—were fixed is discussed.

Each chapter devotes a special feature to a specific “western” star, writer, director, stuntman, or leading lady. Also included are the author’s firsthand interviews conducted from as far back as the mid-1970s. This unique book is a celebration of the American motion picture’s first and most enduringly popular genre.