An Englishman’s Adventure

Hundreds of people kept journals highlighting their travels across America in the 19th century, but Evelyn Booth’s account of the journey he and several companions took from November 1884 to April 1885 is unique. Kellen Cutsforth has edited Booth’s journal in Buffalo Bill, Boozers, Brothers, and Bare-Knuckle Brawlers: An Englishman’s Journal of Adventure in America, adding detailed footnotes and additional contextual detail. Booth’s diary is one of the most unvarnished versions of the adventures of young men who drank and gambled their way from New York to St. Louis to Texas to Florida. Booth chronicles hunting adventures, visits to brothels and the connection he had with Buffalo Bill Cody that led the showman to take his Wild West show to Europe.

— Candy Moulton, author of Valentine T. McGillycuddy: Army Surgeon, Agent to the Sioux