When many of us think of the Wild West, we think of a place where gunmen ruled with selfish impunity, cowboys waged war on rival ranches, and the bank was the most dangerous spot in town.
Much of this was a myth, created by Hollywood directors to sell the idea of a lawless desert ruled by violence. In reality, the Western reaches of American civilization were ruled by a strict code—the code of the West. That code is what kept order and dignity on the undeveloped plains. It shaped the cowboy into a cultural avatar of American values, just as much as the horses, longhorns, and dusty ranches ever did.
