“The Colonel and Little Missie, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and the Beginnings of Superstardom in America” by Larry McMurtry, Simon & Schuster, 245 pages, $26

Larry McMurtry is clearly an American star. He writes one or two best-selling books a year, has seen them made into movies and TV series, won a Pulitzer Prize and turned his hometown of Archer City, Texas, into a book town.

Yet, walking down most American main streets, McMurtry would not be recognized as a star. That honor goes to superstars, and he writes about the first of them, at the turn of the 20th century, Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley. At the height of their fame, McMurtry writes, in the 1880s and 1890s, “their images were recognized the world over. Buffalo Bill was probably the most famous American of his day; he was easily more famous than any president, more famous even than Theodore Roosevelt.”

There have been many books and biographies written about William Cody and Annie Oakley, and the author lists two pages of them in a bibliography. Among the best on Buffalo Bill that McMurtry cites from is a 1979 book by Nellie Snyder Yost of North Platte, looking at the famous man’s family, friends, fame, failures and fortunes, with much of the episode taking place in Nebraska, where Buffalo Bill pretty much invented rodeos and began his world-hopping Wild West Show.

McMurtry’s book starts by comparing the funerals of his main characters. Bill Cody lost control of his funeral because of debt to a Denver newspaper magnate, just as he lost control over “large patches of his life,” and wasn’t buried until five months after his death, at a location and manner not of his choosing. Oakley, by contrast, “died precisely as she shot” with a female embalmer, lady undertaker and clear instructions on ceremony and her burial dress. Each of the superstars was absolutely in character, McMurtry writes.

There were other differences, even though Cody and Oakley gained stardom from each other during some 17 years together in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. Cody had real Plains adventures that endangered his life and a famous fight to the death with a Native foe (probably). His thrilling adventures became the heart of his worldwide show. Oakley was different. Her stardom came from a “sense of occasion, and her consummate skill with the gun,” McMurtry writes. She was from Ohio and never lived farther west than Cincinnati, but her bullets always found their mark, making her the ruling sharpshooter of her day.

Though the author delves into some biographical history of the two stars, especially trying to authenticate the early adventures of Buffalo Bill, the heart of this nonfiction work is in the Wild West Show. It traveled the world, especially drawing huge crowds in England and Europe, with two appearances before Queen Victoria. The dashing Cody was the toast of two sides of the Atlantic.

Buffalo Bill was not the most stable of stars. He could, and did, perform drunk and was careless about money; with a generous heart he loaned thousands of dollars to down-and-outers with little prospect of being repaid. He was a much better showman than a show manager, and when he lost key people to move his huge show across land and sea he often floundered.

It is an enormous source of pride that this first superstar, though born in Iowa, spent much of his private life in Nebraska. From his early days as a Pony Express rider and Army scout to the creation of his Scout’s Rest ranch at North Platte, he lived and loved Nebraska.

And though McMurtry doesn’t catch the connection, it should be noted that another Nebraskan approached Cody’s world fame at about the same time. William Jennings Bryan, born in Illinois, made Nebraska his home and the launching pad for three tries as Democratic nominee for president.

Today, we have superstars and their fan clubs and press followers seemingly everywhere. We all know about Elvis and Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Frank Sinatra, the Beatles and the many, many other performers who are and have been superstars. It is a fine tribute to now know more about the original superstars and their effect on people —Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley.

Francis Moul, Ph.D., is an environmental historian.