Annie Oakley, was an American sharpshooter who became an international star performing for heads of state and royalty. This book is an introduction to the life Annie Oakley whose perfection in her sport inspired Broadway plays, musicals, and songs. Her story is considered a folktale, or legend, which is a story passed on by word-of-mouth through generations, organically changing each time it is told. This exiting volume contains original artwork, historical context of the story, recounts the folktale from diverse cultures, and defines words unique to her legend.

Annie Oakley, was an American sharpshooter who became an international star performing for heads of state and royalty. This book is an introduction to the life Annie Oakley whose perfection in her sport inspired Broadway plays, musicals, and songs. Her story is considered a folktale, or legend, which is a story passed on by word-of-mouth through generations, organically changing each time it is told. This exiting volume contains original artwork, historical context of the story, recounts the folktale from diverse cultures, and defines words unique to her legend.

“Nothing more simple, I assure you. . . . But I’ll tell you what. You must have your mind, your nerve, and everything in harmony. Don’t look at your gun, simply follow the object with the end of it, as if the tip of the barrel was the point of your finger.”—Annie Oakley Annie Oakley is a legend: America’s greatest female sharpshooter, a woman who triumphed in the masculine world of road shows and firearms. Despite her great fame, the popular image of Annie Oakley is far from true. She was neither a swaggering western gal nor a sweet little girl. Annie Oakley was a competitive woman resolved to be the best, and she succeeded. In this comprehensive biography Shirl Kasper sets the record straight, giving us an accurate, honest, and compelling portrait of the woman known as “Little Sure Shot.” Now updated with a new afterword, this account illuminates the life and legend of Annie Oakley, including her start as a comedienne, her later life with Frank Butler, and her final years and struggles.

You want girl power? Meet Annie Oakley! Born in 1860, she became one of the best-loved and most famous women of her generation. She amazed audiences all over the world with her sharpshooting, horse-riding, action-packed performances. In an age when most women stayed home, she traveled the world and forged a new image for American women.

Illus. in full color. Travel back to the era of Buffalo Bill and the Wild West and meet the most famous sharpshooter of all time, Annie Oakley, who could shoot backward by looking in a mirror--or a knife blade!

Born Phoebe Ann Mosey on August 13, 1860, on the rural western border of Ohio, Annie Oakley began hunting at age 9 to support her siblings and widowed mother. She became so skilled at selling the hunted game that she was able to pay off the mortgage to her mother's farm when she was 15. In 1885, she joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West show where she became one of the top acts, along with Sitting Bull. In fact, she even traveled to Europe and performed for Queen Victoria and other crowned heads of state. At the request of the Prince of Prussia, she shot the ashes off a cigarette. Adventurous and brave, Oakley offered her services and 50 lady sharpshooters to President William McKinley during the Spanish-American War, but her offer was not accepted. She continued to show courage, suing and winning a libel case against newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst after he published a false story about her. In her 60s, Oakley supported women's rights and other causes and continued to set shooting records until a year before her death in 1926. In Annie Oakley, read about this remarkable woman whose sharpshooting skills and quick wit won her many fans and admirers.

Long before the silver screen showed the face of Mary Pickford to millions of Americans, Annie Oakley, born as Phoebe Anne Oakley Moses on August 13, 1860, had won the right to the title of “America’s Sweetheart.” Having grown up learning to shoot game to help support her family, Annie won first prize and met Frank Butler at a shooting match when she was fifteen years old. He convinced her to change her name to Annie Oakley and became her husband, manager, and number-one fan for the next fifty years. Annie quickly gained worldwide fame as an incredible crack shot, and could amaze audiences at her uncanny accuracy with nearly any rifle or pistol, whether aiming at stationary objects or shooting fast-flying targets from the cockpit of a moving airplane. In August 1903, when she was well known as a champion shot in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, Oakley became a target of defamation by a reporter for a newspaper owned by media magnate William Randolph Hearst. The libelous story alleged that the famous sure shot had been arrested for stealing and buying drugs. Annie sent a telegram denying the claim and asked the story to be retracted. Hearst refused and the story was then published in all his newspapers. Miss Oakley responded with a libel suit and spent seven years in court fighting the well-known businessman. During the long, drawn-out legal battle, Annie was struggling with health issues. Despite these trials she poured her energy into advocating for the US military, encouraging women to engage in sport shooting, and supporting orphans.