“Daughters of Daring: Hollywood Cowgirl Stunt Women” by Chris Enss

c.2026, Lyons Press, $34.95, 258 pages

In smithereens.

That’s what the wagon is, after breaking apart at the bottom of the canyon. Outlaws were chasing Our Heroine when her wagon tipped and went over the cliff, boom, crash. Still, the horse is fine, and so is Our Heroine because it’s just an old black-and-white flick and, as in the new book, “Daughters of Daring” by Chris Enss, Our Heroine and women like her were total movie pros.

So, you think you’ve got a lousy job.

A century or so ago, when movie making was in its infancy and Western films were wildly popular, producers and directors were well aware of the limits on their beautiful starlets. Hiring them wasn’t cheap, and they were generally reluctant to do anything dangerous – which is why the film industry needed cowgirls. 

Even the word was new and daring.

Cowgirls – former female ranchers, wranglers and equestriennes – would happily perform leaps off horseback. They’d do the cattle-roping, the wagon-off-the-cliff action, chase scenes and shoot-outs, and they’d do it all for roughly $11 a day, fees negotiable.

But the show must go on.

Lucille Mulhall’s mother dreamed of “ball gowns, cotillions and midafternoon teas” for her daughter, but you don’t usually find those things on the back of a horse. Married several times, LuLu Belle Parr was also the apple of “the one-time president of Argentina” who admired her talents on a bucking bronc. May Manning Lillie was working toward a Bachelor of Arts degree when she married and became a stuntwoman. Anita Bush was the first Black stuntwoman to star in a Western film. Helen Gibson became famous due to another star’s illness. Tillie Baldwin grew up in Norway and was a hairdresser when she first immigrated to America. Lorena Trickey was once arrested for murder.

“Their work has been seen by millions of filmgoers who seldom consider feats of daring that were performed by women other than the names on movie posters,” says Enss. But their personal lives were just as audacious...

Insomnia, overwork, whatever brought you to the TV in the middle of the night, can be soothed by an old black-and-white movie that’s hokey and irresistible. Yeah, and remember: the actors in that flick were real people who did the dangerous stuff that AI does now.

Knowing that should make you want to reach for “Daughters of Daring.”

Beginning in the mid-1800s with the circus and P.T. Barnum, Enss brings to life a whole cadre of performers who were feminists before feminism even existed, living life on their own terms when such a thing was rare. Despite the occasional typo, reading about these women is enlightening, sometimes humorous, but also oddly empowering as it smashes any mythology you might have about women’s lives at the turn of the last century.

Our great-grandmothers were bad. Real bad.

This is a must-have for Western novel fans, of course, but movie buffs and readers of women’s history will want it, too. “Daughters of Daring” is exciting, revealing, and perfect for when you need a break.