Life in the real West was gritty, difficult, and often depressing. Settlers who moved out West faced tremendous challenges to eke out a living as farmers or ranchers. Yes, there were families and communities who pulled together to create a livable life. But there were also many who fell victim to disease and hardship and chronic poverty conditions. Those who rushed out to California to find a fortune during the Gold Rush mostly were disappointed and had to struggle to find jobs and basic income. Life in the real West usually didn't live up to the hopes of those who sought a new start in life there.
As for the romantic image of the noble American cowboy doing battle against the violent Indians, that too is a very glossed-over and glamorized portrayal. As Michael Phillips, coauthor of the textbook, The American Challenge: A New History of the United States, has explained, popular books and radio programs and film portrayed a few Native American characters positively, "though in a subservient, patronizing light. ... Indians usually served as the enemies of white progress in these cowboy melodramas. American audiences easily confused myth with reality." The mythic West became an inspiration for later American imperialism in the Philippines, subjugating a "lesser people."
