Probing behind the "wide-open         city" moniker Butte has worn so well, Mining Cultures shows         how the western city evolved from a male-dominated mining enclave to a         community in which men and women participated on a more equal basis as         leisure patterns changed and consumer culture grew.       Mary Murphy's engagingly written         book is the first serious look at how women worked and spent their leisure         time in a city dominated by men's work--mining. In bringing Butte to life,         she draws on church weeklies, high school yearbooks, holiday rituals,         movie plots, and news of local fashion, in addition to the more customary         court cases, newspapers, and interviews.       Her lively chronicle of the         growth of consumer culture in Butte is richly illustrated. It will interest         those in western and women's history, leisure and consumerism studies,         and labor and immigration history, as well as general readers.       A volume in the series         Women in American History, edited by Anne Firor Scott, Nancy A. Hewitt,         and Stephanie Shaw