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.