8. The dime novels fictionalized the lives of past American heroes
In the early dime novels, Daniel Boone became indelibly linked with Kentucky, despite the real Boone spending a greater portion of his life in Missouri than in the former state. Boone became a great hunter and Indian fighter, as well as a hero of the American Revolution, a friend of George Washington, and the greatest marksman in America. He also became a friend and sometime companion of Davy Crockett, another great hunter and Indian fighter. Inexplicably, he was also the greatest marksman in America. Crockett’s and Boone’s real lives and contributions were buried under the fictionalized accounts in the dime novels and serials.
Crockett was often portrayed as a hero of the Texas Revolution, engaged in several battles with Santa Anna and the Mexican Army besides the only one in which he was truly involved at the Alamo. Dime novels, and the myths they created and spread, remained popular until a new form of entertainment emerged in the 20th century. Eventually, their stories influenced the writers of other forms of westerns, such as Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour, though both of those writers also fictionalized American history repeatedly. By the beginning of the 20th century, most of what Americans knew of their own history was sensationalized fiction.