A Companion to the American West (Blackwell Companions to American History)

Presents an introduction to the history of the American West. This work covers the culture, politics, and environment of the American West through periods of migration, settlement and modernization. It discusses Native Americans and their conflicts and integration with American settlers. "A Companion to the American West" is a rigorous, illuminating introduction to the history of the American West. Twenty-five essays by expert scholars synthesize the best and most provocative work in the field and provide a comprehensive overview of themes and historiography. This work covers the culture, politics, and environment of the American West through periods of migration, settlement, and modernization. It discusses Native Americans and their conflicts and integration with American settlers Cover......Page 1 Series......Page 3 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Notes on Contributors......Page 9 Introduction......Page 12 Part I: Thinking Through the American West......Page 14 1 – The Making of the First American West and the Unmaking of Other Realms......Page 16 2 – Thinking West......Page 36 Part II: Conquest and Its Patterns: The Nineteenth Century......Page 62 3 – Passion and Imagination in the Exploration of the American West......Page 64 4 – Environment and the Nineteenth-Century West: Or, Process Encounters Place......Page 88 5 – Engineering the Elephant: Industrialism and the Environment in the Greater West......Page 104 6 – Mining and the Nineteenth-Century American West......Page 123 7 – Law and the Contact of Cultures......Page 141 8 – Native Americans in the Nineteenth-Century American West......Page 154 9 – Western Violence......Page 173 10 – Bringing It All Back Home: Rethinking the History of Women and the Nineteenth-Century West......Page 190 11 – Empire and Liberty: Contradictions and Conflicts in Nineteenth-Century Western Political History......Page 211 Part III: Exceptionalism or Regionalism? The Twentieth-Century American West......Page 230 12 – African Americans in the Twentieth-Century West......Page 232 13 – The West and Workers, 1870–1930......Page 251 14 – Societies to Match the Scenery: Twentieth-Century Environmental History in the American West......Page 267 15 – Where to Draw the Line? The Pacific, Place, and the US West......Page 282 16 – Religion and the American West......Page 297 17 – Transients and Stickers: The Problem of Community in the American West......Page 315 18 – American Indians in the Twentieth Century......Page 340 19 – The New Deal’s West......Page 357 20 – Art, Ideology, and the West......Page 372 21 – “The West Plays West”: Western Tourism and the Landscape of Leisure......Page 386 22 – Hispanics and Latinos......Page 401 23 – City Lights: Urban History in the West......Page 423 24 – Politics and the Twentieth-Century American West......Page 453 25 – The Literary West and the Twentieth Century......Page 471 A......Page 492 B......Page 495 C......Page 501 D......Page 506 E......Page 509 F......Page 511 G......Page 514 H......Page 518 I......Page 522 J......Page 523 K......Page 525 L......Page 527 M......Page 531 N......Page 538 O......Page 539 P......Page 540 R......Page 544 S......Page 548 T......Page 553 U-V......Page 556 W......Page 557 Y-Z......Page 562 A......Page 564 B......Page 565 C......Page 566 D-E......Page 569 F......Page 570 G......Page 571 H......Page 572 I......Page 573 J-K-L......Page 574 M......Page 576 N-O......Page 578 P......Page 579 Q-R......Page 580 S......Page 581 T-U......Page 583 V-W......Page 584 X-Y-Z......Page 585

A Companion to the American West is a rigorous, illuminating introduction to the history of the American West. Twenty-five essays by expert scholars synthesize the best and most provocative work in the field. Each essay covers a subtopic of western American history, its major concerns, and its major works to provide a comprehensive overview of themes and historiography. The essays not only come from the perspective of the “new western history,” reflecting a resurgence in both scholarly and public interest in the region, but also reflect other schools and positions, such as ethnic studies, cultural studies, and subfields of environmental and gender history.

The Companion covers such topics as industrialism, women, Native Americans, exploration, religion, politics, and art. Also included is a combined bibliography to aid further research. The essays are lively, well written, and suited to the student, scholar, and all interested readers of the history of the American West.

A rigorous introduction to the history of the American West. Over 20 essays by expert scholars synthesize the best work in the field. Each essay covers a subtopic of American Western history, its major concerns and its major works to provide an overview of themes and historiography