The fatal environment : the myth of the frontier in the age of industrialization, 1800-1890

In The Fatal Environment, Richard Slotkin demonstrates how the myth of frontier expansion and subjugation of the Indians helped to justify the course of America’s rise to wealth and power. Using Custer’s Last Stand as a metaphor for what Americans feared might happen if the frontier should be closed and the "savage" element be permitted to dominate the "civilized," Slotkin shows the emergence by 1890 of a myth redefined to help Americans respond to the confusion and strife of industrialization and imperial expansion. Discusses the subjugation of Native Americans on the American frontier, and explains how it was used to justify American territorial expansion By Richard Slotkin. Originally Published: New York : Atheneum, 1985. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [587]-618) And Index.