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This unique collection of essays and documents brings to life the major topics in American western and frontier history from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
List of contents
1. Defining the West and Its History
Statements
Frederick Jackson Turner, The Significance of the Frontier in American History (1894) and The Problem of the West (1896)
Walter Prescott Webb, The Great Plains (1931)
Patricia Nelson Limerick, The Legacy of Conquest (1987) and What on Earth Is the New Western History (1991)
William Cronon, Revisiting the Vanishing Frontier: The Legacy of Frederick Jackson Turner (1987)
Donald Worster, New West, True West: Interpreting the Region's History (1987)
ESSAYS
Walter Nugent, Where Is the American West? Report on a Survey
Clyde A. Milner II, America Only More So
2. Spanish Borderlands and Native Homelands
DOCUMENTS
Don Luís de Velasco's Manifest, 1597
Nicolás de Aguilar's Worldly Goods, 1663
The Count of Paredes' Report on the Pueblo Indians' Revolt, 1681
Pedro Naranjo's Testimony, 1681
Bishop Tamarón Visits Santa Fe and Taos, 1760
Father Junípero Serra Asks Viceroy Antonio Bucareli for Leniency for the Indians, 1775
ESSAYS
Ramon A. Gutierrez, Honor and Marriage in New Mexico
Albert L. Hurtado, Sexuality in California's Franciscan Missions
3. Cultural Contacts and Contracts
DOCUMENTS
Buckskin Charlie on Southern Ute Creation, Recorded 1912
Chippewa Contact Narrative, Recorded 1855
Wolf Calf (Piegan) on the Appearance of Horses, Recorded 1895
Francis Chardon on the Destruction of the Arikaras and Mandans by Smallpox, 1837
George Ruxton on Life Among the Trappers, and the Trappers' View of Women, 1847-1849
ESSAYS
Sylvia Van Kirk, Native Women in Canadian Fur Trade Society
Dan Flores, Bison Ecology and Bison Diplomacy
4. Federal Support of Explorers and Emigrants
DOCUMENTS
Meriwether Lewis at the Great Falls of the Missouri, 1805
The Stephen Long Expedition's Report of a Frontier Barrier, 1821
George Gibbs with the Mounted Riflemen Observes Emigrants on the Overland Trails, 1849
Impressions of the Overland Journey from Vincent Geiger and Wakeman Bryarly, 1849
The Overland Trails: Three Tables of Statistics
ESSAYS
William H. Goetzmann, From the Northwest Passage to the "Great Reconnaissance"
John D. Unruh, Jr., The Federal Government's Aid to Overland Emigrants
5. The Legacy of Acquisition
DOCUMENTS
Mexican General Mariano Arista's Advice to the Soldiers of the U.S. Army, 1846
Anastasio Parrode, Commander-in-Chief of the Department of Tamaulipas, to His Troops, 1846
Charles DeMorse Gives a Texan's View of the War with Mexico, 1846
John C. Calhoun on Incorporating Mexico, 1848
John A. Dix on Expansion and Mexican Lands, 1848
Queen Liliuokalani's Statement at Her Trial for Treason, 1895
From Haunani-Kay Trask, a Native Daughter in Colony Hawai`i, 1993
ESSAYS
Thomas R. Hietala, The Myths of Manifest Destiny
John Whitehead, Hawaii: The First and Last Far West?
6. Cowboys, Outlaws, and Violence
DOCUMENTS
The Death of Jesse James, 1882
Granville Stuart Recalls Rustlers and Vigilantes, 1883-1884
Helen Wiser Stewart Writes of Her Husband's Murder, 1884
Theodore Roosevelt Describes Cowboy-Land, 1893
An Arkansas Newspaper on the Killing of Bill Dalton, 1894
ESSAYS
Robert R. Dykstra, The Cattle Towns Adjust to Violence (with a Postscript)
Richard White, Outlaw Gangs and Social Bandits
7. Children, Marriage, and Families
Photo Documents
David Hilton Homestead, Custer County, Nebraska, 1887
Ira Watson House, Custer County, Nebraska, 1886
Stewart Family in Spokane, Washington, 1889
Alice Jasperson, Goshen, Utah, Sewing a Flag, c. 1917
Lincoln J. Smith and Margaret E. Breeden Smith with Their Children in California, date unknown
A Chinese Family in California, date unknown
Joseph F. Smith and His Polygamous Family in Utah, c. 1900
Chipeta and Her Family in Dragon, Utah, 1907
ESSAYS
Elliott West, Children and the Frontier
Paula Petrik, Not a Love Story: Bordeaux v. Bordeaux
8. Contested Reforms
DOCUMENTS
Sir Richard Burton Examines Mormon Polygamy, 1860
Helen Mar Whitney Defends Plural Marriage, 1884
"Brigham, Brigham Young," An Anti-Mormon Folk Song, Collected in 1932
Testimony of Anti-Chinese Witnesses, 18
Summary
This unique collection of essays and documents brings to life the major topics in American western and frontier history from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.
