Print Price: $72.95

Format:
Paperback
904 pp.
234 b/w & 16 color illus., 248 mm x 189 mm

ISBN-13:
9780195112122

Publication date:
April 1999

Imprint: OUP US

The Oxford History of the American West

Edited by Clyde A. Milner, II, Carol A. O'Connor and Martha A. Sandweiss

When we think of the American West, we tend to conjure up images that are known the world over: bearded forty-niners leading pack mules up a mountain trail, the Oklahoma land stampede, Custer's Last Stand, and especially the range-riding, quick-shooting cowboy. But these familiar images are only a small part of western history. From the arrival of the Navajos in the Southwest more than seven hundred years ago, to the first Spanish settlements in New Mexico in the late sixteenth century, to the large Mormon migration to the Great Salt Lake, to the tourists flocking to the neon landscape of modern Las Vegas, the complex story of the West stretches across centuries, embracing many voices and contrasting cultures. The West is in fact as varied as America itself. Indeed, to enlarge on Wallace Stegner's singular phrase, the West is America, only more so.
Lavishly illustrated and based on the finest scholarship, The Oxford History of the American West is the first comprehensive study to do full justice to the rich complexity of this region. It brings together the work of twenty-eight leading western historians who explore this area from a dazzling number of perspectives. They provide insightful portraits of the West as a distinctive place of varied peoples--native and non-native, European and Asian, African and Latino--and of varied terrain--from the timbered Pacific Northwest to the Dakota Badlands, and from the fires of Kilauea to the ice cliffs of Glacier Bay, Alaska. They describe the great wealth generated by a series of spectacular bonanzas, such as gold at Sutter's Mill, copper in Butte, Montana, and oil on Alaska's north shore; illuminate the role of the West in the national and global economy; and consider the environmental challenges created by replacing buffalo with cattle or by designating national parks and military test sites. The book also examines the social forces behind the violence of the West, the great political movements that affected the region (most notably, the Populist Party), and the importance of families in settling the West (for instance, tracing one family's westward migration over 150 years). The authors provide important insights about many longstanding controversies, and they offer not only the fruits of the latest thinking about the West, but also a vivid sense of how people actually lived. For instance, we read of pioneers who grated green corn to make pudding they flavored with berries and grasshoppers, and who ate the culms (the soft inner linings of the stalks) like asparagus. Finally, each chapter concludes with an extensive annotated bibliography, offering a full review of related material, and there is a comprehensive index to guide readers to topcis of special interest.
Ranging from a thoughtful analysis of John Ford's classic My Darling Clementine, and a survey of Western art and literature (including figures as diverse as Francis Parkman, Frederic Remington, Willa Cather, Georgia O'Keeffe, and N. Scott Momaday) to a careful consideration of recent events, such as the Los Angeles riots of 1992 and a revisionist look at cattle grandee Granville Stuart (once Montana's most revered pioneer), this lively, authoritative volume continually challenges the familiar as it broadens the reader's understanding of a vast and varied region.

Reviews

• "Showcasing the talents of twenty-eight prominent historians, this massive (888-page) and highly innovative reference takes a topical approach, emphasizing themes of gender, ethnicity, politics, economics, the environment, art, and popular culture....A monumental contribution to western history...One of the most attractive reference books on the market....It should enjoy brisk use in college classrooms and find a comfortable niche in every western library."--The Journal of Arizona History
• "Consider this a book to graze in. Each of the 23 chapters stands alone and supplies plenty of rewards. Adding to the pleasure is the fact tht the book is lavishly illustrated with charts and maps and with old and new illustrations in color and black-and-white."--Memphis Commercial Appeal
• "The Oxford University Press is known for the impeccable scholarship of its numerous reference books. This title is no exception.... Besides researchers, the book will be invaluable to teachers at all levels who want to move their curricula beyond simple 'cowboy and Indian' history."--KLIATT
• "Frontier fans will find much to please them here, and so will followers of the new western history....This is a lavishly and beautifully illustrated volume."--Susan Armitage
• "A rich, comprehensive study of this country's most fascinating region....It is a work to be savored at any pace the reader chooses."--San Antonio Express-News
• "Spectacular in its scope...Having all this information in one book is a joy."--Los Angeles Life
• "A magnificent scholarly guide to the region....A compendium that is at once encyclopedic, readable and wonderfully illustrated."--The Chicago Tribune
• "Attractive [and] provocative... bound to impress both the expert and the recreational historian."--Booklist
• "Informative and engaging topical essays by leading historians....A reference volume for the general public and an invaluable resource for scholars."--Southern Historian
• "This is the most comprehensive book for the layman."--San Gabriel Valley California
• "It is truly staggering--a fresh, innovative, and dramatically comprehensive survey of the past and present American West."--Alvin M. Josephy, Jr., author of Civil War in the American West
• "The American West is a big, unruly subject, but this book manages to rope, flank, and tie it with amazing grace. Among compendiums of frontier America, The Oxford History of the American West just may be the daddy of 'em all."--Jane and Michael Stern, authors of Way Out West
• "A richly textured collection that will intrigue the scholar and the Western history enthusiast alike. Its essays offer insight into the West from the earliest times to the present....For cutting-edge perspectives one only need turn to the Oxford History of the American West."--Glenda Riley
• "An excellent addition to the library of anyone interested in the triumphs and tragedies of the American West."--Tony Hillerman
• "A fine, concise reference work."--Tony Hillerman
• "A stunning portrait of the West....Through these many hundred pages are sprinkled beguiling tidbits."--The Wall Street Journal
• "A great collection of articles and material. It works well with a topical approach to the subect."--Lloyd Evans, Saddleback College, CA