Part geographical location, part time period, and part state of
mind, the American West is a concept often invoked but rarely
defined. Though popular culture has carved out a short and specific
time and place for the region, author and longtime Californian
Stephen Aron tracks "the West" from the building of the Cahokia
Mounds around 900 AD to the post-World War II migration to
California. His Very Short Introduction stretches the chronology,
enlarges the geography, and varies the casting, providing a history
of the American West that is longer, larger, and more complicated
than popular culture has previously suggested. It is a history of
how portions of North America became Wests, how parts of these
became American, and how ultimately American Wests became the
American West. Aron begins by describing the expansion of Indian
North America in the centuries before and during its early
encounters with Europeans. He then explores the origins of American
westward expansion from the Seven Years' War to the 1830s, focusing
on the western frontier at the time: the territory between the
Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. He traces the
narrative - temporally and geographically - through the discovery
of gold in California in the mid-nineteenth century and the
subsequent rush to the Pacific Slope. He shows how the passage of
the Newlands Reclamation Act in 1902 brought an unprecedented level
of federal control to the region, linking the West more closely to
the rest of the United States, and how World War II brought a new
rush of population (particularly to California), further raising
the federal government's profile in the region and heightening the
connections between the West and the wider world. Authoritative,
lucid, and ranging widely over issues of environment, people, and
identity, this is the American West stripped of its myths. The
complex convergence of peoples, polities, and cultures that has
decisively shaped the history of the American West serves as the
key interpretive thread through this Very Short Introduction. ABOUT
THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford
University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every
subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get
ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts,
analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make
interesting and challenging topics highly readable.
General
Imprint: |
Oxford UniversityPress
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Very Short Introductions |
Release date: |
December 2014 |
Authors: |
Stephen Aron
(Professor of History and Vice Chair for Academic Personnel)
|
Dimensions: |
174 x 114 x 8mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
160 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-19-985893-4 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
American history >
General
Books >
History >
American history >
General
|
LSN: |
0-19-985893-4 |
Barcode: |
9780199858934 |
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