The enduring image evoked by the American West is one of grand
physical and historical romance, spectacle, and drama. Many
generations of historians, both popular and academic, have sought
to communication the unique characteristics of this region, whose
history and physical setting have for so long captured the public
imagination. In the "Historical Atlas of the American West," a
historian and a geographer meet this challenge by telling the story
of the region from a comprehensive geographical perspective.
Defining the American West as the seventeen contiguous states from
the one-hundredth meridian westward (Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Nebraska, North and South Dakota, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming,
Montana, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, California, Oregon, and
Washington), Warren A. Beck and Ynez D. Haase provide seventy-eight
maps, each with explanatory text and a selective bibliography of
further readings.
This atlas presents the history of the West from prehistoric
times to the present. The physical characteristics of the
region--its natural resources and geographic features, climatic
zones, agricultural regions, mineral resources, and native flora
fauna--are presented, along with special maps stressing the impact
of natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, and the eruption
of Mount St. Helens.
Several maps provide unique views of Western Indians from
ancient times to the latter part of the nineteenth century,
including maps devoted to the tragedy at Wounded Knee, the Ghost
Dance Religion, and Indian judicial districts. All the major
explorations and overland movements in the region, as well as the
evolution of transportation routes--from cattle trails to modern
railroads--are depicted. The Spanish-Mexican land grants are
presented in detail, with special emphasis on the early ranchos of
Texas. Locations of important military events and installations,
ranging from the Indian Wars of West to World War II POW camps, are
recorded.
Beck and Haase have thus succeeded in synthesizing and
capsulizing a vast amount of information on the American West to
create seventy-eight vignettes of uniquely western events and life
ways from 1536 to 1980. Offering insights into the region's
geography and the various groups that have populated the West over
the centuries, this atlas will provide a valuable reference for
scholars and fascinating entertainment for Western history
buffs.
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