BOOKS:
Cerami, Charles A. Jefferson's Great Gamble: The Remarkable Story of Jefferson, Napoleon and the Men Behind the Louisiana Purchase. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2003.
Charles Cerami looks at the events surrounding the acquisition of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The author examines the process of negotiation and the individuals, including Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and Napoleon, involved in making the deal happen. Cerami is an economist and a former editor of Kiplinger Washington Publications.
Cronon, William. Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the West. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991.
William Cronon argues that the growth of cities and urban areas, such as Chicago, is dependent upon the ecology of the area. Landscape and environmental conditions either inhibit or allow the economic development of a region. The author also examines how cities can affect other distant environments. Cronon looks at the rise of several industries in Chicago, including railroads, meat packing, grain and lumber. Cronon is a professor of history, geography, and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Horsman, Reginald. Race and Manifest Destiny: The Origins of American Racial Anglo-
Saxonism. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981.
"The book covers seriously, but in a readable form, the European and colonial origins of American racism, its overpowering role in American expansionism of the nineteenth century, and racism's growth through 'scientific' racism.'" (Abstract adapted from a review by Raymond Starr published in the Journal of San Diego History 34, Spring 1988.) Horsman is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West. New York: Norton, 1987.
"In The Legacy of Conquest, to present her ideas about the history of the American West, Limerick discusses a variety of areas of Western life, both past and present. In her writing, Limerick provides insight on the ethnic issues of Mexican-American relations, including border and immigration problems; Indian removal and issues involving Indian peoples and reservations; and anti-oriental racism. Also present in Limerick's book are discussions of federally held lands and grazing rights; scarcity of water and over-grazing of Western lands; environmental conflicts; timber and mining conflicts; religious freedom issues; Western dependency on federal support; and boom-bust economies. Her synthesis of these issues of Western American history suggests the continuity of past issues that still appear in the present day, and remain a part of the West's 'legacy of conquest'." (From a review by Andrea San Paolo for the Interdisciplinary Research Conference at Drury University. Limerick is a professor of history at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Luchetti, Cathy. Children of the West: Family Life on the Frontier. New York: Norton,
2001.
"Luchetti has written several titles about the American West and the pioneer experience. Her books are anecdotal, amply illustrated surveys or panoramas of human experience that make extensive use of photographs and quotes from participants. Her new exploration of children's life in the American West continues in that vein while filling a gap in an uneven literature. Using anecdotes drawn from diaries and similar materials about such varied people and places as an 1840s father in the forests of Oregon, an 1860s railroad man in California, and 1880s farmers in Montana, she generalizes about Western family life. Her discussions of everything from birth control to orphans and childhood discipline could lead the interested reader to more in-depth studies.” (Adapted from a review by Charlie Cowling, published in the Library Journal 126 (June 2001): 185.)
Merk, Frederick. The Monroe Doctrine and American Expansionism, 1843-1849. New
York: Vintage Books, 1972.
"This book focuses on the relationship between American expansionism in the 1840's and the apprehension voiced by many spokesmen and statesmen, especially Polk, that European involvements in North American were a serious threat to American security. To meet the threat, advance became justifiable. Merk argues that Democratic leaders found it politically advantageous to defend their expansionist aims by tying them to a revived Monroe Doctrine that was limited to North America, even when evidence of its being violated consisted of flimsy, unsubstantiated charges." (Abstract from a review by Russell H. Bastert, published in the American Historical Review 73 (Oct. 1967): 231-2.). Merk is a professor of American history at Harvard University.
Onuf, Peter S. Statehood and Union: A History of the Northwest Ordinance. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1987.
Onuf examines the aims of the Congressional policy makers, attempting to develop policies in the Northwest Territory that benefited both the region and nation. The book covers topics such as economic development and population growth in the territory and such controversies that developed in this region, including statehood, slavery, and congressional authority. Onuf is a professor of history at the University of Virginia.
Peavy, Linda S and Ursula Smith. Women in Waiting in the Westward Movement: Life on
the Home Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.
In this work, Peavy and Smith tell the stories of 19th century women whose husbands left their homes and families to find adventure and prosperity in the west. Using letters and other first hand accounts, the authors describe the difficulties these women faced during the absence of their husbands. In addition to caring for their homes and children, these women had to find work or to learn to run and manage family businesses and farms. In some cases, women had to find extra sources of income so they could send money to their husbands. The authors argue that while many perceive the Westward Expansion as a product of male initiative and spirit, the reality is that these adventures were made possible by the hard work and the sacrifice of women.
Wexler, Sanford. Westward Expansion: An Eyewitness History. New York: Facts on File,
1991.
Sanford Wexler examines diaries, letters and other first hand accounts discussing life in the Western United States during the time of American expansion into the region. The author describes the key events that took place during this time period and, using these primary documents, shows how people living there reacted to and were affected by them. Wexler is a adjunct professor at New York University.
White, Richard. "It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own": A New History
of the American West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991.
The themes of resources and power come into play repeatedly in Richard White's history of the West in the twentieth century. The creation of federal bureaucracies during the Progressive era and works projects that were part of FDR's New Deal changed political and economic dynamics in the West. The establishment of the oil industry, especially in Texas, and the new shipbuilding and aircraft industries that grew up during and after WWII added to Western population growth. Water and energy resources for the cities had to be balanced against protection of the environment. The West was also a home to minorities -- Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian, as well as African American -- that found themselves on the peripheries of power. California took center stage as both the New Left (Berkeley's Free Speech Movement and Vietnam War protests) and the New Right (Ronald Reagan, elected as governor in 1966) developed in the '60s. White is the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History at Stanford University.
ARTICLES:
Adelman, Jeremy and Stephen Aron. "From Borderlands to Borders: Empires, Nation-States, and the Peoples in Between in North American History." American Historical Review 104 (June 1999):814-41.
"By frontier, we understand a meeting place of peoples in which geographic and cultural borders were not clearly defined. Consistent with recent studies of frontiers as borderless lands, we stress how intercultural relations produced mixing and accommodation as opposed to unambiguous triumph. Yet [Herbert Eugene] Bolton's original accent on the region as a site of imperial rivalry is no less important. Accordingly, we reserve the designation of borderlands for the contested boundaries between colonial domains. Equally important to the history of borderlands and frontiers were the ways in which Indians exploited these differences and compelled these shifts, partly to resist submission but mainly to negotiate intercultural relations on terms more to their liking. This essay, in short, argues that the conflicts over borderlands shaped the peculiar and contingent character of frontier relations." (Abstract taken directly from article) Adelman is an associate professor of history at Princeton University. Aron is an associate professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Access : This article is available online through the History Cooperative website: http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/104.3/ah000814.html
Armitage, Susan. "Women and the New Western History." OAH Magazine of History 9 (Fall 1994).
"During the past five years, the 'New Western History' has greatly changed the way historians view the West. One of its most surprising insights has been that the West, far from being an empty land awaiting the rapid settlement of white pioneers, has always been the most diverse and multiracial 'meeting ground of peoples' in American history. The West, it appears, offers a historical model of multicultural race relations that is much more complex than the customary biracial model derived from the history of the American South. The conflict, collusion, and mingling of peoples in the American West cannot be told without women as an integral part of the story. Indeed, gender issues are fundamental to the notion of meetings between different peoples." (Abstract taken directly from article.) Armitage is a professor of history and director of American studies at Washington State University.
Access : This article is available online through the Organization of American Historians website: http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/west/armitage.html#Anchor-Wome-29667
Davis, Gayle R. "Women’s Frontier Diaries: Writing for Good Reason." Women’s Studies 14 (1987): 5-15.
"Focuses on diaries written by white women who were settlers in the American Midwest in the last half of the 19th century. Diaries' function as the authors' substitute for personal contact with women friends or relatives; Expression of sadness about people left at home; Ways in which the diaries helped the author preserve her mental equilibrium.” (Abstract taken directly from Inspire) Davis is a professor of women’s studies at Wichita State University.
Access : This article is available online through Inspire: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&an=5822479&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost
Etulain, Richard W.
"Meeting Places, Intersections, Crossroads, and Borders: Toward a Complex Western Cultural History." Historian 66 (Fall 2004): 509-17.
"Focuses on the interpretations of the complex western U.S. cultural history. Overview of studies on the intersections among cultures in the American West; Western films that are useful examples of a nuanced West; Novels exhibiting equally appealing stories of the West; Models for complex western history." (Abstract taken directly from Inspire.) Etulain is a professor of history at the University of New Mexico.
Access : This article is available online through Inspire: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&an=14353672&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost
Faragher, John Mack. "The Social Fabric of the American West." Historian 66 (Fall 2004): 442-54.
"Focuses on the social composition of the American west. Subjects and themes about the colonization story of native North America by people from other countries; Accounts that exemplify the attention being paid to the particular histories of native communities; Factors that make the narratives of Elliot West remarkable.” (Abstract taken directly from Inspire.) Faragher is a professor of history at Yale University.
Access : This article is available online through Inspire: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&an=14353676&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost
Larson, John Lauritz. "Teaching the West in the Early American Republic: Old Chestnuts and the Fruits of New Research.” OAH Magazine of History 14 (Winter 2000).
"Teachers' approaches to the rise of the West, especially in the antebellum period on the transappalachian frontier, have lost coherence and tend to offer apparently random stories of pioneering, maybe frontier slavery, Indian removal, Spanish or Mexican contributions, and occasional, often awkward, episodes of conflict. This is hardly the fault of teachers: the constitutive literature on which all teaching rests has not served up much of a platform from which to mount a coherent story of westward expansion in the early republic. What follows are some suggestions for how we might begin to assemble such a platform out of the scholarship now accumulating on the shelves of research libraries." (Abstract taken directly from article.) Larson is a professor of American history at Purdue University.
Access : This article is available online through the Organization of American Historians website: http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/earlyrepublic/larson.htm
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. "Empire and Amnesia." Historian 66 (Fall 2004): 532-38.
“Focuses on the lack of historical ways in interpreting the westward expansion of the U.S. Definition of imperialism; Factors that would welcome an opportunity for collective self-knowledge of historical reality; Analogy of the novel 'Jurgen,' by James Branch Cabell to western expansion; Uninterrupted consumer enthusiasm for triumphal tellings of western history." (Abstract taken directly from Inspire.)Limerick is a professor of history at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Access : This article is available online through Inspire: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&an=14353669&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost
West, Elliott. "Families in the West." OAH Magazine of History 9 (Fall 1994).
"The family plays the most significant role in most of our lives. Scholars in many areas of European and American studies have recognized it as one of the most pervasive influences on our common history. Historians of the American West, unfortunately, have paid little attention to the family as a historical force. Even if one considers only a few of the family’s many definitions and functions, its importance in the West seems clear enough." (Abstract taken directly from article.) (Abstract from Inspire) West is a professor of history at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.
Access : This article is available online through the Organization of American Historians website:http://www.oah.org/pubs/magazine/west/west.html#Anchor-Familie-42001
Wrobel, David M. "Introduction: What on Earth Has Happened to the New Western History?" Historian 66 (Fall 2004): 437-41.
“Discusses issues on the status of the new western U.S. history as of September 2004. Definitions of the West as a region according to Patricia Nelson Limerick; Effects of rejecting the frontier as the overriding thematic framework for structuring the story of the West on cultural diversity and history; Factors catalyzed to transform the field of new western history.” (Abstract taken directly from Inspire.) Wrobel ia a professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Access : This article is available online through Inspire: http://search.epnet.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&an=14353677&loginpage=login.asp&site=ehost
RECOMMENDED SOURCES:
Indiana State Library
http://www.statelib.lib.in.us
California History Online
http://www.californiahistory.net/index.htm
Smithsonian Institution
http://www.si.edu
Library of Congress
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/
The Multicultural American West: A Resource Site
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~amerstu/mw/
Guide to Westward Expansion websites
http://www.snowcrest.net/jmike/westexp.html
