Looking for books about the American West
March 11, 2010 12:51 PM Subscribe
I'm interested in reading some histories of the development of the American West, especially in the latter half of the 19th century (the classic Old West). Any book suggestions?
I'm interested in comprehensive books as well as those with more narrow focuses (on the railroads, for example). Anybody have some interesting, accessible books to recommend? I'm also open to documentaries.
I'm interested in comprehensive books as well as those with more narrow focuses (on the railroads, for example). Anybody have some interesting, accessible books to recommend? I'm also open to documentaries.
For a comprehensive history, my first thought is Richard White's It's Your Misfortune and None of My Own: A New History of the American West. This is one of the major texts of what's called the "new western history," which (unlike traditional narratives of western history) draws on multiethnic and multinational histories, as well as a heavy dose of environmental history.
If you're especially interested in relations between white settlers and Indians, there is of course Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which is fairly criticized for its lack of citations and polemical tack but still an elegantly written (sometimes sickening) summary.
You should also read lots of Wallace Stegner, both fiction and non. Angle of Repose is his great, Pulitzer-winning novel that's partly set in the 1870s mining west. Lots of wonderful history in there (including a cameo by Helen Hunt Jackson!) as well as very fine prose. As for his nonfiction, you might begin with Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West.
This has been an academic passion of mine for many years, so if there's anything you're especially interested in, drop me a mefimail and I'm happy to speak further about it.
posted by cirripede at 1:45 PM on March 11, 2010
If you're especially interested in relations between white settlers and Indians, there is of course Dee Brown's Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, which is fairly criticized for its lack of citations and polemical tack but still an elegantly written (sometimes sickening) summary.
You should also read lots of Wallace Stegner, both fiction and non. Angle of Repose is his great, Pulitzer-winning novel that's partly set in the 1870s mining west. Lots of wonderful history in there (including a cameo by Helen Hunt Jackson!) as well as very fine prose. As for his nonfiction, you might begin with Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs: Living and Writing in the West.
This has been an academic passion of mine for many years, so if there's anything you're especially interested in, drop me a mefimail and I'm happy to speak further about it.
posted by cirripede at 1:45 PM on March 11, 2010
And I can't believe I forgot this: Mark Twain's Roughing It (also available online for free), about young Sam Clemens's years in Virginia City, Aurora, and elsewhere. Likely the most entertaining book ever written about the late-19th-century West.
From the author's preface:
From the author's preface:
This book is merely a personal narrative, and not a pretentious history or a philosophical dissertation. It is a record of several years of variegated vagabondizing, and its object is rather to help the resting reader while away an idle hour than afflict him with metaphysics, or goad him with science. Still, there is information in the volume; information concerning an interesting episode in the history of the Far West, about which no books have been written by persons who were on the ground in person, and saw the happenings of the time with their own eyes. . . .posted by cirripede at 1:55 PM on March 11, 2010
Yes, take it all around, there is quite a good deal of information in the book. I regret this very much; but really it could not be helped: information appears to stew out of me naturally, like the precious ottar of roses out of the otter. Sometimes it has seemed to me that I would give worlds if I could retain my facts; but it cannot be. The more I calk up the sources, and the tighter I get, the more I leak wisdom. Therefore, I can only claim indulgence at the hands of the reader, not justification.
I haven't yet read it, but Blood and Thunder is supposed to be fantastic. Also, if you live near a decent public library, start browsing right around the 978s, and you should find much more (although my perspective may be skewed--I live in the West and we have a ton of Western history here).
posted by newrambler at 2:09 PM on March 11, 2010
posted by newrambler at 2:09 PM on March 11, 2010
I enjoyed Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage. It may not be quite the rigorous historical text you're looking for, but it does have an interesting perspective and it falls right in your time frame.
Also, episodes 6 and 8 of Alistair Cooke's America: A Personal History of the United States cover some of what you're looking for.
I enjoy personal histories like those, and will try to remember to go through my bookshelves this evening for additional suggestions.
posted by Balonious Assault at 2:18 PM on March 11, 2010
Also, episodes 6 and 8 of Alistair Cooke's America: A Personal History of the United States cover some of what you're looking for.
I enjoy personal histories like those, and will try to remember to go through my bookshelves this evening for additional suggestions.
posted by Balonious Assault at 2:18 PM on March 11, 2010
Response by poster: Actually, Balonious, personal histories are great, too. I'm interested in a range of texts and stories. And thanks for the offer, Cirripede. I may take you up on that. Keep the suggestions coming, everyone!
posted by dunadan17 at 3:04 PM on March 11, 2010
posted by dunadan17 at 3:04 PM on March 11, 2010
The Contested Plains by Elliot West is one of my favorite books about the 19th century West. It's about Colorado, the gold rush, and how people re-imagine their environments.
Bernard DeVoto makes some arguments about how and why the West was settled that I think are totally fascinating even 50 years later.
I also agree with the recommendations for Wallace Stegner. I'm particularly fond of Beyond the Hundredth Meridian and his Collected Stories, although the latter are primarily about the early 20th century.
The Legacy of Conquest by Patricia Nelson Limerick was very influential in Western history. I think there are some problems with her argument, but it is a useful starting point for thinking about the history of the Old West as something other than the history of cowboys and Indians.
Manifest Design by Thomas Hietala also falls into the category, for me, of somewhat problematic but still very interesting.
Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt is about an Oglala Sioux man living at the turn of the century.
Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner goes farther forward into the 20th century than you may be interested in, but a decent chunk of the beginning is devoted to early settlers in California.
posted by colfax at 3:51 PM on March 11, 2010
Bernard DeVoto makes some arguments about how and why the West was settled that I think are totally fascinating even 50 years later.
I also agree with the recommendations for Wallace Stegner. I'm particularly fond of Beyond the Hundredth Meridian and his Collected Stories, although the latter are primarily about the early 20th century.
The Legacy of Conquest by Patricia Nelson Limerick was very influential in Western history. I think there are some problems with her argument, but it is a useful starting point for thinking about the history of the Old West as something other than the history of cowboys and Indians.
Manifest Design by Thomas Hietala also falls into the category, for me, of somewhat problematic but still very interesting.
Black Elk Speaks by John Neihardt is about an Oglala Sioux man living at the turn of the century.
Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner goes farther forward into the 20th century than you may be interested in, but a decent chunk of the beginning is devoted to early settlers in California.
posted by colfax at 3:51 PM on March 11, 2010
Colfax already mentioned The Legacy of Conquest by Limerick and The Contested Plains by Elliot West. Both are outstanding scholars. You may also want to consider the work of Yale historian John Mack Faragher. His book The American West is an excellent introductory text to the subject.
David Haward Bain's Empire Express.
J. Anthony Lukas' Big Trouble.
Quintard Taylor's In Search of the Racial Frontier.
Also, skim the catalogs of the University of Oklahoma, University of Kansas, and other college presses that specialize in the history of the American West for the latest.
H.W. Brand's The Age of Gold.
Heather Richardson Cox's West from Appomattox is the latest book from an up and coming young historian.
David Dary's Cowboy Culture.
You may also want to read primary accounts such as Mollie.
posted by Coyote at the Dog Show at 4:11 PM on March 11, 2010
David Haward Bain's Empire Express.
J. Anthony Lukas' Big Trouble.
Quintard Taylor's In Search of the Racial Frontier.
Also, skim the catalogs of the University of Oklahoma, University of Kansas, and other college presses that specialize in the history of the American West for the latest.
H.W. Brand's The Age of Gold.
Heather Richardson Cox's West from Appomattox is the latest book from an up and coming young historian.
David Dary's Cowboy Culture.
You may also want to read primary accounts such as Mollie.
posted by Coyote at the Dog Show at 4:11 PM on March 11, 2010
James F. Meline's Two Thousand Miles on Horseback: Santa Fe and Back. It consists of letters written while the author made the journey in 1868. There's a good description of the contents on this page (it isn't anchored so I can't link to it directly).
posted by toodles at 5:15 PM on March 11, 2010
posted by toodles at 5:15 PM on March 11, 2010
Read and enjoyed the memoir of Andrew Garcia, a frontiersman in Montana, Tough trip Through Paradise many years ago.
posted by Abiezer at 7:19 PM on March 11, 2010
posted by Abiezer at 7:19 PM on March 11, 2010
Most of the books I've enjoyed enough to keep on my shelves appear to be somewhat tangential to what you're looking for, but here are few I found that might interest you, and that haven't been mentioned here yet:
A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
Pretty Shield: Medicine Woman of the Crows
Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy
Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West
I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War
posted by Balonious Assault at 11:07 PM on March 11, 2010
A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent
Pretty Shield: Medicine Woman of the Crows
Devil's Gate: Brigham Young and the Great Mormon Handcart Tragedy
Upstairs Girls: Prostitution in the American West
I Will Fight No More Forever: Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce War
posted by Balonious Assault at 11:07 PM on March 11, 2010
Ooh! A colleague of mine writes on the American West. And, while he's now working as an academic, he's also a longtime journalist so his books are accessible and interesting. He has two books out you might enjoy, one on the Pony Express and another, which has just come out, about a woman who was "won" in a poker game.
His site here: http://www.christophercorbett.net/
posted by media_itoku at 10:25 AM on March 12, 2010
His site here: http://www.christophercorbett.net/
posted by media_itoku at 10:25 AM on March 12, 2010
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posted by PercussivePaul at 1:02 PM on March 11, 2010