The American West: A New Interpretive History (The Lamar Series in Western History) [Paperback]

Robert V. Hine (Author), John Mack Faragher (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300078358 | ISBN-13: 978-0300078350 | Publication Date: January 11, 2000 | Edition: 1ST

Two eminent historians, Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher, present the American West as both frontier and region, real and imagined, old and new, and they show how men and women of all ethnic groups were affected when different cultures met and clashed. Their concise and engaging survey of frontier history traces the story from the first Columbian contacts between Indians and Europeans to the multicultural encounters of the modern Southwest.

The book attunes us to the voices of the frontiers many diverse peoples: Indians, struggling to defend their homelands and searching for a way to live with colonialism; the men and women who became immigrants and colonists from all over the world; African Americans, both slave and free; and border-land migrants from Mexico, Canada, and Asian lands. Profusely illustrated with contemporary drawings, posters, and photographs and written In lively and accessible prose, the book not only presents a panoramic view of historical events and characters but also provides fascinating details about such topics as western landscapes, environmental movements, literature, visual arts, and film.

Following in the tradition of Hine's earlier acclaimed work, The American West: An Interpretive History, this volume will be an essential resource for scholars, students, and general readers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a stirring and enlightening reexamination of the American West, Yale history professor Faragher (Women and Men on the Overland Trail) and Hine (Second Sight), a University of California professor emeritus of history, gauge the impact of key trends and events--the American Revolution, the multiethnic Gold Rush, the 1867 purchase of Russian America (dubbed Alaska, an Aleut word meaning "the big land"), the U.S.-Mexican War, the New Deal, etc.--in shaping the West's socioeconomic development. The American West of legend, brimming with ruggedly individualistic cowboys, intrepid pioneers and gunslingers, scarcely exists in this myth-shattering history. The real West was and continues to be a land of immigrants and of conflicting and melding cultures. "Manifest destiny," the authors maintain, was not a deeply held folk belief: rather, it was the deliberate creation of political propagandists determined to unyoke the policy of westward expansion from the growing sectional controversy over slavery in the 1830s and '40s. As the book moves from the West of the past to the present, the authors show how the region has become the nation's economic, political and cultural pacesetter: Hollywood became the capital of the U.S. "culture industry"; aerospace and defense industries soared; Silicon Valley booted up; Western states absorbed mass migrations from Mexico, Central America and Asia. A substantial revision and update of standard history, this gripping, wonderfully accessible populist saga deserves a place on the shelf alongside the works of Howard Zinn, William Appleman Williams and Ronald Takaki. 233 illus. (many from Yale's treasure-house, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library). (Dec.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Hine is professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Riverside and Irvine; Faragher is a professor of American history at Yale University. Both are distinguished experts in the fields of the westward movement and western regional history. In their superbly written work, they have synthesized the traditional and revisionist approaches to the West. They recognize the importance of successive waves of westward expansion in populating and developing the land. Yet, they also portray the West as a series of regions that were neither empty nor "uncivilized" before the arrival of Europeans and, later, Americans. They describe with insight and compassion the variety of peoples who inhabited these regions; the inevitable conflict with settlers and a government that wavered between contempt and misguided compassion is shown as both tragic and, occasionally, oddly heroic. They have done a masterful job of bringing a sense of fairness and perspective to a region and a saga that remain part of our national mythology. Jay Freeman --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 632 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1ST edition (January 11, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300078358
• ISBN-13: 978-0300078350
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,827 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good book, whose point of view will irritate many, June 8, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The American West: A New Interpretive History (The Lamar Series in Western History) (Paperback)

On its own terms, this book is a huge success.

It synthesizes the past 30 years of serious historical research which revolutionized the presentation of the history of the American West by rescuing the experiences of groups who had been relatively ignored by standard interpretations. Indians, women, blacks, Latinos, Asians, workers are dealt with at length and with sympathy.

The research of anti-capitalist/neo-Marxist, anti-imperialist and pro-environmental historians is summarized and we can see the importance of the challenges they raise to old style historians.

The range of topics is impressive, and the writing is lively and intelligent. (I'd say this is suitable for the college junior/senior level.) The bibliography is amazingly up to date.

The reason why I don't give it a 5 is its lack of balance. At times the authors editorialize crudely--with dismissive judgements ("nonsense") and exclamation points galore to show us when we should boo or hiss.

Less empowered (victim) groups are too often treated as noble, and the majority as vile. This is the Achilles heel of a generation of historians who went into this field with strong orientations and sympathies.

But even more than the distaste for the majority groups, the biggest drawback is the relative lack of attention paid to them. I'm not saying, in an old fashioned way, that they should extol the "achievement" or mindlessly glorify the "Anglos" or capitalists. There is too much solid evidence here that the achievements were not 100% beneficial and that the white males could act and think in apalling ways. But they were the majority actors and this book can too often lose sight of that. At times it feels like the center is missing.

Still, it's an impressive, thought-provoking book. (The section on attempts by cowboys to unionize should be treasured by anybody who was ever spoon fed the Turner thesis.) But it probably should be the second book to give a neophyte, not the first.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Overview...Tells a lot of the negative sides of The American West, November 17, 2009

By 

Trent Rock (Goleta, CA (The 805)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American West: A New Interpretive History (The Lamar Series in Western History) (Paperback)

This is a great overview book of The American West...Chronologically speaking..and it has TONS of great pictures and maps!! I liked the way the adress the Un-PC issues..liek harming our environment or mistreating the Native Americans...This book really tells ALL sides of the story...The section on The Old West in books and films was great.....

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the american west: a new interpretive history (the lamar series in western history), February 23, 2010

By 

Roxanne Peterson "Roxy" (utah) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The American West: A New Interpretive History (The Lamar Series in Western History) (Paperback)

That book is great! It is one of the only history books that i find interesting! I recomend in to everyone that thinks history is boring because its not.