The Frontier in American History (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: pioneer democracy, pioneer ideals, western advance, New England, United States, Middle West (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

One of the most influential and important books written about the impact of frontier life on a transplanted civilization. Present volume, reprinted from original 1920 edition, lucidly reflects Jackson’s thoughts on the frontier’s role in promoting self-reliance, independence, democracy, immigration and westward expansion. A classic for students and teachers of American history and general readers interested in the many fascinating aspects of American expansion.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 340 pages
• Publisher: BiblioLife (August 18, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0554396610
• ISBN-13: 978-0554396613
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,418,786 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important book to understand what makes America tick, May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Frontier in American History (Paperback)

Although this book is now considered by some to be politically incorrect and by others to have been superceded by later research, it is an important introdction to the ways in which the frontier experience has shaped American culture. From the time of the first European settlements on the East Coast until the 1890s, when Jackson and others first recognized that the American frontier had disappeared, the possibility of farming/mining/foresting new lands had always be a possibility for Americans and an attractant for European immigrants. This was a basis for Americans and other to think of the U.S. as a land of opportunity. An excellent read and a good introduction to a fascinating subject.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly THE best ever explanation of America, March 18, 2003

By	Karl (England, Great Britain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frontier in American History (Hardcover)

Current US international policy shows just how brilliant and enduring Frederick Turner's Frontier Thesis really is.

The basic idea is that after the initial explorations by Spain, England, etc., the real colonisation of America was a flight from conditions in Europe (including Ireland and Britain) which led to a European-style culture and settlement of the East Coast.

This led to a second flight from European-like influences into the interior - which simply pulled European-style culture further west. And so it continued until Europe finally reached the West Coast.

There are numerous ramifications of the thesis, including the "force majeur" (might=right) attitude of the settlers towards the Native Americans - with its ominous overtones on the eve of war in the Middle-East.

As far as I understand it, for all the "warts", Turner was looking to UNDERSTAND the American mentality/culture, as shaped by by historical experience, and the Frontier Thesis is a critique, NOT a criticism.

Read this book and gain a whole new, or at least greatly expanded, view of what it means to be an "American".

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an important idea dashed senselessly into the past:, April 6, 2006

By	asphlex "asphlex" (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Frontier in American History (Paperback)

This is an interesting book. Well written, although at times painfully, soddenly dated (and I do not criticize the historic tone of voice nor the apparent biases of this emminent historian--prejudice, in itself, is an important contribution to the understanding of American history as it is learned--), The Frontier in American History develops an original idea of American expansion into empire.

Portions of this book are very relevent to the present, showing Turner to be an ambitious and far-reaching historian of the past. His chapters on the general influence on American government of the midwest are fascinating, especially in the light of present day hindsight. The shift in moral vision of people founding early regions of the American colonies and post-revolutionary national expansion, in a great sense, explores both the influence and subsequent dismissal of east coast religious Puritanism and the 'witch-hunting' mentality of the people. Of course, subsequent to this volume, (and even during its publication), that very religious notion shifted to the fear-mongering operation of federal government and explains something more of the fearful consistancy of American character. This book shows the manner in which religious and political interests have been and continue to be polarized based on the presumption of self-interest and regional safeguarding.

An important book well worth yet another reconsideration in the light of current international events.