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Significance of the Frontier in American History

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In 1893, historian Frederick Jackson Turner presented his landmark paper, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" to the American Historical Association. Turner's thesis that the availability of land that could be acquired by anyone willing to work it explains how America developed is a landmark idea in explaining the United States. There is much to be said in favor of his ideas. From the moment that colonies were established by the European powers on the East Coast until the frontier was declared closed in the late nineteenth century, hardy people migrated westward. There was a natural progression of the early hunters and trappers followed by people who planted some crops but still relied primarily on what they could kill or capture to those who constructed farms. The first two groups were transient, and the last group was permanent. It was they who established the communities with schools, churches, and commerce.
This book starts with an explanation of Turner's classic paper, which is followed by the text that he delivered. While some of what he says in the paper is still controversial, it remains one of the most significant examinations of the forces that drove the development of the United States. It is a paper that is must reading for anyone studying the history of the United States before the frontier vanished at the start of the twentieth century.

I ordered the one with ISBN 978-0-141-04257-2 not knowing it was a flimsy edition with only four of the 13 chapters in the real book! The original (out of print, but available through various online sources) has a waterfall on the front. ISBN 0-486-29167-7 is the real book.