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Book Review
Canada and the United States
William A. Dobak. Fort Riley and Its Neighbors: Military Money and Economic Growth, 18531895. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 1998. Pp. xvi, 241. $29.95.
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Somewhere between the traditional view of the frontier army as protector of citizen-settlers and the orthodoxy of the New Western history is a fully nuanced picture of the army in the West. In the old view, the army protected westering citizens and fought those who resisted national sovereignty. The words "outpost," "citadel," and "sentinel" recur in the titles of these studies, revealing the emphasis on this mission. Practitioners of the New Western history, largely indifferent to the army or employing a litmus test of sympathy with the Native peoples who resisted expansion, have joined their traditional colleagues in undervaluing the significance of the army, and particularly the military post, in shaping western development. |
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Forts in the trans-Mississippi West represented a massive public investment in expansion. Authors have begun to examine their roles in regional development. Titles including the words "community" and "neighbors" indicate recognition of the multifaceted relationship between post and town that frequently made the two a single community, providing services, employment, investment opportunities, and problems for each other. |
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