John M. Findlay | Book Review | The Journal of American History, 87.4

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John M. Findlay | Book Review | The Journal of American History, 87.4 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The American West: The Reader. Ed. by Walter Nugent and Martin Ridge. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. xviii, 335 pp. Cloth, $39.95, ISBN 0-253-33530-2. Paper, $19.95, ISBN 0-253-21290-1.)

Creating materials for college courses on the American West is challenging, because people who teach the subject conceive of it differently and organize their classes in quite diverse ways. Some instructors cover successive "frontiers" across the continent, while others study only that territory beyond the Mississippi (or Missouri) River since the onset of Spanish colonization. Some teach the subject in a single term, while others devote a two-course sequence to it. Of those who split western history into half, some use 1840 or 1850 as the great divide, while others use 1890 or 1900. Some but not all toil to include Mexico, Canada, Alaska, or Hawai'i. Finally, the range of topics under consideration is extensive. Over the years western history has been particularly identified with migration, Indians, and the environment, but practitioners also focus on women, labor, politics, race, cities, religion, business, and other topics; many specialize on but one subregion or state. Given the variable content and approaches for western history courses, how do authors and publishers create satisfactory materials? . . .

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