Ships from: Philadelphia, PA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Philadelphia, PA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: Chatham, NJ
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Ships from: acton, MA
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Part of the Wiley Desk Reference series, The American West provides a comprehensive reference to U.S. history and culture west of the Mississippi River, from pre-Columbian times to the present day. In addition to vivid narrative entries on fascinating subjects like Coronado, the Hudson Bay Company, the Colt Peacemaker, Barry Goldwater, and Microsoft, it includes approximately 100 eyewitness accounts of Western life set off in boxed sidebars. Culled from diaries, letters, and newspapers, the first-person accounts trace the story of the West in the words of its participants. The American West fills the need for an authoritative, one-volume popular reference on the American West.
Larry Schweikart is a history professor at the University of Dayton.
Michael Allen is a professor of history and American studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma.
Introduction.
PART I: From Prehistory to Early European Explorations (?-ca. 1700).
Acoma.
adobe.
Alarcon, Hernando de.
Alvarado Expedition.
Anasazi.
Cabeza de Vaca, Alvar Nunez.
Cabrillo, Juan Rodriguez.
Canyon de Chelly.
Cardenas, Garcia Lopez de.
Cartier, Jacques.
Chaco Canyon.
Champlain, Samuel de.
chili peppers.
Columbus, Christopher.
Coronado, Francisco Vasquez de.
Cortes, Hernan.
de Benavides, Fray Alonso.
de Niza, Fray Marcos.
de Soto, Hernando.
Diaz, Melchior.
Drake, Francis.
El Morro/Inscription Rock.
El Paso del Norte.
Espejo, Antonio.
Esteban.
Ferrelo, Bartolome.
Folsom Point.
Fox Indians.
Grand Canyon.
Hopi Indians.
horses.
Hudsons Bay Company.
Iroquois.
Kennewick Man.
King Philips War.
kiva.
Las Casas, Bartolome de.
The Marquette and Jolliet Expedition.
mestizos and mulattos.
missionaries (Franciscans and Jesuits).
Mississippi River.
Missouri River.
Monument Valley.
Mourning/Beaver Wars, 1608-1701.
Navajo.
New France Exploration, 1524-1763.
New Netherlands.
Onate, Juan de.
Pays den Haut/Middle Ground.
Pope.
Pueblo Bonito.
Radisson, Pierre-Esprit.
repartimiento.
Rio Grande.
San Gabriel.
Santa Fe.
smallpox.
St. Augustine.
Straits of Anian.
Treaty of Tordesillas.
Tucson.
Vargas, Diego de.
Vizcaino, Sebastian.
Yaquis.
PART II: From La Salles Expeditions to the Louisiana Purchase (1682-1803).
Baranov, Aleksander.
Beaubien, Charles ("Black Snake").
Bering, Vitus.
Blue Jacket.
Boone, Daniel.
Bourgmont, Etienne Veniard de.
Braddock, Edward.
Brant, Joseph.
Carver, Jonathan.
Charbonneau, Touissant.
Chouteau, Auguste.
Clark, George Rogers.
Cresap, Michael.
de la Balme, August.
de Linctot, Daniel-Maurice Godefroy.
French and Indian War (Seven Years War).
fur trapping/fur trade.
Handsome Lake.
headright.
Hennepin, Louis.
Hiawatha.
Huronia.
Kenton, Simon.
Kentucky long rifle.
Kino, Father Eusebio Francisco.
La Salle, Rene-Robert Cavelier de.
Long Portage/Kekionga.
Lord Dunmores War.
Louisiana Purchase.
MacKenzie, Alexander.
Maisonville, Alexis and Francis.
Mallet, Pierre and Paul.
McKee, Alexander.
Miami.
Miami-Federalist War, 1790-1795.
Michilimackinac.
moccasins.
Neolin.
Northwest Ordinance.
Old Briton.
Pacanne.
Pontiacs Rebellion.
Potawatomi.
Proclamation Line of 1763.
Provincias Internas.
Roman Catholic Missions.
San Antonio.
Sequoyah.
Shawnee.
Sieur dIberville.
South Pass.
St. Clair, Arthur.
St. Denis, Louis Juchereau de.
Tabeau, Pierre-Antoine.
Taucumwah.
Tonti, Henry de.
Treaty of Fort Finney, 1786.
Treaty of Fort Stanwix (First and Second Treaties).
Treaty of Greenville.
Treaty of Vincennes.
Truteau, Jean Baptiste.
Vial, Pedro.
Villasur Expedition.
Wabash River.
PART III: From Lewis and Clark to the Pony Express (1803-1861).
American Fur Company.
Arikaras.
Ashley, William H.
Astor, John Jacob.
Austin, Moses.
Austin, Stephen Fuller.
Battle of San Jacinto, 1836.
Battle of Tippecanoe.
Becknell, William.
Beckwourth, Jim.
Benton, Thomas Hart.
Black Hawk.
Black Hawk War.
Blackfoot.
Boonesborough.
Border Ruffians/"pukes".
Bowie knife.
branding.
Bridger, James ("Jim").
Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
Butterfield Overland Mail.
California Gold Rush.
Carson, Christopher Houston ("Kit").
Catlin, George.
Cherokee Indians.
Cherokee Nation v. State of Georgia/Worcester v. State of Georgia.
Clay, Henry.
Colt handguns.
Colter, John.
Comstock Lode.
Conestoga wagon.
Cooper, James Fenimore.
The Creek ("Red Stick") War.
Crockett, David ("Davy").
Crows.
Donner Party.
Douglas, Stephen Arnold.
Dred Scott decision.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo.
Fort Dearborn Massacre.
Forty-Niners.
"Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men".
Fremont, Jessie Ann Benton.
Fremont, John Charles.
Goliad Massacre.
Gregg, Josiah.
Harrison, William Henry.
Houston, Sam.
Indian Removal Act of 1830.
Jackson, Andrew.
Jayhawkers.
Jefferson, Thomas.
Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Kearny, Stephen Watts.
Larkin, Thomas Oliver.
Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of ("LDS" or "Mormons").
Lee, Jason.
Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Mangas Coloradas.
Manifest Destiny.
Marcy, Randolph.
McKenney, Thomas Loraine.
Mexican War.
Missouri Compromise.
mountain men.
mustangs.
National Road.
Oregon Trail.
Osage Indians.
Panic of 1837.
Panic of 1857.
Parker, Cynthia Ann.
Parkman, Francis.
Pawnee Indians.
Pike, Zebulon Montgomery.
placer (gold) mining.
plow.
Pony Express.
"popular sovereignty".
Pottawatomie Massacre.
preemption and squatters rights.
Quaker missions.
Richardville, Jean Baptiste.
Ross, John.
Sacagawea.
Salt Lake City, Utah.
Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez de.
Santa Fe Trail.
Shoshone Indians.
Smith, Jedediah.
Spalding, Henry.
Spencer Repeating Rifle.
spurs.
stagecoaches.
steamboats.
Sutter, John Augustus.
Tecumseh.
Tenskwatawa.
Texas Rangers.
Texas Revolution.
Trail of Tears.
Travis, William Barret.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848.
Twain, Mark (Samuel Langhorne Clemens).
Vanderbilt, Cornelius.
Walker, Joseph R.
The War of 1812.
western art before the Civil War.
western music before the Civil War.
The Whitman mission.
Young, Brigham.
PART IV: From the Civil War to the Closing of the Frontier (1861-1893).
Bancroft, Hubert Howe.
barbed wire.
Battle of the Little Bighorn, 1876.
Battle of the Washita, 1868.
Bean, Roy.
Billy the Kid (Henry McCarty or William H. Bonney).
Black Hills.
Black Kettle.
Bland, Richard P.
Bosque Redondo.
Bozeman Trail.
buffalo (bison).
Buffalo Soldiers.
Buntline, Ned (Edward Zane Carrol Judson).
Calamity Jane (Martha Cannary).
Cassidy, Butch (Robert LeRoy Parker).
cattle drives.
cattle towns.
chaps.
Cheyennes.
Chief Joseph.
Chinese Exclusion Act.
Chivington, John M.
Civil War.
Cochise.
Code of the West.
Cody, William Frederick ("Buffalo Bill").
Comanche Indians.
cotton industry/cotton production.
cowboy poetry.
cowboys.
Crazy Horse.
"Crime of '73".
Crook, George.
Custer, George Armstrong.
Dalton Gang.
Daly, Marcus.
Dart, Isom (Ned Huddleston).
Daughters of the Republic of Texas.
Deadwood Dick (Nat Love).
dime novels.
Dodge City.
Earp, Wyatt Berry Stapp.
Exodusters.
Fetterman Massacre.
Fletcher, Alice Cunningham.
Friends of the Indian.
Garrett, Pat.
Geronimo.
Ghost Dance.
ghost towns.
Great Northern Railroad.
Great Sioux War, 1876-1877.
Greeley, Horace.
Hardin, John Wesley.
Hickok, James Butler ("Wild Bill").
Holliday, John Henry ("Doc").
Homestead Act.
Howard, Oliver Otis.
Huntington, Collis Potter.
Indian Wars and reservation policy, 1864-1890.
irrigation.
Jackson, Helen Hunt (Helen Maria Fiske).
James, Jesse.
Johnson County War.
Kiowa Indians.
Land Grant College Act of 1862 (Morrill Act).
Lillie, Gordon William ("Pawnee Bill").
Loving, Oliver.
Masterson, Bartholemew ("Bat") (later, William Barclay).
Miles, Nelson Appleton.
Minnesota Sioux Uprising of 1862.
Modoc War.
Moffat, David Halliday, Jr.
Moran, Thomas.
Muir, John.
National Bank and Currency Acts.
Navajo Long Walk.
Nez Perce Indians.
Nez Perce War.
Nicodemus, Kansas.
Northern Pacific Railroad.
O.K. Corral.
Oakley, Annie (Phoebe Ann Moses).
Opening of the Oklahoma Territory.
OSullivan, Timothy H.
Parker, Ely S.
Parker, Quannah.
Pinkerton, Allan.
polygamy.
Populist Party/Populism.
prostitution.
Quantrill, William Clarke.
Red Cloud (Makhpiya-Luta).
Red River War, 1874-1875.
Reno, Marcus A.
Ringo, John Peters.
rodeos.
Sand Creek Massacre, 1864.
Sheridan, Philip Henry.
Sherman Silver Purchase Act.
Sherman, William Tecumseh.
Sioux Indians.
Sitting Bull.
Southern Pacific Railroad.
Stanford, Leland.
Starr, Belle (Myra Belle Shirley).
Stetson hats.
Strauss, Levi ("Loeb").
Stuart, Granville.
Swift, Gustavus.
Tabor, Elizabeth ("Baby Doe").
telegraph.
Tilghman, William Matthew ("Bill"), Jr.
Tombstone, Arizona.
transcontinental railroads.
Union Pacific Railroad.
United States Cavalry.
Wells Fargo & Company.
Winchester rifles.
Wounded Knee Massacre.
Yellowstone National Park.
PART V: The Modern Era (1893-The Present).
Adams, Ansel.
aerospace industry in the West.
air conditioning.
Alamogordo (Trinity Atomic Bomb Test).
Alcatraz.
Amazon.com.
Apple Computers.
Area 51/Groom Lake.
Ash, Mary Kay.
Astrodome.
Autry, (Orvon) Gene.
Azusa Street revival.
The Bakersfield Sound.
Bank of America (BankAmerica).
Baum, L. Frank.
The Beach Boys.
Beats.
Berkeley "Free Speech" Movement.
Black Elk.
Borah, William E.
bracero program.
Branson, Missouri.
Brown, Molly.
Bryan, William Jennings.
Bureau of Land Management.
Bush, George Herbert Walker.
Bush, George W.
California fitness/aerobic craze.
Cash, Johnny.
Cather, Willa.
Chavez, Cesar Estrada.
Cheyenne Mountain (NORAD).
Chicanos.
chili cookoffs.
Chinatowns.
Church, Frank.
Colorado River Community Compact.
commercial fishing in the West.
"concealed carry" laws.
credit cards.
Crystal Cathedral.
Curtis, Charles.
Dallas Cowboys.
dam movement of the 20th century.
de Voto, Bernard.
Debo, Angie.
Denver, John.
Disneyland.
Dobie, J. Frank.
The Doors.
Douglas Aircraft Company.
Dubois, Fred T.
dude ranches.
Dust Bowl.
Eastwood, Clinton ("Clint").
Eccles, Marriner Stoddard.
Edwards Air Force Base.
El Teatro Campesino.
endangered species/"takings" clauses.
The FaithDome.
Fall, Albert B.
"fern bars".
Ford, John.
Giannini, Amadeo Peter ("A. P.").
Golden Gate Bridge.
Goldwater, Barry Morris.
Grey, Zane.
Haggard, Merle.
Harvey Girls.
Hawaii.
Hayden, Carl T.
Hayes, Ira.
Haywood, William Dudley ("Big Bill").
Hillerman, Tony.
Hollywood.
Hoover Dam.
Hoover, Herbert Clark.
Hughes, Howard Robard.
illegal immigration.
Indian alcoholism.
Indian Reorganization Act.
Japanese internment in World War II.
Johnson, Hiram.
Johnson, Lyndon Baines.
Jordan, Barbara Charlene.
Kaiser, Henry J.
LAmour, Louis.
Lange, Dorothea.
Las Vegas.
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Lockheed Aircraft Company.
London, Jack Griffith.
Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock, 1903.
Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory.
Los Angeles Dodgers/western sports expansion.
Lubbock and the sound of west Texas.
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center.
MacDonald, Peter.
Mankiller, Wilma.
McMurtry, Larry.
McPherson, Aimee Semple.
Means, Russell.
Microsoft.
military base closures in the West.
Mix, Tom.
Monterey International Pop Festival.
Mount Rushmore.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
National Cowboy Hall of Fame.
National Rifle Association (NRA).
Native American Church.
Navajo code talkers.
New Age movement in the West.
Newlands Reclamation Act.
Nixon, Richard Milhous.
Non-Partisan League.
O. J. Simpson trial.
OConnor, Sandra Day.
OKeeffe, Georgia.
Oklahoma City bombing.
Osage oil.
The Osmonds (Donny and Marie).
Owens Valley incident.
Parker, Fess.
Perot, H. Ross.
petroleum (oil) industry in the West.
peyote (mescaline).
Pinchot, Gifford.
Proposition 13.
RAND Corporation.
Rankin, Jeanette Pickering.
Ray, Dixie Lee.
Rayburn, Samuel ("Sam") Taliaferro.
Reagan, Ronald Wilson.
Remington, Frederic.
Roberts, Monty.
Rodney King and the Los Angeles riots of 1992.
Rogers, Roy.
Rogers, William Penn Adair ("Will").
Roosevelt, Theodore.
The Rose Bowl.
Roswell crash and UFOs.
Russell, Charles Marion.
Salamander Letter.
Sandia.
Schroeder, Patricia Scott.
Seattle "grunge" sound.
The Seattle Space Needle.
Second Wounded Knee.
Selena (Selena Quintanilla).
Silicon Valley.
skiing.
Spindletop.
Stagecoach, the movie.
Starbucks Coffee.
Stegner, Wallace.
Sundance Institute.
surf music.
surfing.
Tan, Amy.
Teapot Dome scandal.
Texaco.
Texas Instruments.
Thorpe, James Francis ("Jim").
tourism development in the West.
Turner, Frederick Jackson.
United Farm Workers.
United States Air Force Academy.
Villa, Pancho.
Waco and the Branch Davidians.
Walton, Sam.
Warner Brothers.
The Watts riots.
Wayne, John.
Webb, Walter Prescott.
"western" movies.
the "western" on television.
western swing dancing.
Wheeler, Burton Kendall.
Williams, Hank.
Wister, Owen.
Womens Professional Rodeo Association.
World War II in the West.
Zoot suit riots.
Select Bibliography.
Overview
Part of the Wiley Desk Reference series, The American West provides a comprehensive reference to U.S. history and culture west of the Mississippi River, from pre-Columbian times to the present day. In addition to vivid narrative entries on fascinating subjects like Coronado, the Hudson Bay Company, the Colt Peacemaker, Barry Goldwater, and Microsoft, it includes approximately 100 eyewitness accounts of Western life ...