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The West: From Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee : The Turbulent Story of the Settling of Frontier America
Complemented by more than two hundred vintage and color photographs, the chronological story of the opening and settling of the West includes the success of the Lewis & Clark survey, the fur trade, the gold rush, the Pony Express, the railroads, and more.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
Hardcover
First published September 1, 1995
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About the author
Joseph G. Rosa
38 books5 followersJoseph G. Rosa was a historian of the Wild West, author, and the chief biographer of Wild Bill Hickok as well as several other figures of this period.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 6, 2024
It’s taken a me a while (oh, a few decades) to have any real interest in the American West. Even after arriving in the States, I don’t recall it being a major subject of history. Or perhaps I wasn’t paying attention when that era popped up during school lessons. But ever since I started reading Westerns (another long-neglected genre for me), I have had a great curiosity about the Old West and how it evolved. How did those crazy pioneers make such tremendous treks across dangerous country? Who were the various Native American tribes and where were they located? Railroads, gunfighters, homesteaders, ghost towns…I needed a book that would provide me with an explanation without being too verbose. And plenty of pictures and photographs would be a bonus.
This is the book I needed, and it sure has cleared everything up for me. It begins with the migration of the Native Americans over the Bering Strait and then their dispersal throughout America. By illustrating how each group moved along and then settled in a specific area, suddenly I understood the various tribes and their differences. Although the book is centered on the West, it also explains the Eastern and Southern tribes, as their future forced migrations would place them in the West. Then, the book shows the different overland trails used by the American pioneers. I knew about the Oregon Trail but didn’t understand where the other migrant routes started and ended.
Speaking of trails, there are also excellent sections illustrating the cattle trails and the railroad lines. It’s one thing to read about something but being a visual person, I appreciated the easy breakdown showing the multiple journeys used to drive cattle to the Midwest. And before the book gets to the railroads, the reader learns about the Pony Express and the Stagecoach Lines, again amply explained so even I could understand. Then come those Old West towns, filled with saloons, jails and brothels.
To the cowboy, the ‘cowtown’ or ‘cattle town’…represented an oasis in a desert of dust and desolation masquerading as the Kansas prairie. Here he could quench his thirst and ease a need for physical contact with women. That they might infect him with something more than joy never crossed his mind. That thought came later.
There is also a well-explained section on the American Civil War and how it affected the West. The end of the war really opened up the West as the railroads connected and the dawn of the gunfighter began. Here we learn about the multitude of baddies who robbed banks and gunned down innocent people, mainly because there wasn’t one set system of law enforcement. But once the famous sheriffs and marshals began taking over, the end of the gunfighter was near.
One day, rode forth this man of wrath,
Upon the distant plain,
And ne’er did he retrace his path,
Nor was he seen again;
The cow town fell into decay;
No spurred heels pressed its walks;
But, through its grass grown ways, they say,
The Two Gun Man still stalks.
Photos are shown of the dead bodies of the unlucky bandits who were either killed during a gun battle with a town’s locals or strung up by vigilantes. As the West became tamed, the emigrants who settled the land wanted law and order, not gun-toting strangers in their new towns. And so we lead into the Indian Wars, as land was taken from the Native Americans and they were forced onto reservations. By the end of those wars, the West was moving quickly toward the twentieth century and the old ways were being forgotten. An excellent photo shows Tom Horn, a famous Westerner, being flanked by young boys on bicycles after he was captured. Just a few years earlier, those boys would have been on ponies. And so time always flies by.
By 1890 the land rushes were done and most of the government acreage had been staked. With almost poetic fittingness, the last of the frontier had been not conquered but dealt out almost like a casino game, going in the end to those who were a little faster, a little smarter, or a little more willing to bend the rules.
Now many readers probably already know the Wild West and the frontier and all of that, but this book really put it all together for me. For example, I didn’t know an Oklahoma Sooner meant one of the land rushers who left their starting point too “soon”, before the officials shot the starting gun in the famous land rush. I never equated the future Dillingers and Bonnie & Clydes with the connection to the old gunfighters and the defeated South. And it never occurred to me that the legendary cowboys would end up dying younger than others because of the dirt and cow feces they breathed in, destroying their lungs. Basically, I just loved reading this book. It’s oversized in a coffee-table way, so it meant hefting it into my lap each evening, but it was worth it. One of those simple productions that are educational but also fascinating at the same time.
Book Season = Summer (drought and dust)
This is the book I needed, and it sure has cleared everything up for me. It begins with the migration of the Native Americans over the Bering Strait and then their dispersal throughout America. By illustrating how each group moved along and then settled in a specific area, suddenly I understood the various tribes and their differences. Although the book is centered on the West, it also explains the Eastern and Southern tribes, as their future forced migrations would place them in the West. Then, the book shows the different overland trails used by the American pioneers. I knew about the Oregon Trail but didn’t understand where the other migrant routes started and ended.
Speaking of trails, there are also excellent sections illustrating the cattle trails and the railroad lines. It’s one thing to read about something but being a visual person, I appreciated the easy breakdown showing the multiple journeys used to drive cattle to the Midwest. And before the book gets to the railroads, the reader learns about the Pony Express and the Stagecoach Lines, again amply explained so even I could understand. Then come those Old West towns, filled with saloons, jails and brothels.
To the cowboy, the ‘cowtown’ or ‘cattle town’…represented an oasis in a desert of dust and desolation masquerading as the Kansas prairie. Here he could quench his thirst and ease a need for physical contact with women. That they might infect him with something more than joy never crossed his mind. That thought came later.
There is also a well-explained section on the American Civil War and how it affected the West. The end of the war really opened up the West as the railroads connected and the dawn of the gunfighter began. Here we learn about the multitude of baddies who robbed banks and gunned down innocent people, mainly because there wasn’t one set system of law enforcement. But once the famous sheriffs and marshals began taking over, the end of the gunfighter was near.
One day, rode forth this man of wrath,
Upon the distant plain,
And ne’er did he retrace his path,
Nor was he seen again;
The cow town fell into decay;
No spurred heels pressed its walks;
But, through its grass grown ways, they say,
The Two Gun Man still stalks.
Photos are shown of the dead bodies of the unlucky bandits who were either killed during a gun battle with a town’s locals or strung up by vigilantes. As the West became tamed, the emigrants who settled the land wanted law and order, not gun-toting strangers in their new towns. And so we lead into the Indian Wars, as land was taken from the Native Americans and they were forced onto reservations. By the end of those wars, the West was moving quickly toward the twentieth century and the old ways were being forgotten. An excellent photo shows Tom Horn, a famous Westerner, being flanked by young boys on bicycles after he was captured. Just a few years earlier, those boys would have been on ponies. And so time always flies by.
By 1890 the land rushes were done and most of the government acreage had been staked. With almost poetic fittingness, the last of the frontier had been not conquered but dealt out almost like a casino game, going in the end to those who were a little faster, a little smarter, or a little more willing to bend the rules.
Now many readers probably already know the Wild West and the frontier and all of that, but this book really put it all together for me. For example, I didn’t know an Oklahoma Sooner meant one of the land rushers who left their starting point too “soon”, before the officials shot the starting gun in the famous land rush. I never equated the future Dillingers and Bonnie & Clydes with the connection to the old gunfighters and the defeated South. And it never occurred to me that the legendary cowboys would end up dying younger than others because of the dirt and cow feces they breathed in, destroying their lungs. Basically, I just loved reading this book. It’s oversized in a coffee-table way, so it meant hefting it into my lap each evening, but it was worth it. One of those simple productions that are educational but also fascinating at the same time.
Book Season = Summer (drought and dust)
May 7, 2022
Aika hyvä historiikki, jäsennelty aihepiireittäin. Kaikki tärkeimmät tapahtumat on mukana ja käsitelty aika tasapuolisesti. Enää ei pelkästään hehkutettu valkoihoisten paremmuutta eikä syytetty alkuperäiskansoja raakalaisiksi.
September 17, 2021
Interesante informacion y bastantes ilustraciones de la historia de los EEUU.
November 28, 2012
This is a great book and archive of our American history. Covering the time from Lewis and Clark, to the end of the 19th century, with the Battle of Wounded Knee, and the wild west shows of Bufflao Bill Cody, this book is a wealth of information. The photos and pictures are amazing, and the reproductions of paintings and art are also exceptional. The presentations bring alive all the people and events of this time in our history.
August 4, 2011
Livre abondamment illustré et traitant de l'ouest américain par le biais de sujets thématiques. Très complet, on y parle aussi bien de la vie courante des pionniers que des tribus indiennes, des premières explorations du territoire ou des guerres du bétail.
Un livre documentaire de toute beauté et de grande valeur, les informations dispensées étant de bonne qualité.
Un livre documentaire de toute beauté et de grande valeur, les informations dispensées étant de bonne qualité.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews