The American West: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #419

by Stephen Aron

Part geographical location, part time period, and part state of mind, the American West is a concept often invoked but rarely defined. Though popular culture has carved out a short and specific time and place for the region, author and longtime Californian Stephen Aron tracks "the West" from the building of the Cahokia Mounds around 900 AD to the post-World War II migration to California. His Very Short Introduction stretches the chronology, enlarges the geography, and varies the casting, providing a history of the American West that is longer, larger, and more complicated than popular culture has previously suggested. It is a history of how portions of North America became Wests, how parts of these became American, and how ultimately American Wests became the American West.
Aron begins by describing the expansion of Indian North America in the centuries before and during its early encounters with Europeans. He then explores the origins of American westward expansion from the Seven Years' War to the 1830s, focusing on the western frontier at the time: the territory between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River. He traces the narrative - temporally and geographically - through the discovery of gold in California in the mid-nineteenth century and the subsequent rush to the Pacific Slope. He shows how the passage of the Newlands Reclamation Act in 1902 brought an unprecedented level of federal control to the region, linking the West more closely to the rest of the United States, and how World War II brought a new rush of population (particularly to California), further raising the federal government's profile in the region and heightening the connections between the West and the wider world.
Authoritative, lucid, and ranging widely over issues of environment, people, and identity, this is the American West stripped of its myths. The complex convergence of peoples, polities, and cultures that has decisively shaped the history of the American West serves as the key interpretive thread through this Very Short Introduction.
ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, The United States Of America, American

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2014

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Historian Stephen Aron wrote The American West: A Very Short Introduction. I read the edition that was published in 2015. The book has illustrations and maps. The book has an index. The book has references. The book has a section entitled “further reading” (Aron 131-134). The introduction introduces the concepts in this book. The first chapter is “The View from Cahokia” (Aron 3-14). This chapter covers the Mississippian culture and the “Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico” (Aron 9) in Medieval North America. The second chapter is about Colonial North America. In many ways, this chapter is a sequel to the Historian Alan Taylor’s Colonial America: A Very Short Introduction. The third chapter is on the early frontier in American history between the end of the American Revolution and 1820 (Aron 45). The first American frontier Aron defines as being between “the Appalachians and the Mississippi” (Aron 32). The fourth chapter covers the history of the American West beyond the Mississippi River (Aron 46) between the end of the expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1806 and the California Gold Rush. The fifth chapter is on American racial imagination and the American West. Chapter 6 is entitled “The Watering of the West” (Aron 78-93). This chapter also covers conservation. Chapter 7 covers the history of the American West between the early 20th Century and “the 1965 Immigration Reform Act” (Aron 94). The last chapter is an urban study and urban history of Los Angeles, California. Aron’s book, The American West, is well done.
Works Cited:
Taylor, Alan. 2013. Colonial America: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable overview of the American West, starting with Cahokia, a powerful Indian nation, about which we know very little, but that culture's vast earthen mounds are still evident in the mid western U.S. And that's part of what the book reminds us of - that 'the west', which I think of as starting around Colorado and moving west from there, was once much further east in the conception of the European settlers who came here. The book makes a point of being a corrective to much of traditional American understanding of the expansion of the European-originated settlers across the western U.S., giving more weight and nuance to the Native Americans' experience, and contrasting 'realities' (at least as most historians currently understand them, since 'reality' is always in the perception of the story teller) with more traditional 'American' (by which I mean the primarily European settlers and their descendents who took over and shaped the country in the 1800s and 1900s) histories, including a look at how 'the west' has been portrayed by Hollywood, and for contrast, a contemporary view of Los Angeles. I would like to have a lot more details, but the nature of 'a very short introduction' is that it must limit the details, and this book provides a good overview while also being specific enough in details to be interesting and entertaining throughout.

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good introduction to the concept of the west as it shifted further west over time. Covers American Indians a lot, overlapping with the VSI to Colonial America.

[Palswd · Rating 3 out of 5]

对“西部”的定义过宽，导致内容与Colonial America那本有不少重复。作者的观点鲜明，限于VSI系列的篇幅，论据显得有所不足。后半部分的章节较有意思，如能将前三章合并为一章，或许就可以有更多空间对这些内容进行展开了。

[Harrison Entwistle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just closed the cover of this; technically this one is a love labor. I'll go refer to this book and probably all the Oxford series has to offer. No gimmicks here. California water crisis is nothing new as well as Teddy roosevelts conquests, altercations between settlers and natives. Didn't know about the new lands or the homestead act. Andrew Jackson was a real piece of work. Too bad Davy Crockett wasn't ever president. I fell Crockett would have renegotiated, re treatied, and reformed many (if not all) General Jacksons decisions. No mention of the man from Tennessee here, that's for another review.

Anyhow The concept of America moving into a new era sings loudly in the current times we live. Currently I reside in the town where doc Holliday passed away. Colorado has little to do with the book. Only gets mentioned a few times- which is fine, I guess. Being that this is a 'short intro.' Mormon church was shown in an interesting light. (See chapter on watering the west).

Native Americans get mentioned only a handful of times. They are removed as far as interviews. Which all in all is just sad. But all encompassing presidents, transcontinental railroad, southern African American diaspora, internment camps, it's all here. Very readable format, should be required reading in schools. Especially film studies,,,

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very short, very politically correct. Starts with Cahokia, which was interesting. Ends with Hollywood. I wish the chapter on water had been more informative. There are a million of these Very Short Introductions now from Oxford University Press, designed for beginners in a subject. If you've had an American history course, or several, you will still learn a few things, but I found myself analyzing his choices in topic and tone as often as not.

[Frederic Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great survey, excellent bibliography.