The Far Western Frontier 1830-1860

The New American Nation Series

by Ray Allen Billington

This classic work of frontier history recounts the process of U.S. expansion into the Far West during the mid-nineteenth century. In just thirty years, thousands of pioneers pushed United States settlement from western Missouri and Arkansas into New Mexico, California, and Oregon. Kit Carson, Davy Crockett, Brigham Young, John C. Fremont, and Stephen Watts Kearny are only a few of the characters who appear in this colorful saga, which includes travel and trade on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails, the California Gold Rush, the Texas Revolution, the Battle of the Alamo, and the Mexican-American War.

Genres: History, American History, Westerns, Nonfiction

324 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Ray Allen Billington was an American historian focusing his work on the history of the American frontier and the American West, becoming one of the leading defenders of Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis" from the 1950s to the 1970s, expanding the field of the history of the American West. He was a co-founder of the Western History Association in 1961.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Published in 1956, this is part of the New American Nation Series, which chronicles early American history from early exploration into the 20th century. It tells the story of the opening of the American West from 1830-1860. I intended to read this a few months earlier but got immersed in Civil War readings. As it turned out, this was a great temporary departure. There were many events happening concurrently in the years leading to the War, and this book gives a great overview of how the US was changing in both geography and attitude. Expansion was the order of the day, and this book weaves the stories of America's war with Mexico and subsequent southwest land acquisition, the exploration of California and ensuring gold fever, and the settlement and subsequent acquisition of the Oregon Territory into a smooth-flowing account.

[John E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to the history of the American West.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book covering the Frontier in the Americas.

[Thomas Stockman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding, even through published in 1956 (the year I was born) & it's now 68 years old.

The author divided different important aspects & theaters of American expansion in those years, so each chapter described a subject area of the events & themes, and runs 1830 thru 1860 in each. This focus really helped to fully develop the subject area.

Instead of picking a perspective or movement & taking that as "the truth about what happened", Billington reveals the multiple moving parts & disparate believes of people at the various times portrayed. Some analysis & essay type in each chapter was really useful to me & I think the author really nails in a wide context, what was happening.

Different subject areas include background in Mexico & the parts of the US which used to belong to Mexico; the geopolitical rivalries between US, Britain, France, Spain, etc; earliest US exploration & fur trapping in the aftermath of Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase; the complex years of pre-annexation Texas; the Polk years when the US gobbled up Texas, California, and the Oregon Territory; Manifest Destiny's roots & results; Mormons settlement of Utah; the Gold Rushes; and with the various moving parts, this book reflects the organic way this history unfolded.

An excellent read, made even better for me because it gives an excellent glimpse into how we viewed that history 68 years ago, and it's free from modern ideologies about our history.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was actually a decent read until the spine broke and the pages started falling out (book was published in 1956)