The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy

by Patrick N. Allitt

Our understanding of the American West has moved far beyond pop culture in recent years. The legendary people and events we associate with the Wild West - the last stand at the Alamo, the Battle of Little Bighorn, the exploits of Calamity Jane, the hardships of the Oregon Trail - are even more fascinating once the historical realities have been separated from the myths.

Designed to shine a light on the American frontier, these 24 lectures are a way for you to experience the grit and grandeur of an epic period in American history. Professor Allitt uncovers new historical angles and perspectives about events and themes ranging from the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Indian Removal Act to the creation America's first national parks.

You'll cover more than 200 years of history and the most important events, themes, and ideas that form the backbone of the frontier's reality - and legend. Among the Transcontinental Railroad, the idea of Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush, the Trail of Tears, and (yes) cowboys. You'll also learn how popular culture - novels like Little House on the Prairie, paintings by artists like Frederic Remington, and decades of Western films - can actually clue us in to the intimate details of life for everyday men and women.

Saddle up for an exciting adventure in learning.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Westerns, Historical, American History, The Americas

13 pages, Audible Audio

Published August 1, 2017

Reviews

[H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

“From the colonial period to the 20th century, the idea of the West exercised a magnetic appeal over generations of Americans. It was where families could travel in search of a new start, and a land of new opportunities and profound transformations. It epitomized the idea that to be American was to be mobile, restless, and enterprising. The lure of this ideal is so strong, in fact, that it can sometimes be difficult to separate myth from reality.” Patrick N. Allitt

I am someone who grew up in “America’s Heartland” and my ideas of “The West” were shaped by drama, history, and experiences that were shared with me. For me, The West was always somewhere beyond the Mississippi River. A place where I longed to go and ride horses, hike through forests and mountains and raft rivers. Though I still enjoy those adventures, my profession and my greater knowledge of the world have had their way with temporizing my viewpoint.

I appreciate the effort that Professor Allitt has put into these lectures, which have also opened me to additional perspectives on this subject. I was surprised to learn that Allitt was born in 1956 and raised in Mickleover, England. He was an undergraduate at Hertford College, University of Oxford, from 1974 to 1977. He studied American History at the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1986. Between 1985 and 1988, he was a Henry Luce Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard Divinity School, where he specialized in American Religious History. Since then, he has been on the history faculty of Emory University. Here’s a Brit who has gone “all-in” on American subject matter.

Allitt has organized his topic as follows:
LECTURE 1 Westward the Course of Empire
LECTURE 2 The West in the Colonial Era
LECTURE 3 Venturing beyond the Appalachians
LECTURE 4 Discoveries of Lewis and Clark
LECTURE 5 The Fur Trade and the Mountain Men
LECTURE 6 Trail of Tears
LECTURE 7 Struggles of the Plains Indians
LECTURE 8 Rebellious Texas and the Alamo
LECTURE 9 Traveling the Oregon Trail
LECTURE 10 Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War
LECTURE 11 The California Gold Rush
LECTURE 12 Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War in the West
LECTURE 13 Building the Transcontinental Railroads
LECTURE 14 Cowboys and Cattle Drives
LECTURE 15 Homesteaders on the Plains
LECTURE 16 Little Bighorn and Wounded Knee
LECTURE 17 Life in Western Towns and Cities
LECTURE 18 John Wesley Powell and the Desert Southwest
LECTURE 19 Women in the Wild West
LECTURE 20 From Territories to Western States
LECTURE 21 Western Violence, Law, and Order
LECTURE 22 Protecting Yellowstone and Yosemite
LECTURE 23 Mythology of the American West
LECTURE 24 Winning the West?

If you decide to give this a try, I am sure that Professor Allitt will “learn you a few things, too.” Ha! An easy 4*

[Andrew Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve listened to a number of these courses, available through Audible and consisting of a series of lectures presented by renowned professors/experts. In addition to the audio content you’re also supplied with a comprehensive PDF document – in this case, running to over two hundred pages. This course discusses how America grew in size and became populated beyond the far eastern band of land initially occupied by the original settlers: see a rough timeline of some of the key milestone events below.

1783 – Treaty of Paris, United States established
1803 – The Louisiana Purchase effectively doubled the size of the US
1805 – Lewis and Clark Expedition crossed the newly acquired western portion of the country
1812 – Stuart discovers the South Pass route to the West via the Rocky Mountains
1830 – The Indian Removal Act was signed into law
1848 – Mexico cedes a huge amount of land (now states such as California, Nevada, Utah & Colorado) to US via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
1848 – Gold found in California setting off the Gold Rush
1861 – The end of the Civil War brought about further migration to the West
1869 – The transcontinental railroad was completed

I grew up watching Western films on television, so my young mind was filled with the battles between cowboys and native Indians. It’s sobering now to gain a better understanding of the true stories behind these ‘adventures’ I once so enjoyed. I won’t go into the detail covered in these lectures, but they certainly added significantly to my patchy knowledge of events.

In his summary, Professor Patrick Allitt (an Englishman, as it happens) poses an interesting comparison between the events taking place in America between the years 1830 – 1890 and what was happening in Africa through the same time period: there were some striking similarities but ultimately a very different outcome.

The lectures provide good base information on events, background, etc, but for the most part, it's like listening to a long story - it's definitely not heavy going. I'd recommend these courses to anyone who has an interest they want to explore further. There are loads of them on all sorts of subjects.

Note: A few reviews of this course have commented that the professor sounds uncannily like the British comedian Steve Coogan - which he does. This can feel a little unsettling if, like me, you've caught his very successful television series: I'm Alan Partridge, about a failed television presenter.

[Barbara K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh. I started reading this, then left it for a couple of days and when I picked it up again I couldn’t remember why I had selected it from my Audible shelf. Oh yes, my wife was being recruited for a job in AZ and I thought I might refresh my background on The West with an overview.

And that’s what it is - an overview, from about 20,000 feet. I think it’s fair to say that I learned something new, or more likely, was reminded of something I’d forgotten, in every chapter. But OTOH, some of the “facts” he cites aren’t consistent with other opinions I’ve read recently.

This lecture series was recorded in 2017, but in many respects it feels older than that. Allitt is respectful of Native Americans in terms of his content, but he frequently uses the word “Indians”. I kept telling myself that this was because it’s a shorter word that flows more easily when delivering a lecture, but I think I flinched each time I heard it.

He’s also scrupulously neutral about explaining how the roles of the pro-abolition and pro-slavery perspectives affected the opening of the west. I believe it’s a condition of our current times that I had trouble with that neutrality, as appropriate as it is for a historian. I’m no more liberal now than I was in 1970 when I studied these issues as an undergraduate history major, and yet today, I want my historians to have a liberal bias. So sue me.

I’m DNF-ing this at about halfway through. I’m not getting that much from it, and there are so many other books out there waiting for me. I’m rating it anyway since I’ve read enough to get an honest feel for the book.

And by the way, I’m pretty sure we’re not moving to AZ. I think this makes me happy. It’s hot there, it’s hot here (in the summer) and it’s true that we can’t say “But it’s a dry heat.” OTOH, I don’t feel guilty every time I turn on the faucet here.

[Mack · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good. Professor Allitt is thorough and interesting. However, if you've already got a fairly good knowledge of the subject, you may enjoy hearing the old names and stories (along with some new things), but there's not much else here for you.

[Porter Broyles · Rating 4 out of 5]

This audio book is part of the great courses series.

I didn't learn too much new information, but I found the presentation to be great and how he connected important themes together to be informative.

I liked it because it was one of those refreshers that I need to get on occassion---I like to read in the weeds, but it helps to see the big picture.

[William Adam Reed · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 24 lecture course is taught by Professor Patrick Allitt, who I have listened to for other topics from the Great Courses. Actually, this is the 8th course of his that I have finished! That in itself is a pretty strong indication that I enjoy this professor's lectures and his ability to keep the topic engaging. This course looks at the key events in the settlement of the American West. Professor Allitt is easy to listen to, he does not bore you, and his English accent is not distracting, although he does occasionally say a place name differently than an American might.

Professor Allitt goes through the history of the West mostly chronologically, starting back in colonial times when the West was thought to be the Appalachian Mountains. He does not spend much time discussing what the Native Americans were doing in the West before the colonists showed up. There is a little bit of that, but this is mostly a traditional Western story told from an Anglo/American perspective. There are lectures on the Lewis & Clark expedition, going out on the Oregon Trail, The Trail of Tears, the California Gold Rush, Women in the West, Homesteading on the Great Plains, the Cattle Drive and Cowboys, the Mexican War, and the Building of the Railroad. Professor Allitt does frequently repeat some facts across the lectures, so you may hear a bit of information more than once if you listen to all the lectures. This is not a glaring issue, but you will be sure to notice it. None of the lectures are particularly deep, this is just giving you an overview of the topic and making sure you get a good sense of what happened at this time. Professor Allitt does give his judgments about what happened back in the Western days, and he is fair minded and sometimes draws conclusions that you may not always agree with. But he is an interesting presenter and I enjoyed this course. I am a graduate student in history, so this is an area I am currently studying in depth, so it was nice to get a refresher on the big picture.

His last two lectures are on the myth of the west and the winning of the west, so he tries to put the story into context with what are divergent views of the west before finishing up. I like this Professor's approach to teaching his subject. He often weaves in examples from literature, both fiction and non-fiction to bolster the examples that he is giving. Other courses that he has taught that are also worth hearing are Victorian Britain, American Religious History, American Identity, and as co-professor the History of the United States.

[Brian M · Rating 5 out of 5]

A series of 24 lectures on the development and creation of the American West. I found this very enjoyable as a survey course on the topic. Not a historian, but I think Patrick N. Allitt touched upon a number of the most important topics related to the West and its subsequent mythology in American history. Would recommend!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Listening to a course on a subject in which I have, more or less, experienced a type of saturation throughout my life is difficult, because, for one thing, I probably have some perspectives and indoctrinations that are averse to the current social acceptance. In addition, I most likely will have some unfair expectations regarding the course because of my background. This was the case, for me, in listening to the lectures and reading the guidebook of Professor Patrick Allitt's course on The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy. Nevertheless, notwithstanding my so called preconceptions of the American West, being a native of eastern Nevada, I still found many topics from which I could learn, and I could still appreciate the professor's efforts in considering both sides in discussing various controversial issues.

That said, I found inaccuracies, omissions, and contradictions that were difficult for me to ignore. but may not annoy the mainstream student.

As one example of several inaccuracies I noticed in this course, Professor Allitt stated the following in his lecture on Traveling the Oregon Trail as he discussed the Mormon immigration to the west: "After a hard journey through the Wasatch Mountains, Young's (Brigham) pioneers descended into the Salt Lake Valley, between the mountains and the Great Salt Lake. Young decided that the area would be their new home, and named it Deseret. It was indeed harsh desert land." In fact, the name Deseret has no connection with the landscape. Rather it is a term that Brigham Young extracted from The Book of Mormon, which states in Ether 2:3: "And they did also carry with them deseret, which, by interpretation, is a honey bee; and thus they did carry with them swarms of bees, and all manner of that which was upon the face of the land, seeds of every kind." From that verse, the term deseret among the Mormon pioneers came to convey the attribute of industry, which they felt was a trait of honeybees. This is why Utah is nicknamed the Beehive State. As quoted from the Utah History Encyclopedia, "Utahns relate the beehive symbol to industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance. The beehive, or skep, was chosen as emblem for the state of Deseret in 1848 and was maintained on the seal of the state of Utah in 1896. Utah is nicknamed the "Beehive State."

With regard to omissions, I anticipated a much different course than the one Professor Allitt offered. Admittingly, I should have read the course outline a little closer, but in many ways, the course seemed more like an academic series of lectures on settling America as a whole rather than emphasizing the west, which, I suppose, I considered anything west of the Mississippi River. Consequently, we had lectures about the English settlement of the eastern seaboard, the American Colonists venturing across the Appalachian mountains, the Trail of Tears from Georgia to Oklahoma. the American Civil War, and the Louisiana Purchase. Conversely, some of the topics which I thought would be emphasized in a course on the American West were superficially mentioned or omitted completely such as lawmen of the west (i.e. the Mastersons, the Earps, Bill Tighman, etc.), the Comstock Load and Virginia City, Nevada; the Donner Party; the Oklahoma Land Rush, the Dust Bowl, and old west outlaws (the Dalton's, Billy the Kid, James-Younger Gang, the Wild Bunch, etc.) to name a few. Obviously, with only twelve hours (24 half hour lectures) to present his material, I can understand the professor had limited time, but I was disappointed in some of the topics that were selected, and some that were omitted.

In addition, Professor Allitt's knowledge of Western literature appeared to be somewhat limited, in that he talked repeatedly about books by Willia Cather, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Hamlin Garland, and stated that Owen Wister who published The Virginian in 1902, "is regarded by many critics as the first recognizable Western novel." Considering that the professor dedicated one whole lecture to crossing the Appalachians I couldn't help but wonder why the Professor never mentioned James Fenimore Cooper and his Leatherstocking Tales which was many years before Wister. It seemed that he could have at least mentioned The Last of the Mohicans. And to not even mention Zane Grey, Max Brand, Mark Twain (i.e Roughing It), or some of the Pulitzer Prize recipients such as Wallace Stegner (Angle of Repose), Larry McMurtry (Lonesome Dove) or Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres), seemed, to me, a major omission. I know many might say that Grey and Brand wrote nothing more than pulp fiction and that they were too unrealistically violent and anti-Native American, but I believe those commentators never heard of Grey's The Vanishing American, or read his final paragraphs of The UP Trail. I was also disappointed, in his discussion of Western literature, that he never mentioned some of the Western poets, such as Stephen Vincent Benet (The Ballad of William Sycamore), Western short story writers such as Bret Harte (The Outcasts of Poker Flat), or Western humorists, such as Will Rogers. On the other hand, he spent about fifteen minutes giving several synopses of old western movies, particularly those starring John Wayne, such as Red River. I guess it's easier to watch a movie than to read a book.

Finally, I noticed that Professor Allitt mentions in his lecture on Women in the Wild West that "Women were expected to stay home, raise God-fearing children, and elevate their families' moral tone. It followed that a place without women would be deficient in religion and morality. The frontier West, where men vastly outnumbered women was just such a place." In other words, in many cases, one might say women had an important, but, admittedly, supportive role in settling most of the West. This didn't make them any less important, heaven forbid, it simply didn't give them the exciting story such as the cattle driver, the miner, or the gun fighter. Later on, however, as the professor discusses Hollywood's interpretation of the west, "Women's roles in movie Westerns have nearly always been subordinate to those of men." In saying that, I'm not sure whether the professor was stating a fact, or making an apologetic statement, but I, for one would rather see accuracy and truth portrayed, rather than to have history changed, even if it is on the silver screen in order to make appearances more inoffensive. If we begin to change truth in order to make it more comfortable (i.e. women gunfighters or bounty hunters), we are no better than how the Ministry of Truth changed history to justify the government in George Orwell's 1984. Whether it be fiction or not, literature and cinema that corrupts history is a perilous sword that destroys veracity in the name of revisionism.

In any case, I felt that Professor Allit's course on the American West could be considered a shot in the arm from modern day academia. Consequently, in many cases, I believe that the professor was spot on, but, there was much of it that I felt simply missed the boat.

[Koit · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really interesting read for me: trying to understand how the United States came to be and what choices had to be made during that process helps in understanding the modern world. Prof Allitt’s work is a mix of the factual and the anecdotal, with the latter helpfully adding colour to the former.

What struck me about this was the logical order that the author managed to establish from the very beginnings of the colonial period to the end of the 19th century. Dispelling the many misconceptions of the American West, such as it being a paradise of gunslingers, was an important part of this which should be repeated as much as possible because of how much Hollywood loves that trope.

Beyond this, the author’s nuanced style wove together the interminable Westward expansion, as empowered by Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase, and continued by the repression and suppression of the indigenous peoples of the Plains. The position and status of the buffalo in this process, first described to me in Stephen Ambrose’s ‘Crazy Horse and Custer’, was reinforced here with very good descriptions.

Further, it’s common for people to overlook the Mexican–American War, but fortunately the scope of Prof Allitt’s work allowed him to think about these in detail. Meanwhile, the relevance of railroads to this process was also included in a fairly big sweep at trying to explain how this great western area was populated and developed.

Overall, this is a very good and thorough look at the time and period. It should be clear, however, that this means that for an in-depth consideration of any one of the covered topics one should find a book on that specific topic.

This review was originally posted on my blog.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent lecture series, to be expected from The Great Courses. One annoying aspect was that the British author didn't always pronounce Southern town names correctly- it's too bad no one checked his pronunciations before putting this audiobook out. And some sections were understandably more interesting than others. But in general I really enjoyed this one.

[Ben Denison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good collection of essays/articles/segments of other books (I’m sure I’ve read/heard exact content in other specific books) , but overall a decent collection of development of the west.

[Abdulla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to this while on a road trip out west, so it was an enjoyable experience. A pretty basic/introductory series, I think it would've been possible to go into a little more depth in the time allotted, but still not bad at all.

Having listened to some of his other courses, I knew that Allitt is a political conservative (or at least a classical liberal), and so it was interesting to see the extent to which even he acknowledged the disturbing nature of US history.

In particular I couldn't help seeing the similarities between American settler colonists on the one hand, and Zionists or Pied Noir on the other: a sense of entitlement combined with victimhood, racial superiority, even blood thirstiness. Though as Allitt points out, they had their virtues as well: in particular a sense of adventurousness, an egalitarian republican ethos, and a strong commitment to the rule of law (at least for their in-group).

I thought Allitt did a decent job of exploring this nuance—better than his course on the British Empire. Then again, perhaps that increased objectivity makes sense considering his background as an outsider here.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history, well balanced.

[Mark Gannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I listened to the audio book version, and at the end, the author says that the twelve hours of the book were not enough to go into real detail about the history of the American West. Overall, that is the feeling I had from nearly the very start- that this was a very broad overview.

In the introduction, the author askes us to visualize the American landscape as seen from a plane at twenty thousand feet. It seems as if this is the same view of history taken in this book. Any one of the individual chapters (termed lectures here) would have served as a great introduction to a book on any one of the numerous topics covered.

Stars were lost for several (minor) reasons. As stated, I listened to the audiobook version. The editing could have been better. While the instances were few compared to the length of the book there were several times where the narrator could be heard stumbling over his words, or mispronouncing a name and correcting himself or struggling to hold back a laugh at some statement he had just read- not a good sign if the overall format of the book is a serious lecture.

Another star was lost because, it seemed to me, certain topics felt rushed, despite how many times they were mentioned. Example: In the section about law and order, posies were mention. Posies (in all their various incarnations- posies, lynch mob etc) were mentioned in several other sections. Despite their frequent mention, I am still left with a very Hollywood impression of them.

Other than this minor complaints, an interesting read.

[Elwin Kline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A broad presentation of the American West.

I really do love the Wild West and have read a decent amount of books on the topic. With that being said, broad coverage type books aren't much value to me at this point, as where he does a touch and go on a particular subject, I've already spent many hours of focus on the content from another source (Zebulon Pike being a great example here).

With that being said, where I am at this a 3/5... but, being considerate and trying to pretend go look at this as a Wild West genre newcomer, I do think this would fairly be a 4 rating.

The author does a great job covering one of my favorite eras. It just lacks the depth that I yearn for at this point.

3/5 actual rating for where I am at.

4/5 if pretending I don't know much about the topic.

If you are new to the subject.. I do think this would be a great starting point. Hopefully it will inspire you to want more and then target your attention on some of the individual lectures presented.

Either way, I would say this is enjoyable enough and if you can squeeze it in between other bigger/better audio content, go for it.

I am writing this review from my phone, so please disregard/understand any possible errors or auto-corrects.

[Nick Landry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent course. Don't be deterred by the fact that this course on the American West is taught by a Brit. I would argue that this uniquely positions him as an impartial expert given the divisive nature of so many aspects of American history. He carefully balances the discourse between the stories of conquest and suffering on one end, and stories of perseverance and achievement on the other, without swinging the pendulum too far one way or the other. He knows his material very well, and the course is thoroughly researched.

Allitt covers a wide range of topics, from the Eastern expansion westward to settling the untamed territories of the west, the politics, the wars, the various ethnic groups involved, the opportunities like the gold rush or the Homestead act, the role of women, Western depiction in books and movies, etc. He still only scratches the surface, but this is an excellent overview with enough depth, all packed in 12 hours of courseware.

While the audiobook version should be more than enough to follow, I highly recommend watch the video version from The Great Courses on Wondrium. The supporting photography and historical documents really adds to the depth of the course. Highly recommended.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Great Courses text on The American West remembers something many people forget when thinking about the past. The American West did not star with cowboys herding cattle in the mid 19th century. It began with the original British colonies as they moved inland from the coast and Allitt focuses on this moving boundary in the first three-quarters of his book. He charts wars, politics, changes in the economy and technology, discoveries like gold, the challenges of desert, plain and wilderness, the quest for religious freedom, and of course, the impact on the people already inhabiting those lands.

That was actually more of the history than I wanted. Anyone conversant with American history is already familiar with most of what Allitt talks about in this first section. Where the book really shines is when the author focuses thematically on issues like homesteading, or cattle ranching, or mining, or women, or the western myths that shape and remain in our society. It was this last idea that interested me the most and I would have been glad to see many more chapters devoted to it.

If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.

[Neil Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realise until almost finished that my choice to listen to this was probably influenced by my anticipation at the release of red dead redemption 2. As it is it makes for a good contrast regard myth, history and legacy. The series is a little shorter than most from the company but I appreciate that they spend the right amount of time rather than dragging things out. I'm usually more of a chronological fan of history but the lecturer actually does a really good job of a thematic approach (handled chronologically within each theme). There were a lot of factors at play in the expansion/conquest of the west. Not only were there native americans already present but in many cases there had already been europeans (spanish/french) present for centuries too. Also beaver fur played a much larger role than I'd previously thought. There is also a nice introduction and conclusion that rounds out the lectures in a satisfying way. Now I'm reading to spot how faithful or unfaithful the game is!

[Mason Frierson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This Great Courses text on The American West remembers something many people forget when thinking about the past. The American West did not star with cowboys herding cattle in the mid 19th century. It began with the original British colonies as they moved inland from the coast and Allitt focuses on this moving boundary in the first three-quarters of his book. He charts wars, politics, changes in the economy and technology, discoveries like gold, the challenges of desert, plain and wilderness, the quest for religious freedom, and of course, the impact on the people already inhabiting those lands.

That was actually more of the history than I wanted. Anyone conversant with American history is already familiar with most of what Allitt talks about in this first section. Where the book really shines is when the author focuses thematically on issues like homesteading, or cattle ranching, or mining, or women, or the western myths that shape and remain in our society. It was this last idea that interested me the most and I would have been glad to see many more chapters devoted to it.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Allitt's presentation of the development of the American west, from colonial time to the early 20th century, is an enjoyable romp through history...without being bogged down with details. This is a survey course that is pure edutainment at it's best.

The material is well-organized in a roughly chronological order, interspersed with thematic cul-de-sacs that focus on specific aspects of the American West's development.

I listened to the Audible version of the lectures and very much missed the guidebook that comes with TGC versions. I advise all you prospective users/buyers that the video versions might be better since: 1. you'll get the guidebook, and 2. the maps and images alluded to in the audio might be better seen than heard.
Recommended, especially since you won't have to rob a bank to use the sales and coupons often available.

[Christine]

If you are looking for aq book that tells you every aspect of the American West, including controversies of the past and today, in an inviting way then this is the audio book for you. The lectures are intriguing, the narrator/professor British, and the information is comprehensive. There is no white-washing how terrible things were for the settlers and Native Americans. There is also no white-washing of how badly immigrants, slaves, miners...basically everyone was treated. In addition to this honesty, the professor acknowledges that the people of the era genuinely believed that what they were doing was right/divine/justified.

If you would like a comprehensive look at the American West check this book out. I would also like to note that I actively enjoyed this twelve hour journey, it did not feel like a slog.

[عدنان العبار · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I anticipated a more thorough history of the cowboy life, I was not disappointed at all by this book. This is an objective book. It treats Americans as neither villains nor heroes, but as a people who have among them the heroic and villainous. The book delves much more into the History of the American West than particularly the Myths and Legacy of the American West, the last two occupied in-depth chapters that were the penultimate and ultimate, respectively; but as one can easily tell, a history of X is also an exposition of the myths and legacy of X. The book was fun to listen to especially because it did not neglect the major events in those periods, nor does it overlook the lives of women and their contributions or the culture of many American Indian tribes and their practices.

[Steve Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is well worth engaging, but the reader ought to be aware of that. The lecture starts with the colonial period of the United States. Professor Allitt does this in order to provide geopolitical precedents that led to the settling of the Western frontier. This is well worth listening to in its entirety.

Even though there are 24 lectures, it is an overview and only 12 hours long. For all that, the listener will likely gain quite a bit of background on American history that they may not have had. It’s a remarkably comprehensive course.

I only caught one error . During the Fetterman fight (or massacre, depending upon your perspective), where over 1000 Native American warriors overwhelmed some 81 US soldiers, the professor stated that the Americans were captured and then killed. They were not captured. They were completely overrun.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allitt is great as always. The course covers a broad swath of American history all from the perspective of what the western frontier was, what it meant, and how it moved over time. Allitt discusses the important role of geography as well as the history of the West before it came in to US possession. His presentation of the interaction of whites and native Americans is well done: it neither ignores the disgraceful and shameful treatment by whites of native Americans nor romanticizes the native Americans as a monolithic, idyllic people. I'm sure there are details that are missing, inaccurate, or somewhat fudged over: this is not an in-depth rigorous history. But it does a great job of telling the story of the West.

[George · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally good overview, but with a definite bias in favor of modern pc culture. For example, native casualties of Indian Wars engagements are generally inflated and always described as "men, WOMEN, and CHILDREN." The white casualties are minimized and generically referred to as "settlers" with no sex or age specified. Thus, in the Dakota War of 1862, "more than 400 white settlers" were killed. The actual number is in excess of 600, of whom at least 30% were children, and barely 20% were soldiers or armed civilians.

[Donald Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent survey of the history of the West. I've spent many hours reading the western novels of Louis L'Amour and Zane Grey (with a few others). I began to wonder how reliable they were as pictures of the real west. This is one of the first answers to the questions I found. I have to say, the fictionalized west is of course not exactly like the real west. There were some periods that matched, but mostly people came west trying to make their way in the world, just like "ordinary people" today.

This course (part of the Great Courses) does a good job surveying the overall story.

[Chris Sheridan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a very abridged introduction to the American West. The narration was a bit disappointing in its production value where you could hear the narrator correct himself or clear his throat. The telling itself was a bit disjointed and just gave light facts and names associated with large topics like laws of the west, Indian migration, and Homesteading. I would reccomend this to someone who has never looked into the American West at all for a very brief introduction.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Way too broad of an overview. This is a primer for about 30 different subjects rolled into one. It was interesting but way too shallow treatment of the subject matter.

If you have no knowledge of the subject this would be a great place to start but if you do this is at best a refresher. On the positive side I enjoyed the lecturer he has great enthusiasm for the subject matter and it shows. Not a waste of time but I didn't learn much from it.

[Chris Leuchtenburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like most Great Courses, this one is cogent, articulate and packed with good stories, information and analysis. It is a very brief survey of this expansive subject. Thus, we get good coverage most of the major subjects, such as Native American interactions, the Mexican War, the transcontinental railroad and the California Gold Rush, but there is very little if anything about river boats, education or Hispanic culture. You just can't cover everything in a survey course.

[Joey Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Allitt offers a far-reaching panoramic view of the history and mythology of the American West and a theory that the people who settled the West exemplified what it meant to be an American (more so than their counterparts in the East or the South) as well as that the concept of “American Exceptionalism” is grounded in the West.

Not only informative, but highly entertaining.