Eyewitness to the American West: From the Aztec Empire to the Digital Frontier in the Words of Those Who Saw It Happen

by David Colbert (Editor)

The American West is a vast historical landscape, far richer than the cowboys-and-Indians simplifications of Hollywood allow, far more complex than most textbooks can make room to discuss. David Colbert recognizes at the outset of Eyewitness to the American West that "the West" has always been a relative term. For the New England colonists, it began just outside the door; for the cavaliers of Virginia, it started at the Shenandoah River; for Kansas freeholders, it lay beyond the Rocky Mountains. Colbert lets the actors of its history decide what constitutes the West, and he lets them do the talking in this intriguing documentary history, which begins with the Spanish conquest of Mexico and ends with Bill Gates's conquest of the software industry. In between, Colbert's anthology is populated with dozens of dramatic incidents; massacres, gold strikes, and atomic-bomb tests among them. Although he draws widely on the usual suspects--for instance, Mark Twain's often-quoted account of the Comstock Lode and Hunter Thompson's imaginative descriptions of Bay Area motorcycle gangs--Colbert also includes voices that are not often heard in collections of this kind, quoting from the diaries of pioneer women, the journals of Japanese-American internees, and contemporary newspaper accounts of cattle drives and Mafia assassinations. Offering a broad view of the Western past, Colbert's documentary history is a useful resource for students and general readers alike. --Gregory McNamee

Genres: History, Nonfiction

495 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[Rose Schaffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book of 500 years of individual witnesses to some big known history and lesser known history of America's movement westward.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

EYEWITNESS To The American West--what a brilliant idea to present history. David Colbert sets out a patchwork quilt of narratives that illustrate American West as it was. With minimal commentary from Colbert, the reader forms a unique understanding of the area.

MOST WOW NARRATIVE--
1520- Cortes describes the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) as he saw it. An Aztec describes the arrival of Cortes.
MOST "I DIDN'T KNOW THAT..."
1680- The most successful Indiana uprising against Europeans--Pueblo vs. Jesuits
THE SADDEST STORY--
1837- Smallpox epidemics killed more Indians than battle. See eyewitness account of F.A. Chardon, a trader in North Dakota.
NO REALLY, THIS MAY BE THE SADDEST--
1851- Journal entry of the soldier who remove Yosemite Indians from their home as requested by Gold Rush miners. The soldier led the chief by a rope around his neck.
BADDEST--
1865- Juneteenth was sadder than it sounds.
ICKIEST--
1889- The Great Land Rush in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Narratives of Boomers and Sooners.
WHO KNEW?
1935--Description of working conditions building the Boulder Dam (Hoover Dam).
1977-89-The wreck of the Exxon Valdez. Who cleaned up the mess?
and NOW Silicon Valley and the movie industry shaping the West into what it is today.