The American West Transformed

The American West Transformed

Author: Gerald D. Nash

Publisher: U of Nebraska Press

Published: 1990-01-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9780803283602

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The industrialization of the American West during World War II brought about rapid and far-reaching social, cultural, and economic changes. Gerald D. Nash shows that the effect of the war on that region was nothing less than explosive.


Colony and Empire

Colony and Empire

Author: William G. Robbins

Publisher:

Published: 1994

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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"A forceful analysis of the role of capitalism in the history of the American West. This is an important contribution to the new western history that should be read by both historians and residents of the American West". -- Journal of American History. "This exciting book should take its place on the shelf next to Patricia Limerick's The Legacy of Conquest". -- Forest & Conservation History.


Where Land and Water Meet

Where Land and Water Meet

Author: Nancy Langston

Publisher: University of Washington Press

Published: 2009-11-23

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0295989831

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Water and land interrelate in surprising and ambiguous ways, and riparian zones, where land and water meet, have effects far outside their boundaries. Using the Malheur Basin in southeastern Oregon as a case study, this intriguing and nuanced book explores the ways people have envisioned boundaries between water and land, the ways they have altered these places, and the often unintended results. The Malheur Basin, once home to the largest cattle empires in the world, experienced unintended widespread environmental degradation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. After establishment in 1908 of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a protected breeding ground for migratory birds, and its expansion in the 1930s and 1940s, the area experienced equally extreme intended modifications aimed at restoring riparian habitat. Refuge managers ditched wetlands, channelized rivers, applied Agent Orange and rotenone to waterways, killed beaver, and cut down willows. Where Land and Water Meet examines the reasoning behind and effects of these interventions, gleaning lessons from their successes and failures. Although remote and specific, the Malheur Basin has myriad ecological and political connections to much larger places. This detailed look at one tangled history of riparian restoration shows how—through appreciation of the complexity of environmental and social influences on land use, and through effective handling of conflict—people can learn to practice a style of pragmatic adaptive resource management that avoids rigid adherence to single agendas and fosters improved relationships with the land.


The Cold War American West, 1945-1989

The Cold War American West, 1945-1989

Author: Kevin J. Fernlund

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13:

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The first comprehensive survey of the Cold War's enormous impact on the environment, society, politics, culture, and economy of the American West.


Making the White Man's West

Making the White Man's West

Author: Jason E. Pierce

Publisher: University Press of Colorado

Published: 2016-01-15

Total Pages: 323

ISBN-13: 1607323966

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The West, especially the Intermountain states, ranks among the whitest places in America, but this fact obscures the more complicated history of racial diversity in the region. In Making the White Man’s West, author Jason E. Pierce argues that since the time of the Louisiana Purchase, the American West has been a racially contested space. Using a nuanced theory of historical “whiteness,” he examines why and how Anglo-Americans dominated the region for a 120-year period. In the early nineteenth century, critics like Zebulon Pike and Washington Irving viewed the West as a “dumping ground” for free blacks and Native Americans, a place where they could be segregated from the white communities east of the Mississippi River. But as immigrant populations and industrialization took hold in the East, white Americans began to view the West as a “refuge for real whites.” The West had the most diverse population in the nation with substantial numbers of American Indians, Hispanics, and Asians, but Anglo-Americans could control these mostly disenfranchised peoples and enjoy the privileges of power while celebrating their presence as providing a unique regional character. From this came the belief in a White Man’s West, a place ideally suited for “real” Americans in the face of changing world. The first comprehensive study to examine the construction of white racial identity in the West, Making the White Man’s West shows how these two visions of the West—as a racially diverse holding cell and a white refuge—shaped the history of the region and influenced a variety of contemporary social issues in the West today.


Settling the West

Settling the West

Author:

Publisher: Time Life Medical

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13:

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Covers the period of westward expansion from 1860 to 1900 including the search for gold via the Oregon Trail, outlaws and lawmen, the Chisholm Trail, and a railroad that would span the country.


World War II and the West

World War II and the West

Author: Gerald D. Nash

Publisher:

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13:

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World War II forced a restructuring of the American economy that was particularly visible in the West, which depression-bound and dependent in 1940, by 1945 had spawned a mushrooming manufacturing complex, a bustling service economy, and a multitude of aerospace, electronic, and science-oriented industries that heralded a new phase of economic development. Nash (history, U. of New Mexico) analyzes the events and changes, and draws out the implications for contemporary America. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Race, Religion, Region

Race, Religion, Region

Author: Fay Botham

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Published: 2006-09-15

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9780816524785

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Racial and religious groups have played a key role in shaping the American West, yet scholars have for the most part ignored how race and religion have influenced regional identity. In this collection, eleven contributors explore the intersections of race, religion, and region to show how they transformed the West. From the Punjabi Mexican Americans of California to the European American shamans of Arizona to the Mexican Chinese of the borderlands, historical meanings of race in the American West are complex and are further complicated by religious identities. This book moves beyond familiar stereotypes to achieve a more nuanced understanding of race while also showing how ethnicity formed in conjunction with religious and regional identity. The chapters demonstrate how religion shaped cultural encounters, contributed to the construction of racial identities, and served as a motivating factor in the lives of historical actors. The opening chapters document how religion fostered community in Los Angeles in the first half of the twentieth century. The second section examines how physical encounters—such as those involving Chinese immigrants, Hermanos Penitentes, and Pueblo dancers—shaped religious and racial encounters in the West. The final essays investigate racial and religious identity among the Latter-day Saints and southern California Muslims. As these contributions clearly show, race, religion, and region are as critical as gender, sexuality, and class in understanding the melting pot that is the West. By depicting the West as a unique site for understanding race and religion, they open a new window on how we view all of America.


Indian Givers

Indian Givers

Author: Jack Weatherford

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2010-08-03

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 030771716X

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An utterly compelling story of how the cultural, social, and political practices of Native Americans transformed the way life is lived throughout the world, with a new introduction by the author “As entertaining as it is thoughtful . . . Few contemporary writers have Weatherford’s talent for making the deep sweep of history seem vital and immediate.”—The Washington Post After 500 years, the world’s huge debt to the wisdom of the Native Americans has finally been explored in all its vivid drama by anthropologist Jack Weatherford. He traces the crucial contributions made by the Native Americans to our federal system of government, our democratic institutions, modern medicine, agriculture, architecture, and ecology, and in this astonishing, ground-breaking book takes a giant step toward recovering a true American history.