Description
The concept of the American West is an essential part of our national psyche. Identifying the West, however, is a difficult matter. From pinpointing the region’s ambiguous boundaries, to defining its significance to each American, scholars from a multitude of disciplines have disagreed about the geography, history, and meaning of the West since we first advanced on the frontier. In Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About the West, geographer Gary J. Hausladen brings together leading scholars to consider how popular perceptions about the West contribute to our understanding of the region’s geography. Topics include ranching, gambling, cinema, the National Park System, and the roles of minorities in Western expansion. The essays are divided into three sections. “Continuity and Change” addresses themes that are relevant to the entire region including the relationship between the American West and the academic field of historical geography. In part two, “Enduring Regional Voices,” the essays depart from predominantly white Euro-American male interpretations to study other perspectives, namely those of women, Mormons, Mexican Americans, and Native Americans. “The West as Visionary Place” investigates the culture of the region. Drawing from diverse media, contributors explore various images and their contributions to our understanding about the American West. In the final chapter, key western movies are used to examine the issues of settlement and utopianism, as well as empire and territorial expansion. As a collection, these twelve essays reflect the eclectic nature of Western scholarship, examining diverse topics—some historical, some contemporary—from sometimes conflicting perspectives, with widely divergent scope and voices. Western Places, American Myths brings together geography, history, popular culture, and a comprehensive view of the region, bridging the humanities and social sciences.

Reviews
"Lucid prose, lively topics, and original thinking all take center stage in this evocative synthesis of the geography of the American West."
—Susan W. Hardwick, author of Mythic Galveston: Re-Inventing America's Third Coast and a geographer at the University of Oregon who specializes in the cultural and historical geography of the American West

“Gary J. Hausladen and his posse of historical geographers valiantly ride out to seek the truth about reality and myth in the American West. They take their readers on a perilous journey through a landscape filled with fascinating social and environmental complexities, providing insightful, well-written commentary, splendid photographs, and a veritable mountain of scholarly references along the way. The landscape they interpret ranges from the frontier of Frederick Jackson Turner to the staged West of Buffalo Bill Cody, but also the all but forgotten (and now rediscovered) cultural-historical landscapes of Native America, Mex-America, and Mormon America. The final chapter fitting enough, examines how we portrayed it all in movies, celluloid tabernacles for our myths. This book leads the way in the development of a new vision of that quintessential American region: the West of reality and of imagination.” —Will Graf, Past President of the Association of American Geographers, and author of Wilderness Preservation and the Sagebrush Rebellions

“Gary J. Hausladen has corralled together some of the best geographic voices from the West, resulting in a valuable collection that defies boundaries just as the region itself does. With selections that range from ghost towns and gambling to national parks and Native Americans, this book is as sprawling as the territory it represents. It also gives readers a survey of the theoretical terrain on the region as charted by geographers, and is a welcome addition to the growing body of scholarly literature on (and from) the West. Although we may never be able to define the precise boundaries of the West, these essays certainly unearth its soul and psyche.” —Judy Walton, Assistant Professor of Geography, Humboldt State University

“Western Places, Western Myths is among the best of the genre.” —John L. Allen, The Geographical Review, January 2003

"There are several strengths to this collection. It engages energetically with the historiography...the debate over 'where the West begins' is fascinating, as are the accompanying maps...there is a careful balance of culture and geography....nearly every essay makes a point of demonstrating how an element of the West's past continues to affect its present.” —Claire Campbell, Journal of the West, July 2006

Contents
Contributors:

John B. Wright, New Mexico State University

William Wyckoff, Montana State University

Paul F. Starrs, University of Nevada Reno

Lary M. Dilsaver, University of South Alabama

Richard H. Jackson, Brigham Young University

Terrence Haverluk, USAF Academy

Akim Reinhardt, Towson University

Karen Morin, Bucknell University

Peter Goin, University of Nevada Reno

Pauliina Raento, University of Helsinki

Dydia DeLyser, Louisiana State University