William R. Handley is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His articles have appeared in Arizona Quarterly, Contemporary Literature and Twentieth Century Literature.

'Marriage, Violence and the Nation in the American Literary West makes a significant contribution to scholarship on western American literature. Handley focuses upon marriage as an ongoing social fact through which twentieth-century fiction revises readings of the West as America's destiny. This is a 'must read' book for scholars of the American West in literature and also history.' Susan Rosowski, University of Nebraska

• Introduction; 1. Western unions; 2. Turner's rhetorical frontier; 3. Marrying for race and nation: Wister's omniscience and omissions; 4. Polygamy and empire: Grey's distinctions; 5. Unwedded West: Cather's divides; 6. Accident and destiny: Fitzgerald's fantastic geography; 7. Promises and betrayals: Joan Didion and Wallace Stegner; Afterword; Notes; Index.

William R. Handley is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His articles have appeared in Arizona Quarterly, Contemporary Literature and Twentieth Century Literature.

'Marriage, Violence and the Nation in the American Literary West makes a significant contribution to scholarship on western American literature. Handley focuses upon marriage as an ongoing social fact through which twentieth-century fiction revises readings of the West as America's destiny. This is a 'must read' book for scholars of the American West in literature and also history.' Susan Rosowski, University of Nebraska

• Introduction; 1. Western unions; 2. Turner's rhetorical frontier; 3. Marrying for race and nation: Wister's omniscience and omissions; 4. Polygamy and empire: Grey's distinctions; 5. Unwedded West: Cather's divides; 6. Accident and destiny: Fitzgerald's fantastic geography; 7. Promises and betrayals: Joan Didion and Wallace Stegner; Afterword; Notes; Index.

William R. Handley is Assistant Professor of English at the University of Southern California. His articles have appeared in Arizona Quarterly, Contemporary Literature and Twentieth Century Literature.

'Marriage, Violence and the Nation in the American Literary West makes a significant contribution to scholarship on western American literature. Handley focuses upon marriage as an ongoing social fact through which twentieth-century fiction revises readings of the West as America's destiny. This is a 'must read' book for scholars of the American West in literature and also history.' Susan Rosowski, University of Nebraska

• Introduction; 1. Western unions; 2. Turner's rhetorical frontier; 3. Marrying for race and nation: Wister's omniscience and omissions; 4. Polygamy and empire: Grey's distinctions; 5. Unwedded West: Cather's divides; 6. Accident and destiny: Fitzgerald's fantastic geography; 7. Promises and betrayals: Joan Didion and Wallace Stegner; Afterword; Notes; Index.