Alicia Christensen is the Bison Books editor at the University of Nebraska Press and the editor of American Lives: A Reader (available in a Bison Books edition). David Wrobel is a professor and chair of the Department of History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the author of Promised Lands: Promotion, Memory, and the Creation of the American West.  Excerpts include works by: Bess Streeter Aldrich, the descendants of Nicholas Black Elk, Willa Cather, William Clark, Ella Cara Deloria, Kenneth L. Holmes, David Lavender, Meriwether Lewis, Ralph Moody, Wright Morris, John G. Neihardt, Tillie Olsen, Louise Pound, Mari Sandoz, Jack Schaefer, Luther Standing Bear, Wallace Stegner, Elinore Pruitt Stewart, and Mildred Walker.

"The Golden West contains wonderful selections, provocatively arranged. Reading, I felt the pleasure of encountering old friends but also a stab of envy for the young readers who will travel these realms of gold for the first time."—Mary Clearman Blew, author of Jackalope Dreams, winner of the Western Heritage Center's prize for fiction2 "In this fine collection, the American West is defined by war, optimism, adventure, despair, discovery, innovation, hopelessness, and prosperity. This is the American West as it really was—sometimes rough and wild, other times serene and domesticated—told through the beautiful language of authors who wrote what they lived, and whose lives were shaped, as all our lives are, by the place they called home."—Ted Kooser, U.S. Poet Laureate (2004–06) and Pulitzer Prize–winning author " A worthy compilation of a range of Great Plains and Western topics, The Golden West is the latest in the important contributions the University of Nebraska Press continues to make to our understanding of this region and its people."—Omaha World Herald "This is an important book with some of the best Bison Books has to offer."—James W. Durney

• Preface: A Celebration of Bison BooksIntroduction: The West and America: The National Significance of Regional WritingDavid Wrobel O Pioneers!Willa CatherPlains Song: For Female VoicesWright MorrisWaterlilyElla Cara DeloriaMy People the SiouxLuther Standing BearLittle Britches: Father and I Were RanchersRalph MoodyShaneJack SchaeferOne Man's WestDavid LavenderBlack Elk Lives: Conversations with the Black Elk FamilyEsther Black Elk DeSersa, Olivia Black Elk Pourier, Aaron DeSersa Jr., and Clifton DeSersaA Cycle of the West: The Song of the Indian WarsJohn G. NeihardtCrazy Horse: The Strange Man of the OglalasMari SandozNebraska FolkloreLouise PoundA Lantern in Her HandBess Streeter AldrichWinter WheatMildred WalkerYonnondio: From the ThirtiesTillie OlsenLetters of a Woman HomesteaderElinore Pruitt StewartCovered Wagon Women: Diaries and Letters from the Western TrailsKenneth L. HolmesThe Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of DiscoveryMeriwether Lewis and William ClarkThe Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon TrailWallace Stegner Source AcknowledgmentsContributorsDiscussion Questions