World of the American West

Gordon Morris Bakken is Professor of History at California State University, Fullerton. He is the author of many books, his most recent being Invitation to an Execution: A History of the Death Penalty in the United States.

"Researchers and doctoral students in American Studies will find many well articulated exposés, although mostly factual." - Yves Laberge, University of Ottawa

• IntroductionChapter 1 -The Physical Geography of the West by Robert SpudeChapter 2 -The Flora and the Fauna by Kurt RussoChapter 3 - The Native West before 1700 by Gregory E. SmoakChapter 4 - Hosts and Horses: Envirocultural Effects of Contact in the Amerindian West by K. D. MotesChapter 5 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition by Robert CarrikerChapter 6 - Continued Exploration of the American West: The Fur Trade, Map Makers, Path Markers by William R. SwagertyChapter 7 - The "Earlier, wilder image": Early artists of the American West by Elizabeth Kuebler-WolfChapter 8 -The Borderlands of the United States West by Sheila McManusChapter 9 - California Transformed: Organizing a New Society, 1848-1869 by Peter BlodgettChapter 10 - The Urbanization of the American West: The Processes and People in the Rise of Instant Cities and Their Evolution into the Twenty-First Century by Brent M. RogersChapter 11 -The Hydraulic West – The History of Irrigation by Charles R. PorterChapter 12 - Leisure in the West by Randal FulkersonChapter 13 - Learning in the West: Western Women and the Culture of Education by Andrea G. Radke-MossChapter 14 - Defense Industries by Susan TschabrunChapter 15 - The Rise of Western Women to National Stature in the Early Twentieth Century by Shannon D. SmithChapter 16 -American Politics Move West by Gordon Morris BakkenChapter 17 - Government and Law in the American West by Aaron WilsonChapter 18 - Region of Extremes and Contrast by Alicia DeweyChapter 19 - American Indians in the Twentieth Century by Lisa E. EmmerichChapter 20 - Leadership or Dominance: The Role of the Western U.S. Economy in the World by Neil Greenwood