Mobilized American West, 1940–2000

John M. Findlay is a professor emeritus of history at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author of People of Chance: Gambling in American Society from Jamestown to Las Vegas and Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture after 1940, and coauthor with Bruce W. Hevly of Atomic Frontier Days: Hanford and the American West.

"Findlay's wide-angle interpretation, the breadth of his analysis, and the skill of his thematic explorations position The Mobilized American West among the very best treatments of the topic."-Ian C. Hartman, Western Historical Quarterly "This book is indispensable for anyone who seriously thinks about, writes on, and teaches the American West."-Nicolas G. Rosenthal, California History "Findlay's book offers social and grassroots political analyses missing from narrower postwar studies."-R. L. Dorman, Choice "Findlay provides a valuable and erudite contribution, written for nonspecialists and specialists alike."-Allan E S Lumba, Journal of American History "There is no disputing Findlay's facility with language, his thorough research, and his affection for and fascination with a region to which we are all artistically and emotionally connected."-Tom Carpenter, Roundup Magazine "The Mobilized American West is a thorough and up-to-date overview of twentieth-century regional history that environmental historians and others would be happy to read and teach."-Kirke Elsass, H-Environment "This highly readable book is sure to provide a useful frame for analyzing the recent West for years to come."-Katrine Barber, Oregon Historical Quarterly "This book is remarkable in its scope and perception of modern trends that made our West. I would highly recommend this book to students of western history who are eager to understand how developments and demands of the modern world led the West and its people to where they are today."-Mike Kassel, Annals of Wyoming “Writing a sweeping survey of a region as complex as the American West is a challenging task. Findlay has succeeded where few have before. His lively and eloquent narrative details the many types of mobilization that occurred in the last half of the twentieth century, illuminating how the region both carved a distinct path and aligned with the rest of the nation. In his gifted hands, a rich, nuanced portrait of a contested place and its diverse residents emerges. This book will reshape how generations of scholars make sense of the modern West.”-Connie Y. Chiang, author of Nature behind Barbed Wire: An Environmental History of the Japanese American Incarceration “John Findlay has given us an elegant, clear-eyed survey of arguably the most transformative period in the history of the American West. For Findlay, American regionalism is a slippery but significant factor in the making of the nation. At once erudite and modest, sweeping and nuanced, The Mobilized American West, 1940–2000 is history that matters. Findlay reminds us of the perpetual dance of ideas and actions, people and places, power and resistance, with lively examples of diverse Americans who have made their own histories, for better and worse.”-Virginia Scharff, distinguished professor of history emerita, University of New Mexico, and chair of western history, Autry Museum of the American West

• List of IllustrationsSeries Editor’s IntroductionAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. A Mobilized Region: The American West during Wartime2. Westerners: Regional Societies and Regional Identities3. “A Little More Wide Open”: Social and Political Movements in the Western States4. Seized by Initiative: Direct Democracy and Political Culture in the Far West5. Armed Standoffs: The Politics of Federal Lands in the West6. Region of the Imagination: The Mythic West and the Realistic West after 1940EpilogueAppendix: Western States Census Summaries, 1940–2000NotesBibliographyIndex