Western Lives: A Biographical History of the American West

The history of the American West is full of intriguing life stories, and the fifteen essays in this collection weave a selection of those lives together to focus on the main currents in the region's history. The first five essays cover the period from contact to the mid-nineteenth century and feature Indian leaders and Spanish colonizers, characters from the Mexican period, explorers, mountain men, and missionaries. Familiar names in this portion are Juan Bautista de Anza, Stephen F. Austin, Do a Tules, Lewis and Clark, Jedediah Smith, and Narcissa Whitman.

The second group of essays reflects on Mormons, miners, California Hispanics, American Indians, ranchers, farmers, and the Wild West of Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley. The essays on the twentieth-century West examine the careers of James J. Hill, John Muir, Jeannette Rankin, Aimee Semple McPherson, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Walt Disney, C sar Ch vez, Barbara Jordan, Microsoft's Paul Allen, and the mythical figure of Rosie the Riveter.

Author: Richard W. Etulain
Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
Published: 10/30/2004
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.58lbs
Size: 9.20h x 6.12w x 1.33d
ISBN: 9780826334725

Review Citation(s):
American Reference Bks Annual 01/01/2005 pg. 11

About the Author
Etulain, Richard W.: - Richard Etulain is professor emeritus of history at the University of New Mexico and the author or editor of more than forty books. Etulain lives in Clackamas, Oregon.