Western Lives - A Biographical History of the American West (Paperback, New)

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 regionas 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, Dona 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, CA(c)sar ChAvez, Barbara Jordan, Microsoftas Paul Allen, and the mythical figure of Rosie the Riveter.

"The Contributors"
Carl Abbott is professor of urban studies and planning at Portland (Oregon) State University.
Katherine G. Aiken is professor and chair of the department of history, University of Idaho.
Gary Clayton Anderson is professor of history, University of Oklahoma.
Barton H. Barbour is assistant professor of history, Boise State University.
Cheryl J. Foote teaches history at TVI Community College, Albuquerque.
Mark S. Foster is professor of history, University of Colorado, Denver.
Richard Griswold del Castillo is chair of the Chicana and Chicano Studies Department, San Diego State University.
Mark W. T. Harvey is associate professor of history, North DakotaState University, Fargo.
Jon Hunner directs the program in public history, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces.
R. Douglas Hurt is chair of the history department, Purdue University.
Anne F. Hyde is professor of history, Colorado College, Colorado Springs.
John L. Kessell is professor emeritus of history, University of New Mexico, and founding editor of the six-volume Vargas Series (UNM Press).
William L. Lang is professor of history and former director of the Center for Columbia River History, Portland State University.
Glenda Riley is Alexander M. Bracken Professor Emeritus of History, Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.
Elliott West is Distinguished Professor of History, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.