America's West

"Go West, young man, and grow up with the country!" Although attributed to Horace Greeley, this famous quote was actually written by John B. L. Soule in 1851 as the title of an editorial in the Terre Haute Express. Regardless, western expansion and the doctrine of Manifest Destiny have been central themes to the history of the United States since the first colonists arrived on the eastern shore.

America's West is the topic of our current American History book discussion group. The first meeting will be September 24, 2007 and will subsequently meet the fourth Monday of every month. For further information, call Brad Silverman at 588-5024 x. 244.

Crucible of War: The Seven Years War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754--1766, by Fred Anderson. Knopf, 2000.
Before the west was won, early Americans had to form a country. The Seven Years' War was, in essence, the first global war, pitting Britain, Prussia and Hanover against France, Austria, Sweden, Saxony, Russia and eventually Spain. It's outcome permanently changed the political and cultural landscape of North America, with Britain decisively eliminated French power on the continent. It also destroyed a diplomatic system in which Native Americans had long played a central role. Twelve years later the American colonies, determined to govern themselves and their destinies, would rise in revolt against Britain.

Undaunted Courage: Meriweather Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the America West, by Stephen E. Ambrose. S&S, 1996.
In 1803, at the urging of then President Thomas Jefferson, Congress an expedition into the area west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Jefferson chose 28-year-old Meriwether Lewis as leader for the group he called the Corps of Discovery. Lewis selected a former army comrade, 32-year-old William Clark to be his co-leader. On May 14, 1804, four dozen brave men, collectively known as the Corps of Discovery, headed west not knowing whom or what they would find. Two and a half years and 8,000 miles later, the explorers returned to St. Louis, their journey providing the impetus for the great western exploration movement.

Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West, by Hampton Sides. Doubleday, 2006.
Kit Carson, the mythic frontiersman from the American Southwest, represented the best and worst of U.S. settlement of the region. Beginning in 1863 Carson waged a brutal economic war against the Navajo, marching through the heart of their territory to destroy their crops, orchards and livestock. When other tribes took advantage of their traditional enemy's weakness, the Navajo were unable to defend themselves. In 1864 most surrendered to Carson, who forced nearly 8,000 Navajo men, women and children to take what came to be called the "Long Walk" of 300 miles from Arizona to Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where they remained in disease-ridden confinement until 1868.

Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont & the Course of the America Empire, by Tom Chaffin. Hill & Wang, 2002.
Fremont, one of the great figures in the American expansion, became a national hero early in life for his trailblazing exploits in the Far West between 1838 and 1854, capturing the public's imagination and inspiring Americans to accept their nation's destiny as a vast continental empire. Later, his antislavery position was instrumental in his being chosen the Republican Party's first presidential nominee in 1856, but with Southern states threatening secession if he were elected, Fremont's loss to James Buchanan forestalled disunion for another four years.

Civil War in the American West, by Alvin M. Josephy, Jr. Knopf, 1991.
Books on the Civil War have traditionally focused on the battles east of the Mississippi River. The struggle in the West involved not only by Union and Confederate forces but settlers and Indians as well, continuing the pattern of violence that characterized the American policy of Manifest Destiny from its inception.

Nothing Like it in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863--1869, by Stephen E. Ambrose. S&S, 2000.
The story of the men who envisioned and built the transcontinental railroad, from the investors who risked their money, to the enlightened politicians who understood its tremendous importance to the economic growth of America, to the engineers and surveyors whose dedication occasionally cost them their lives, and finally to the immigrants (primarily Irish and Chinese, former Confederate soldiers, and the other laborers who did the backbreaking and dangerous work on the tracks.

Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, by T. J. Stiles. Knopf, 2002.
No other outlaw in American history has achieved the legendary status of Jesse James. From his youth in Missouri, through his teenage years fighting alongside Confederate guerrillas, to his criminal career, life as a loving family man, and inglorious death, Stiles offers a reassessment of his life, showing why it was possible for this murderous "terrorist" emerged as a folk hero and avenging Robin Hood among Southern sympathizers following the Civil War.

Crazy Horse: A Lakota Life, by Kingsley M. Bray. Univ. of OK, 2006.
Celebrated for his skill and ferocity in battle, Crazy Horse was recognized among his own people as a visionary leader committed to preserving the traditions and values of the Lakota way of life. When the War Department ordered all Lakota bands onto their reservations in 1876, Crazy Horse became a leader of the resistance, joining forces with Sitting Bull and participating in the destruction of Custer's Seventh Cavalry. This biography, using Indian agent reports, personal military diaries, annual reports of the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and detailed oral histories, places him within the context of both American and Lakota culture.

Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer, by Jeffrey D. Wert. S&S, 1996.
Hero or flamboyant grandstander? During the Civil War, the 23-year-old cavalryman had attained the rank of brigadier general in the Union army, and the adoration of a grateful nation for his fearlessness and daring-do in combat. As the commander of the Seventh Cavalry, Custer was less in his element in his battles against the Plains Indians, and his aggressive, over-confident tactics led to the deaths of more than 200 soldiers--as well as himself--at the hands of some 2,000 Sioux warriors at Little Big Horn. Afterwards, his devoted wife spent the rest of her life nurturing the Custer Legend.

Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land, by Walter R. Borneman. HarCol, 2003.
It was the "Last Frontier." Though many derided Lincoln's secretary of state, William Seward, for purchasing the far-flung territory as a strategic outpost in 1867, convinced it was nothing but a wasteland, its military, political and economic value has stood the test of time. Borneman traces the history of America's 49th state from its haven for Russian fur traders and the 1890s Gold Rush to its importance during World War II and the present day struggle over the preservation of its natural resources.

Titles chosen by Brad Silverman
Annotated by Lynne Kennedy

© Copyright 2009, 2007 Sachem Public Library. All rights reserved.