Western Places, American Myths: How We Think About The West

Contents

List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii introduction by Gary J. Hausladen 1 Part 1 | Continuity and Change Understanding Western Places: The Historical Geographer’s View william wyckoff 21 An Inescapable Range, or the Ranch as Everywhere paul f. starrs 57 Land Tenure: The Spatial Musculature of the American West john b. wright 85 National Significance: Representation of the West in the National Park System lary m. dilsaver 111 Part 2 | Enduring Regional Voices Mormon Wests: The Creation and Evolution of an American Region richard h. jackson 135 Mex-America: From Margin to Mainstream terrence w. haverluk 166 Native America: The Indigenous West akim d. reinhardt 184 Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Narrating Imperial Adventure: Isabella Bird’s Travels in the Nineteenth-Century American West karen m.morin 204 Part 3 | The West as Visionary Place The Return of the One-Armed Bandit: Gambling and the West pauliina raento 225 Magical Realism: The West as Spiritual Playground peter goin 253 “Good, by God, We’re Going to Bodie!”: Ghost Towns and the American West dydia delyser 273 Where the Cowboy Rides Away: Mythic Places for Western Film gary j. hausladen 296 List of Contributors 319 Index 323 viii | contents 8 9 10 11 12 ...