American Frontiers: Cultural Encounters and Continental Conquest

Gregory H. Nobles pulls together the work of many recent historians of the American West in this sensitive and synthesizing study of frontier history in North America. Using the frontier as both a spatial and phenomenological metaphor for the experience of Western expansion, Nobles considers the historical facts of frontier encounters and the frontier as cultural interchange between diverse people. Nobles's narrative begins and ends with the tragic story of the Pequots, from Captain John Mason's cowardly raid on a Pequot camp in 1637 that left more than 300 sleeping Pequots dead to Donald Trump's 1990s lawsuit attempting to deprive the tribe of their gambling license. In the pages of American Frontiers readers will also find details of the French and Indian War, Iroquois involvement in the American Revolution, the California gold rush, Texas independence, the tragedy of Wounded Knee, the resistance of Sitting Bull, and the Ghost Dance movement.

Nobles's book is a good starting point for readers interested in the American West. His bibliographic essay alone, which provides a generous and thorough account of literature on the subject, makes this a useful reference even for accomplished students of the frontier.