American Vision: Far Western Landscape and National Culture 1820-1920 (American Social Experience)

Combining cultural and social history, this study demonstrates the impact the Far West has had on the development of a national culture in the United States. When Americans first set eyes on the West, its combination of plain, mountain, and desert embarrassed and even frightened them, but by the end of the century, Americans had come to look at the region with pride. These new responses required the development of new words and forced observers to develop new, particulary American forms of description. Hyde's analysis of Western resorts, first as bulwarks against the landscape and later as extensions of the scenery, gives special focus to the argument. These grand and unmatched structures provide physical evidence of the growing influence of the Far West on American culture.