The seventeen essays reprinted in this anthology address the ways in which western women have experienced the twentieth century. These writings go beyond the standard categorizations of gender, class, race, and ethnicity by providing a deeper understanding of women and distribution of power through examinations of generations, family and career, religion, sexual orientation, geography, and political preferences. The analysis that emerges is of an increasingly complex mix of experiences, some continuous from the nineteenth century and others unique to modernity, but all powerfully shaping...

Winner of the 2010 Robert M. Utley Award from the Western History Association

As the fledgling nation looked west to the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains, it turned to the army to advance and defend its national interests. Clashing with Spain, Britain, France, Mexico, the Confederacy, and Indians in this pursuit of expansion, the army's failures and successes alternately delayed and hastened western migration. Roads, river improvements, and railroads, often constructed or facilitated by the army, further solidified the nation's presence as it reached the Pacific Ocean and expanded...