The Mammoth Book of the West - Softcover

Jon E Lewis is the editor of many Mammoth successes including The Mammoth Book of Life Before the Mast, The Mammoth Book of Soldiers' Stories, The Mammoth Book of Battles, the Mammoth Book of How it Happened and the Mammoth Book of True War Stories. He lives in Herefordshire with his partner and children.

Lewis (coauthor of Cult-TV, Trafalgar Square, 1994) begins his documentary history on an ominous note: "The American West was a time, and a place. But above all, it was a state of mind." State of mind or not, the disappearance of the American West will come as a surprise to its 75 million or so contemporary residents. Lewis takes us through the various movements out West by the trappers, explorers, gold diggers, etc., yet the reader will look in vain for anything on women and blacks. The mistake Lewis makes is a common one?he romanticizes and limits his subject to the era of colonization by white people. For a mammoth book, this is fatal; Lewis suggests that the only time that matters is that of gunslingers like Billy the Kid, law officers, and U.S. marshals. For public libraries whose readers enjoy Louis L'Amour's fiction.?David Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia
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