In 2019 I began what will certainly be a multi-year undertaking. Which is to build a list and read (in many cases, re-read), what will be a mix of mostly non-fiction and some fictional books. To be read in (mostly) chronological order, about the various subjects and figures, within the overall wider topic of the exploration and settling of the American West.
I'm about 20 or so books into the list already, so the first posts, of books and ratings, will be a little retroactive.
Feel free to add in your own thoughts on these books if you've read them yourselves. Or recommend others. Or even better yet, grab a copy, and read along.
FOCUS: Sources, The Timeline
1. Literary History of the American West - Western Literature Association (WLA) and TCU Press
1.1. Updating the Literary West - Western Literature Assoc (WLA) and TCU Press
2. Masterpieces of Western American Art - J. Gray Sweeney
FOCUS: Before Europeans, the Land (up to 1500's)
3. 1491: New Revelations of the Americans Before Columbus - Charles C. Mann
3.1 Guns, Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond
4. 1493: Uncovering the New World That Columbus Created - Charles Mann
Optional: Indian Givers - Jack Weatherford
FOCUS: French and Spanish Expansions (1500s - 1600s)
4.1 The Old West - The Spanish West - Time Life Books (various ed.)
4.3 Great River - Paul Horgan
4.5 The LaSalle Expedition on the Mississippi. A Lost Transcript of Nicolas de La Salle - William C Foster, ed.
FOCUS: Ohio River, Great Lakes, Northwest Territory (1760s-1800)
5. The Wilderness Empire -Alan Eckert
6. The Conquerors - Alan Eckert
6.1 The Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
6.2 The Pioneers - David McCulloch
7. The Frontiersman - Alan Eckert
8. How The States Got Their Shapes - Mark Stein
8.5 A Company of Heroes - Dale Van Every
9. Gateway To Empire - Alan Eckert
10. Twilight of Empire -Alan Eckert
11. Boone - A Biography Robert Morgan
FOCUS: Louisiana Purchase, Fur Trade (1800-1840)
12. Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West, Eighteen Biographical Sketches
12.5 Dreams of El Dorado - HW Brands
Leroy R. Hafen
13. Annals of The Former World -John McPhee
14. Centennial - James Michener
15. The Journals of Lewis And Clark - Bernard DeVoto
16. Undaunted Courage - Stephen Ambrose
17. Lewis & Clark -An IIlustrated History - Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
18. William Clark, and the Shaping of the West - Landon Jones
19. House Made of Dawn - N. Scott Momaday
20. Habits of Empire - Walter Nugent
21. The Great Plains - Walter Prescott Webb
22. The Rivermen - Paul O'Neil
23. The Americans: The National Experience - Daniel J. Boorstin
24. Jedediah Smith, and the Opening of the West - Dale Morgan
25. The Revenant - Michael Punke
26. Indian Givers - Jack Weatherford
26.1 Empires, Nation's, and Families - Anne F. Hyde
26.2 American Indians, the Art and Travels of Charles Bird King, George Catlin and Karl Bodmer
27. Across The Wide Missouri - Bernard DeVoto
FOCUS: Mexican-American War / Southwest (1830-1860)
28. Two Years Before The Mast - Richard Henry Dana
29. American Lion, Andrew Jackson in the White House - Jon Meacham
30. Commerce of the Prairies - Josiah Gregg
30.5 Sea of Glory - Nathaniel Filbrick
30.8 The Berrybender Chronicles - Larry McMurtry
31. Exploration and Empire - William H. Goetzmann (UT!)
32. Three Roads to Chihuahua - Roy L. Swift
33. What Hath God Wrought - Daniel Walker Howe
34. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
35. Indians - William Brandon
36. 1846 The Year of Decision - Bernard DeVoto
37. The Class of 1846 - John C. Waugh
38. American Buffalo - Steve Rinella
39. A Country of Vast Designs - Robert Merry
40. Spying On The South - Tony Horwitz
41. Gone for Soldiers - Jeff Shaara
42. Dream West - David Nevin
44. Blood and Thunder; The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West
46. Comanches: The Destruction.ot a People - TR Fehrenbach
47. Empire of the Summer Moon - SC Gwynne
48. Santa Fe Trail, It's History Legends and Lore -David Dary
51. Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six Shooter That Changed America - Jim Rasenberger[/COLOR]
FOCUS: California Gold Rush (1848-1855)
43. The Age of Gold - H.W. Brands
49. Bret Harte's Gold Rush - Bret Harte
50. The Trail of Gold and Silver - Duane A. Smith
54. The Travels of Jamie McPheeters - Robert Lewis Taylor
57. Roughing It - Mark Twain
FOCUS: Civil War In the Trans Mississippi (1861-1870)
55. Jeff Davis's Own: Cavalry, Comanches, and the Battle for the Texas Frontier - James Arnold
56. Wilson's Creek - William Garrett Piston & Richard Hatcher III
58. Sibley's New Mexican Campaign - Martin Hardwick Hall
59. Battle of Glorieta Pass - Thomas Edington and John Tayor
60. The Three Cornered War - Megan Nelson
61. The Dakota War of 1862 - Kenneth Carley
FOCUS: Rails and Trails Westward (1848 - 1880)
45. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey - Rinker Buck
45.5 The Way West - AB Guthrie Jr
52. Boone's Lick - Larry McMurtry
53. Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State - Craig Miner
62. American Colossus - H.W. Brands
63. The Way West - edited by James Crutchfield.
64. Nothing Like It In The World - Stephen Ambrose
65. Hard Road West - Keith Heyer Mehldahl
FOCUS: The Indian Wars (1860 - 1890)
FOCUS: The Range Wars (1870 - 1910)
FOCUS: Oregon, Washington, Alaska (1890 - 1910)
FOCUS: The National Parks, Preserving and Remembering the West (1900-1919)
Next books to be read:
66. Rising From The Plains - John McPhee
To Be Read (or Re-Read)
The Chinese in America, a Narrative History - Iris Chang
The Course of Empire - Bernard DeVoto
Indian Wars for the American West
Peter Cozzens
The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edwin Abbey
Hombre - Elmore Leonard
My Confessions: The Recollections of a Rogue - Samuel Chamberlain
Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua: - John Russell Bartlett
The Oregon Trail - Francis Parkman
NEED: a book about Chief Joseph
Hondo - Louis L'Amour
Dictionary of the American West - Win Blevins
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee - Dee Brown
Blue Highways - William Least Half-Moon
The Good Ole Boys - Elmer Kelton
Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner
Imperial Cruise - James Bradley
Losing Eden - Sara Dant
The North American Indian - complete portrait portfolios of Edward Curtis
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, the Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis - Timothy Egan
NEED: An encompassing history of the US Parks System and National Parks
The Big Burn
more to come....
Why are some titles bold-faced in the list? These are the best and most highly recommended books within the entire list. If you don't want to read all 100+ (or more?) books this list is going to end up including, then just focus on these 30-40 boldfaced 'Must Read" titles, as the short list instead.
[COLOR=%s]Accompanying Documentaries and/or Popular Movies or TV Series Watched
The Mustangs: America's Wild Horses (PBS)
American Buffalo - Ken Burns (PBS)
Ancient Civilizations of North America - Prof. Edwin Barnhart (AMZ)
Daniel Boone & The Opening of the American West- The Legend -Kent Masterson Brown (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Explorer (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Frontiersman (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Revolutionary Leader (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Trailblazer (AMZ)
......
Tecumseh: The Last Warrior
Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery - Ken Burns (Disc)
The Royal Road - doc (AMZ)
Frontier (NTFX)
The Mountain Men (AMZ)
American Experience: The Appalachians: The Scotch-Irish / Scots-Irish
Man In The Wilderness (AMZ)
Jeremiah Johnson (Disc)
Revenant (Disc)
The West - Ken Burns (Disc)
Los Ninos Heroes de Chapultepec (NTFX)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (NTFX)
Dream West - (YouTube)
Quest For the Bay (AMZ) - Canadian expansion, not American
The Unruly Mystic: John Muir (AMZ) - Conservation movement, National Parks
True Appaloosa (AMZ) - Natural species history of North American Rocky Mountains
Reel Injun - Native Americans in film history
Warrior (NTFX)
Silent Films
The Spoilers (1914)
Hell's Hinges (1916)
The Covered Wagon (1923) - James Cruze
The Iron Horse (1924) - John Ford
Riders of the Purple Sage (1925)
The Vanishing American (1927) - George Seitz
In Old Arizona (1929) - Raoul Walsh
"Talkie Films"
The Virginian (1929) - Victor Fleming
Billy The Kid (1930) - King Vidor
The Big Trail (1930) - Raoul Walsh
The Union Pacific (1939) - Cecil B. DeMille
Jesse James (1939) - Henry King
Destry Rides Again (1939) - George Marshall
Dodge City (1939) - Michael Curtiz
Stagecoach (1939) - John Ford
The Outlaw (1943) - Howard Hughes
My Darling Clementine (1946) - John Ford
Duel In The Sun (1947) - King Vidor
Fort Apache (1948) - John Ford
Red River (1948) - Howard Hawks
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) - John Ford
Broken Arrow (1950) - Delmer Daves
The Gunfighter (1950) - Henry King
Rio Grande (1950) - John Ford
Wagonmaster (1950) - John Ford
Winchester 73 (1950) - Anthony Mann
High Noon (1952) - Fred Zinnemann
Bend of the River (1952) - Anthony Mann
Shane (1953) - George Stevens
Johnny Guitar (1954) - Nicholas Ray
The Searchers (1956) - John Ford
3:10 to Yuma (1956) - Delmer Daves
Rio Bravo (1959) - Howard Hawks
Comanche Station (1960) - Budd Boetticher
List of films and series made after 1960 coming later when I can find some time....[/COLOR]
....
The English - 2022
Billy The Kid - (TV Series) - 2023
Butcher's Crossing - 2023
Horizon: An American Saga, Ch1 - 2024
I'm about 20 or so books into the list already, so the first posts, of books and ratings, will be a little retroactive.
Feel free to add in your own thoughts on these books if you've read them yourselves. Or recommend others. Or even better yet, grab a copy, and read along.
FOCUS: Sources, The Timeline
1. Literary History of the American West - Western Literature Association (WLA) and TCU Press
1.1. Updating the Literary West - Western Literature Assoc (WLA) and TCU Press
2. Masterpieces of Western American Art - J. Gray Sweeney
FOCUS: Before Europeans, the Land (up to 1500's)
3. 1491: New Revelations of the Americans Before Columbus - Charles C. Mann
3.1 Guns, Germs And Steel - Jared Diamond
4. 1493: Uncovering the New World That Columbus Created - Charles Mann
Optional: Indian Givers - Jack Weatherford
FOCUS: French and Spanish Expansions (1500s - 1600s)
4.1 The Old West - The Spanish West - Time Life Books (various ed.)
4.3 Great River - Paul Horgan
4.5 The LaSalle Expedition on the Mississippi. A Lost Transcript of Nicolas de La Salle - William C Foster, ed.
FOCUS: Ohio River, Great Lakes, Northwest Territory (1760s-1800)
5. The Wilderness Empire -Alan Eckert
6. The Conquerors - Alan Eckert
6.1 The Last of the Mohicans - James Fenimore Cooper
6.2 The Pioneers - David McCulloch
7. The Frontiersman - Alan Eckert
8. How The States Got Their Shapes - Mark Stein
8.5 A Company of Heroes - Dale Van Every
9. Gateway To Empire - Alan Eckert
10. Twilight of Empire -Alan Eckert
11. Boone - A Biography Robert Morgan
FOCUS: Louisiana Purchase, Fur Trade (1800-1840)
12. Mountain Men and Fur Traders of the Far West, Eighteen Biographical Sketches
12.5 Dreams of El Dorado - HW Brands
Leroy R. Hafen
13. Annals of The Former World -John McPhee
14. Centennial - James Michener
15. The Journals of Lewis And Clark - Bernard DeVoto
16. Undaunted Courage - Stephen Ambrose
17. Lewis & Clark -An IIlustrated History - Dayton Duncan, Ken Burns
18. William Clark, and the Shaping of the West - Landon Jones
19. House Made of Dawn - N. Scott Momaday
20. Habits of Empire - Walter Nugent
21. The Great Plains - Walter Prescott Webb
22. The Rivermen - Paul O'Neil
23. The Americans: The National Experience - Daniel J. Boorstin
24. Jedediah Smith, and the Opening of the West - Dale Morgan
25. The Revenant - Michael Punke
26. Indian Givers - Jack Weatherford
26.1 Empires, Nation's, and Families - Anne F. Hyde
26.2 American Indians, the Art and Travels of Charles Bird King, George Catlin and Karl Bodmer
27. Across The Wide Missouri - Bernard DeVoto
FOCUS: Mexican-American War / Southwest (1830-1860)
28. Two Years Before The Mast - Richard Henry Dana
29. American Lion, Andrew Jackson in the White House - Jon Meacham
30. Commerce of the Prairies - Josiah Gregg
30.5 Sea of Glory - Nathaniel Filbrick
30.8 The Berrybender Chronicles - Larry McMurtry
31. Exploration and Empire - William H. Goetzmann (UT!)
32. Three Roads to Chihuahua - Roy L. Swift
33. What Hath God Wrought - Daniel Walker Howe
34. Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
35. Indians - William Brandon
36. 1846 The Year of Decision - Bernard DeVoto
37. The Class of 1846 - John C. Waugh
38. American Buffalo - Steve Rinella
39. A Country of Vast Designs - Robert Merry
40. Spying On The South - Tony Horwitz
41. Gone for Soldiers - Jeff Shaara
42. Dream West - David Nevin
44. Blood and Thunder; The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the American West
46. Comanches: The Destruction.ot a People - TR Fehrenbach
47. Empire of the Summer Moon - SC Gwynne
48. Santa Fe Trail, It's History Legends and Lore -David Dary
51. Revolver: Sam Colt and the Six Shooter That Changed America - Jim Rasenberger[/COLOR]
FOCUS: California Gold Rush (1848-1855)
43. The Age of Gold - H.W. Brands
49. Bret Harte's Gold Rush - Bret Harte
50. The Trail of Gold and Silver - Duane A. Smith
54. The Travels of Jamie McPheeters - Robert Lewis Taylor
57. Roughing It - Mark Twain
FOCUS: Civil War In the Trans Mississippi (1861-1870)
55. Jeff Davis's Own: Cavalry, Comanches, and the Battle for the Texas Frontier - James Arnold
56. Wilson's Creek - William Garrett Piston & Richard Hatcher III
58. Sibley's New Mexican Campaign - Martin Hardwick Hall
59. Battle of Glorieta Pass - Thomas Edington and John Tayor
60. The Three Cornered War - Megan Nelson
61. The Dakota War of 1862 - Kenneth Carley
FOCUS: Rails and Trails Westward (1848 - 1880)
45. The Oregon Trail: A New American Journey - Rinker Buck
45.5 The Way West - AB Guthrie Jr
52. Boone's Lick - Larry McMurtry
53. Kansas: The History of the Sunflower State - Craig Miner
62. American Colossus - H.W. Brands
63. The Way West - edited by James Crutchfield.
64. Nothing Like It In The World - Stephen Ambrose
65. Hard Road West - Keith Heyer Mehldahl
FOCUS: The Indian Wars (1860 - 1890)
FOCUS: The Range Wars (1870 - 1910)
FOCUS: Oregon, Washington, Alaska (1890 - 1910)
FOCUS: The National Parks, Preserving and Remembering the West (1900-1919)
Next books to be read:
66. Rising From The Plains - John McPhee
To Be Read (or Re-Read)
The Chinese in America, a Narrative History - Iris Chang
The Course of Empire - Bernard DeVoto
Indian Wars for the American West
Peter Cozzens
The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edwin Abbey
Hombre - Elmore Leonard
My Confessions: The Recollections of a Rogue - Samuel Chamberlain
Personal Narrative of Explorations and Incidents in Texas, New Mexico, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua: - John Russell Bartlett
The Oregon Trail - Francis Parkman
NEED: a book about Chief Joseph
Hondo - Louis L'Amour
Dictionary of the American West - Win Blevins
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee - Dee Brown
Blue Highways - William Least Half-Moon
The Good Ole Boys - Elmer Kelton
Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner
Imperial Cruise - James Bradley
Losing Eden - Sara Dant
The North American Indian - complete portrait portfolios of Edward Curtis
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, the Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis - Timothy Egan
NEED: An encompassing history of the US Parks System and National Parks
The Big Burn
more to come....
Why are some titles bold-faced in the list? These are the best and most highly recommended books within the entire list. If you don't want to read all 100+ (or more?) books this list is going to end up including, then just focus on these 30-40 boldfaced 'Must Read" titles, as the short list instead.
[COLOR=%s]Accompanying Documentaries and/or Popular Movies or TV Series Watched
The Mustangs: America's Wild Horses (PBS)
American Buffalo - Ken Burns (PBS)
Ancient Civilizations of North America - Prof. Edwin Barnhart (AMZ)
Daniel Boone & The Opening of the American West- The Legend -Kent Masterson Brown (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Explorer (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Frontiersman (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Revolutionary Leader (AMZ)
Daniel Boone - The Trailblazer (AMZ)
......
Tecumseh: The Last Warrior
Lewis and Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery - Ken Burns (Disc)
The Royal Road - doc (AMZ)
Frontier (NTFX)
The Mountain Men (AMZ)
American Experience: The Appalachians: The Scotch-Irish / Scots-Irish
Man In The Wilderness (AMZ)
Jeremiah Johnson (Disc)
Revenant (Disc)
The West - Ken Burns (Disc)
Los Ninos Heroes de Chapultepec (NTFX)
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (NTFX)
Dream West - (YouTube)
Quest For the Bay (AMZ) - Canadian expansion, not American
The Unruly Mystic: John Muir (AMZ) - Conservation movement, National Parks
True Appaloosa (AMZ) - Natural species history of North American Rocky Mountains
Reel Injun - Native Americans in film history
Warrior (NTFX)
Silent Films
The Spoilers (1914)
Hell's Hinges (1916)
The Covered Wagon (1923) - James Cruze
The Iron Horse (1924) - John Ford
Riders of the Purple Sage (1925)
The Vanishing American (1927) - George Seitz
In Old Arizona (1929) - Raoul Walsh
"Talkie Films"
The Virginian (1929) - Victor Fleming
Billy The Kid (1930) - King Vidor
The Big Trail (1930) - Raoul Walsh
The Union Pacific (1939) - Cecil B. DeMille
Jesse James (1939) - Henry King
Destry Rides Again (1939) - George Marshall
Dodge City (1939) - Michael Curtiz
Stagecoach (1939) - John Ford
The Outlaw (1943) - Howard Hughes
My Darling Clementine (1946) - John Ford
Duel In The Sun (1947) - King Vidor
Fort Apache (1948) - John Ford
Red River (1948) - Howard Hawks
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon (1949) - John Ford
Broken Arrow (1950) - Delmer Daves
The Gunfighter (1950) - Henry King
Rio Grande (1950) - John Ford
Wagonmaster (1950) - John Ford
Winchester 73 (1950) - Anthony Mann
High Noon (1952) - Fred Zinnemann
Bend of the River (1952) - Anthony Mann
Shane (1953) - George Stevens
Johnny Guitar (1954) - Nicholas Ray
The Searchers (1956) - John Ford
3:10 to Yuma (1956) - Delmer Daves
Rio Bravo (1959) - Howard Hawks
Comanche Station (1960) - Budd Boetticher
List of films and series made after 1960 coming later when I can find some time....[/COLOR]
....
The English - 2022
Billy The Kid - (TV Series) - 2023
Butcher's Crossing - 2023
Horizon: An American Saga, Ch1 - 2024
Last edited:
