Empires, Nations, and Families: A New History of the North American West, 1800-1860

Very anti-christian, anti-America. Popular nowadays but at least there is acknowledgement that early Americans were taxed to pay tens of MILLIONS for the land they "stole."

The author draws the reader into the largely unknown, at least in a popular context, history of America west of the Mississippi, through a focus on individual lives. And through those lives she tells a compelling story of America as it might have been, a vibrant, multicultural society, racially and ethnically diverse, where mutual need forged collaboration and co-operation that new family ties re-inforced. Through examinations of the fur trade, from individual trading families to the markets in China and Europe, through insight into the emergence of a hybrid Californio identity in the northern province of the Mexico, or the multinational trading systems hinged around places like Bent's Fort on the Arkansas river, she conveys the dynamism of this complex region, and the tragedy, for the subsequent history of the United States, of its extirpation at the hands of the Anglo-American culture moving in inexorably from the East.The content of this book represents history at its very best, rooted in primary documents and artifacts, imaginative and multi-disciplinary in its interpretations. The writing, though, is often circular, repetitive, and confusing, and thus any potential reader needs to be ready to tolerant. An experienced editor could have made an enormous difference, and won for this book the popular audience it so deserves. But I still urge everyone who knows only a little about the history of the west to read it: you will look at America in a very different light by the time you reach the last pages.

Awfully small print!

Came in great condition. I needed this book for school.

Despite some aggravating repetition in her early chapters Anne F. Hyde provides a fresh view of the development of the American West as seen through the lens of individual lives, their extended families, and the web of relationships they established to promote their economic, social, and security interests.

Fascinating

Not an easy book to read, but interesting. Several parts were credited to other writers (not bad), so at times I had a feeling of 'reading this before.'

The detailed information written in this book is exactly what I would expect from a college level teacher. I am thoroughly engrossed with this book....:}

The book was received in time. Its content is of great interest to me. Thank you for your punctuality and everything else.