The Legacy of Conquest: The Unbroken Past of the American West

by Patricia Nelson Limerick Ph.D.

Overview

"Limerick is one of the most engaging historians writing today." —Richard White

The "settling" of the American West has been perceived throughout the world as a series of quaint, violent, and romantic adventures. But in fact, Patricia Nelson Limerick argues, the West has a history grounded primarily in economic reality; in hardheaded questions of profit, loss, competition, and consolidation. Here she interprets the stories and the characters in a new way: the trappers, traders, Indians, farmers, oilmen, cowboys, and sheriffs of the Old West "meant business" in more ways than one, and their descendents mean business today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393304978
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	01/17/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,134,820
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Patricia Nelson Limerick is a professor of history and chair of the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

What People are Saying About This

Howard R. Lamar

Written with extraordinary grace and understanding, Patricia Nelson Limerick's The Legacy of Conquest returns the Western American past to the mainstream of national history….Most important of all is her eloquent plea for Westerners, whether Anglo, Hispanic, Indian, Asian or black, to see the West as a shared place, a splendid whole which each has helped create.
—Howard R. Lamar

Richard White

The Legacy of Conquest is going to be the most talked about and influential book in Western history in years. The pleasure of Patricia Limerick's prose will lead readers painlessly into a subtle and careful reconsideration of the American West. [She] is one of the most engaging historians writing today.

C. Vann Woodward

With a grace, clarity and vision all her own, Patricia Limerick places the myths and realities of the American West and its history in fresh perspective.
—C. Vann Woodward