Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Fall 2010
Document Type
Article
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 30:4 (Fall 2010).
Abstract
The textbook Conquests & Consequences provides a cohesive narrative framed by the question: How does a historical perspective of cultures, empires, and environments in the American West inform and influence understandings of the West as a frontier, colony, region, borderland, or "center of power in its own right"? To engage undergraduate history students, Carol L. Higham and William H. Katerberg employ a folksy, conversational style (Native pit houses are "roughly the length of an average single dormitory room"). The text also contains an impressive number of photographs and illustrations. Most importantly, Higham and Katerberg introduce terms and content in the context of their broader critical questions, encouraging students to reflect upon and challenge conventional narratives.
Chapter 1 introduces Native peoples and cultures, beginning primarily in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, though Native Americans are discussed throughout the book. Subsequent chapters depict the Spanish and French empires before turning to English settlement and conquest and to American history. Nearly 180 pages are devoted to the twentieth century. Following the lead of New Western Historians, the authors discuss extensively the federal government's influence in the West, as well as politics, natural resources, diverse populations, globalization, and the cost of growth.
Comments
Copyright © 2010 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.