Review of The American West: A Narrative Bibliography and a Study in Regionalism

Authors

Patricia Nelson Limerick, University of Colorado

Date of this Version

1992

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published in Great Plains Quarterly 12:1 (Winter 1992). Copyright © 1992 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Abstract

Legal scholar Charles Wilkinson reads and recommends books as if the Video Age were not upon us and as if the ideal of an educated, reflective citizenry might be within reach. In the four hundred and eighty-eight items listed in this bibliography, writers have done their part "in defining a geographical region, in giving the West a sense of place, a sense of itself. " If Westerners say yes to the invitation these writers offer, then the consequences could be direct and practical: "When a people gains a sense of itself, wise decisions are likely to follow" (p. 90), wise decisions manifested in more appropriate laws and self-governance.