Shaped by the West is a two-volume primary source reader that rewrites the history of the United States through a western lens. America’s expansion west was the driving force for issues of democracy, politics, race, freedom, and property. William Deverell and Anne F. Hyde provide a nuanced look at the past, balancing topics in society and politics and representing all kinds of westerners—black and white, native and immigrant, male and female, powerful and powerless—from more than twenty states across the West and the shifting frontier.  
 
The sources included reflect the important role of the West in national narratives of American history, beginning with the pre-Columbian era in Volume 1 and taking us to the twenty-first century in Volume 2. Together, these volumes cover first encounters, conquests and revolts, indigenous land removal, slavery and labor, race, ethnicity and gender, trade and diplomacy, industrialization, migration and immigration, and changing landscapes and environments. 

Key Features & Benefits:

• Expertly curated personal letters, government documents, editorials, photos, and never before published materials offer lively, vivid introductions to the tools of history.
• Annotations, captions, and brief essays provide accessible entry points to an extraordinarily wide range of themes—adding context and perspective from leaders in the field.
• Highlights connections between western and national histories to foster critical thinking about America’s diverse past and today’s challenging issues.

Shaped by the West is a two-volume primary source reader that rewrites the history of the United States through a western lens. America’s expansion west was the driving force for issues of democracy, politics, race, freedom, and property. William Deverell and Anne F. Hyde provide a nuanced look at the past, balancing topics in society and politics and representing all kinds of westerners—black and white, native and immigrant, male and female, powerful and powerless—from more than twenty states across the West and the shifting frontier.  
 
The sources included reflect the important role of the West in national narratives of American history, beginning with the pre-Columbian era in Volume 1 and taking us to the twenty-first century in Volume 2. Together, these volumes cover first encounters, conquests and revolts, indigenous land removal, slavery and labor, race, ethnicity and gender, trade and diplomacy, industrialization, migration and immigration, and changing landscapes and environments. 

Key Features & Benefits:

• Expertly curated personal letters, government documents, editorials, photos, and never before published materials offer lively, vivid introductions to the tools of history.
• Annotations, captions, and brief essays provide accessible entry points to an extraordinarily wide range of themes—adding context and perspective from leaders in the field.
• Highlights connections between western and national histories to foster critical thinking about America’s diverse past and today’s challenging issues.

CHAPTER ONE: Railroads West

1. Industrializing the Western Landscape
2. Rationalizing Western Space
3. Conquering Nature by Violence
4. Railroad Work and the Indispensability of Chinese Labor
5. Railroad Graft and Influence
6. Picturing the West and the Rails
7. Hardly Romantic: A Famed Travel Writer Goes

CHAPTER TWO: Western Conquest: The War against Native America

8. A Military Officer Justifies the Sand Creek Massacre
9. Instructions to Whites in Indian Country
10. A Military Officer’s View of the Black Hills
11. A Cheyenne View of Battle
12. A Nez Percé’s Call for Peace

CHAPTER THREE: The Unwelcome

13. The Chinese Question in a California City
14. The Chinese Question in Cartoon
15. Sealing the Borders

CHAPTER FOUR: The Rise of the Western Metropolis
16. A Tourist’s View of the Utah Territory
17. A Day in Denver
18. An African American Community
in the West
19 and 20. Demography in the West

CHAPTER FIVE: Populism: The Politics of Protest

21. Women in the Populist Movement
22. Defending Populism
23. A Newspaperman Opposes Populism
24. Silver Populism and “The Cross of Gold”

CHAPTER SIX: Labor Unrest in the West

25. The “White Caps” of New Mexico Make Their Demands Known
26. Unrest in Idaho
27. The Miners Reply
28. A Muckraker Charts a Middle Course
29. Protesting Conditions in Colorado
30. Support for the Mine Owners

CHAPTER SEVEN: Los Angeles Comes of Age

31. The (Presumed) Control of Nature: Los Angeles Plans to Concretize Its River
32. The Socialist Party in Los Angeles Supports the L.A. Aqueduct
33. Water for the Thirsty Metropolis
34. The Ocean Beckons

CHAPTER EIGHT: World War I and the West

35. Los Angeles Welcomes Lighter-Than-Air Machines
36. Aviators Push the Boundaries of Flight and Distance
37. Mexico Invited to Join the Central Powers
38. Preparing for War
39. Support for the War in Wyoming
40. Camp Life in Texas

CHAPTER NINE: Progressives, Progressivism, and the American West
41. A Californian Argues against Women’s Suffrage
42. Suffragist Strategy in California
43. Legislative Reform in Oregon
44. New Voters and the Americanization Movement
45. Children in the Fields

CHAPTER TEN: The 1920s: Prohibition and the West

46. Montana Takes a Stand on Alcohol
47. Wet and Dry in the Far West
48. Prohibition in the Mountain West
49. A Physician Supports Prohibition

CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Great Depression: The New Deal and the Western Landscape
50. What to Expect in the Civilian Conservation Corps
51. Destitution and Homelessness
52. A Thirteen-Year-Old Boy Writes to Eleanor Roosevelt
53. Workers on Boulder Dam
54. Death on Boulder Dam
55. Dedication on Boulder Dam

CHAPTER TWELVE: Domestic Turmoil and Intolerance in a Time of War

56. Internment in Washington
57. Internment Orders from the President
58. Pictures from Internment
59. The Director of Relocation Addresses Internment
60. Racial Profiling in Wartime
61. Racial and Ethnic Tensions in Southern California: The Zoot Suit Riots of 1943

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: The Cold War and the Atomic West
62. Observer’s Report of Atomic Test
63. Civil Defense in the Nuclear Age
64. Conditions in Bombed Areas
65. Pledging Patriotism, or Else

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Generation and Other Gaps

66. Fighting for Equality and Voice
67. Student Mobilization for Free Speech
68. Support for California Farm Workers
69. The Rise of the Black Panthers
70. Citizens Organize after Watts
71. The Liberation of Alcatraz Island
72. Power to the People? A Separatist Effort in the Far West

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: The West’s Vietnam

73. Mexican American Reactions to Vietnam
74. Students against the War
75. A Classic Antiwar Song
76. “OUT NOW”
77. The Counter-Counterculture
78. The President’s Support for the War

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Immigration Roils the West

79. Immigration Restriction in the Rockies
80. Restricting Undocumented Immigration
81. Support for Proposition 187
82. The English-Only Bandwagon
83. Rallying for (and against) Immigrant Rights
84. Building a Wall

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Environmental Challenges and Environmental Imperatives

85. Plans for Earth Day
86. Eco-Sabotage as Civil Disobedience
87. Climate Change, Drought, and the Fate of the West
88. The Velocity of Aridity
89. Fighting the Tyranny of Turf
90. National Monuments Come Under Renewed Scrutiny