The New American West Summary

Dark Strains and Spatters of Mud: Examining Historiographical Perspectives of the “New American West”

The New American West is a new way of looking at the Westward Expansion of the

United States geographically, culturally and economically. Many ideas within the field of

study have evolved over time and adapted to new interpretations and perspectives. Patricia

Nelson Limerick argues “Western history has been an ongoing competition for legitimacy—for

the right to claim oneself and sometimes for one’s group the status of legitimate beneficiary of

Western resources. This intersection of ethnic diversity with property allocation unifies Western

history.” The New American West is a story of conquerors and conquests, a story of diverse

populations coming together in a singular geographic region, a story of immigration and

migration, it is the proverbial melting pot of cultures and classes.

Historiography of western history has experienced a complex evolution over a lengthy

time period. Ideas about the west have become dated and inaccuracies exposed. Unlike past

traditions, the New American West historians do not presume that the history of the American

West began with European contact.

At best the new interpretation begins at native contact or

even before when Spanish and Italian voyageurs made landfall. New American West historians

often even write from the sole perspective of conquered groups. Historian David Worster argues

that the western United States was not a retreat from humanity and conflict, but a conflict

between white Americans and the broader world. Ultimately, the history of the New American

West was a means to confront and understand the inaccuracies of the past.

Major historians within the field of the New American West are Richard White, Patricia

Nelson Limerick and William C. Davis among countless others. Together, the historians of the
New American West are taking a more socially aware, more diverse version of the west,

certainly a non traditional route. While most of these historians focus on social issues

and groups of people as being the major factors in the forging of westward lands in the United

States, others have their distinct niche topics within the broader context of westward expansion.

Though there are many similarities within the scholarship, there are some discrepancies

regarding the exact era in which all of this took place. Historians like Peter Wiley contend

that

the New American West did not end until the Regan era in the 1980s. Others like David Worster

believe that the end of the line never occurred, and that it is still happening presently.

Even in the mid 1980’s the New American West was in crisis. Western historians

disappeared for a variety of reasons. Universities did not replace Western historians after

they cycled out.

Furthermore, scholars on the east coast deemed its consideration unnecessary.

Overall there is not much respect for the field as a whole. Historians of the New American West

were after all, disrupters, people who obliterated traditional notions of what the West should

have been, and what many believed was.

Historians of the New American West wish to unveil all of the elements that were

previously omitted. They wish to separate themselves from past interpretations of the New

American West. Former versions of western history proved to be nothing more than nationalistic

propaganda. These historians attempt to place ethnocentrism and the concepts of savagery and

the uncivilized towards marginalized groups. They attempt to be what Patricia Nelson Limerick

considers, “neutral cultural relativists.” Historians of the New American West were to give light

to invaded and subjected peoples and to give them a voice.

Some historians like David Worster consider the History of the New American West to

be regional history above all. He considers that many scholars confuse regional history with

ethnic history, or the history of ethnic groups. Though many ethnic groups indeed inundated

the

area with new cultures and ideas Western history was about more than that. He further argues

that ethnic and regional history often find themselves in conflict. Worster separates the two by

contending that the New History of the American West is “a history of indigenous peoples who

have been invaded and conquered. The American West in his opinion became a “movable

identity.”

Identity is a huge part of the New Western History as a field of study as well as the

subjects in which it targets. As articulated in the introduction, The New American West is a story

of conquerors and conquests, a story of diverse populations coming together in a singular

geographic region, a story of immigration and migration, it is the proverbial melting pot of

cultures and classes. The New American West was curated by a variety of people, from

journalists to actual historians of the West. Outsiders seem to believe that the New American

West cast a gloomy overcast over historical issues of the West. Identity within the field meant a

separation from traditional, Anglo-Saxon, nationalistic, nativist Western History.

May historians considered these past works completely irrelevant to the new understanding

of the American West. New Western historians wanted to depart from the traditional white

man’s history. In a sense the New American West represented an offshoot of the New Social

History that took America by storm in the 1960s. Where the New Social History took root in

institutions like UCLA, similar ideas with a regional emphasis disseminated into areas in New

Mexico, Colorado and Nevada.

Many believe that the field of Western studies was founded by Fredrick Jackson Turner.

For most American historians, the “Turner Thesis” was the American West. Turner’s central

focus was regarding the idea of the frontier. Patricia Nelson Limerick supposes “Exploration, fur

trade, overland travel, farming, grazing, logging—the diverse activities in the nineteenth century

West were all supposed to fit into that category.” Before the invention of the New American

Turner’s ideas were indisputable among academics.