Thomas Jefferson envisioned the western expanse of the continent as the garden of the world, a region blessed in every way with fertile soil, a temperate climate, and water enough for all—a farmer’s paradise. It would be a place of limitless opportunity and egalitarian tranquility. With this mythology in mind, the land was settled and its historical narratives written. Truth be told, the reality was far removed from the ideal. In this anthology, fifteen prominent historians and other scholars consider the economic, religious, ethnic, and gender issues that shaped the West as we know it. Contributors include the late Leonard J. Arrington (LDS Historical Department), David Haward Bain (Middlebury College), Davis Bitton (University of Utah), Wayne Carver (Carleton College), Carol Cornwall Madsen (Brigham Young University), Ross Peterson (Utah State University), and James P. Ronda (University of Tulsa).

William Thomas Allison (Ph.D., Bowling Green State University) is Associate Professor of History at Weber State University; he is the author of four books, including Witness to Revolution: The Russian Revolution Diary and Letters of J. Butler Wright and Military Justice in Vietnam: The Rule of Law in an American War.

Susan J. Matt (Ph.D., Cornell University) is Associate Professor of History at Weber State University; she is the author of Keeping Up with the Joneses: Envy in American Consumer Society, 1890-1930 and a forthcoming volume on the development and manifestations of homesickness in American culture.