Designed to shine a light on the American frontier, The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy reveals the grit and grandeur of an epic period in U.S. history. In 24 lectures, award-winning Professor Patrick N. Allitt uncovers new historical angles on everything from the last stand at the Alamo to the Oregon Trail to the creation of America's first national parks.
The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy
Discover what the Wild West was really like as acclaimed Professor Patrick N. Allitt reveals the truth behind our cherished stories.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
M72barn from
Very good
I have enjoyed this very much. I would recommend it to ithers
Date published: 2024-09-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Gogomoose from
Excellent
Very informative and entertaining! This presenter is among the best
Date published: 2024-07-22
Rated 3 out of
5
by
karim from
Search for the name of intro music
Please, can anyone tell me the name of the intro music where M. Allit is inroduced.
Date published: 2024-05-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Slow Runner from
Very good course
I strongly recommend this course. The presentations are clear and entertaining, the tempo of the lectures is exactly right.
United States history is shown with a different perspective: how the 13 original colonies expanded west. The different processes achieving this expansion are examined, mainly, the Louisiana territory purchase, the Oregon Trail, the Mexican War, the wars against the Indians, the transportation revolution created by railroads. If you like history, you will certainly enjoy this course.
Date published: 2024-02-02
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Trip from
Enjoyably Informative
I was curious about western history, not having much exposure formerly. The course was logically organized making all the lectures flow. The professor delivered the lectures very well which made them easy to follow as well as impatient to get to the next presentation.
Date published: 2023-09-05
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Sandy Titus from
EXCELLENT
This course was excellent! The professor held your attention with much that was previously myth.
Date published: 2023-08-19
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Thanuja from
Great course!
I love the course! learned a lot about history, geography and people of American West. Evn though this course is lengthier than I expected since 24 episodes, I was able to enjoy the content, structure and delivery.
It seems this professor has so many other courses in Wondrium as well, perhaps time check more!
Date published: 2023-07-15
Rated 5 out of
5
by
tommyd555 from
Vastly Exceeded My Expectations
I had taken five previous courses by Professor Alitt and on average I found thought them to be....well average. So when I learned of this course's release and decided to sample some lectures on the Great Courses Plus app prior to making a decision on purchasing, I entered with very tempered expectations.
It didn't take long for the course's excellence to hit me over the head like a punishment for my doubts. I was blown away by just how interesting each and every lecture was regardless of my personal interest in the topic. This is by far his best course in my opinion.
The professor provides a fascinating study of the regions of the U.S. that were considered the “west” from Spanish explorations in the 1500s to the turn of the 20th century with a focus on how the west was settled (early part of the course focused on the lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains as the “west” including Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio before moving to the Louisiana purchase, Texas, Oregon, California, the great plains, and the southwest).
The professor tackled all of the main topics that are synonymous with the American west from cowboys to violence to Native American relocation to gold rushes to ghost towns to national parks but each lecture had such interesting information that it was like I was learning them all anew. I can’t see how he could have covered these topics better. I was learning something new in every lecture even when the professor discussed topics I thought I knew well.
Professor Allitt's description of events places you right in the action: you feel what it is like to travel the Oregon Trail or feel the pain Native Americans experienced being relocated.
While it was hard to identify any serious glaring fault, there are three criticisms to call out:
1- Professor Allitt would repeat certain stories or tidbits in multiple lectures (one or two occurences of this can easily be overlooked but by the last lecture it had happened enough times to at least note it)
2- He spent little time comparing the myths we all have of the west (involving cowboys, bandits, duels, ghost towns, striking it rich or failure to do so, etc.) with the reality. This was surprising on two levels: 1- he would touch on these and other topics so expertly that it was odd he would leave out discussion on how the reality lines up with our myths and 2- the title of the course and of lecture 23 specifically certainly imply more analysis on the topic than was given.
3- While the lecture on how western territories became states was certainly interesting, a more chronological approach (state by state) vs. hopping around would have helped me put the big picture together better (or perhaps a map which would have shown how the land mass of US states progressed in the 1870’s-early 1900's). He noted how censuses in the 19th century reported a frontier map and how the line had moved but there was never any graphic of it! Additionally, I was hoping for some discussion on how the territories’ borders came about (i.e. what made western plots of land “Utah” vs “Nevada”?).
Still without a doubt this is one of my favorite courses. I would love to see the professor tackle the southern US region in a future course. His coverage of the west was informative, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Anyone interested in US history would be well served to spend 12 hours with Professor Allitt that likely will go by too fast.
Date published: 2022-06-30
Overview
About
Patrick N. Allitt is Cahoon Family Professor of American History at Emory University, where he has taught since 1988. He received his PhD in American History from the University of California, Berkeley, and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard Divinity School and Princeton University. He is a widely published author whose books include A Climate of Crisis: America in the Age of Environmentalism; The Conservatives: Ideas and Personalities throughout American History; and Religion in America since 1945: A History.
Trailer
01: Westward the Course of Empire
What are some of the ways we think about the American West? How did this vast, fascinating region come into being, and how was it shaped by centuries of myth-making? What is it about westward expansion that has fascinated every generation of Americans? These and other questions are the topic of this introductory lecture.
31 min
02: The West in the Colonial Era
To understand the history of the American West, you have to understand the mark left by its earliest colonists. Among those you'll encounter here are the Spaniards (who introduced horses), the French (who developed a complex trade system), and the English (who, ironically, had little interest at first in colonizing west of the Appalachians)....
31 min
03: Venturing beyond the Appalachians
After the Revolutionary War, the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi became part of the new republic. How was this territory organized? As you'll learn, it started with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which created a set of new rules that came into conflict with complex old realities....
30 min
04: Discoveries of Lewis and Clark
Follow the fascinating journey of the two explorers who mapped the Louisiana Purchase between 1804 and 1806. Along the way, you'll learn how Lewis and Clark fit into the tradition of explorers looking for a water route to the Pacific, and you'll consider the political (and geographic) history of the Louisiana Purchase....
31 min
05: The Fur Trade and the Mountain Men
Fur traders and mountain men played an integral part in exploring and mapping the American West. Here, Professor Allitt reveals why fur was such a precious commodity; how John Jacob Astor dominated the American fur trade; and how famous mountaineers like Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, and Kit Carson became legends....
31 min
06: Trail of Tears
Turn now to one of the most dismal episodes in the story of the American West: the forced migration of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole) under the Indian Removal Act of 1830. It was this ordeal that the Cherokee came to call the "Trail of Tears."...
30 min
07: Struggles of the Plains Indians
From 1830 to 1890, the lives of the Plains Indians changed irrevocably. Topics include our sources for the early history of the Plains Indians (including portraits and archaeology), the importance of buffalo and horses to life on the Great Plains, and two visitors' perspectives on America's treatment of the Plains Indians....
30 min
08: Rebellious Texas and the Alamo
Get the full story behind the last stand at the Alamo and the story of the Texas republic. What led to tensions between the Mexican government and the growing United States? Why is the idea of rebellion so crucial to the myth of Texas? How did the territory eventually join the United States?...
32 min
09: Traveling the Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail has become a symbol of westward migration. In this lecture, Professor Allitt invites you to consider the challenges of the journey, as they were experienced by thousands of travelers. Among the most exceptional were Brigham Young's Mormons, fleeing persecution back East as they headed to Utah....
31 min
10: Manifest Destiny and the Mexican War
In 1846, the United States went to war with Mexico and, as a result, gained the whole of what is now the nation's southwest region. Welcome to the era of "Manifest Destiny," which, as you'll learn, set the stage for the future of California, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and New Mexico....
31 min
11: The California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush transformed the politics, demographics, and economy of the United States. It also, for the first time, gave the American West an irresistible mass appeal. Discover how the gold rush accelerated westward expansion and, in the process, established some of the first truly multicultural American communities....
30 min
12: Bleeding Kansas and Civil War in the West
Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, giving new states the right to decide their relationship with slave labor. Explore how this event led to a period of chronic anarchy and low-level warfare on the frontier, and how the American Civil War played out in the western states and territories....
31 min
13: Building the Transcontinental Railroads
For Professor Allitt, the great dividing line in the story of the American West is the construction of the transcontinental railroads, which did more than anything else to link the West with the Eastern states from which they'd emerged. Go inside the myths-and startling realities-of this decisive moment....
30 min
14: Cowboys and Cattle Drives
There is no greater symbol of the American West than the cowboy. But who were the cowboys, exactly? What were their everyday lives like? What did it take to go on a cattle drive along the Chisolm Trail? And why did the arrival of the farming frontier bring an end to the open range?...
30 min
15: Homesteaders on the Plains
With the Homestead Act of 1862, public lands became available for anyone willing to settle and farm them. Enter the homesteaders. Explore the frustrations they faced in trying to cultivate the Great Plains, what fiction reveals about their emotions, and how farming difficulties led to the rise of the People's Party, or Populists....
32 min
16: Little Bighorn and Wounded Knee
Examine the period from 1865 to 1890, which marked the end of the Native American resistance to white domination. Two events form the core of this lecture. The first: the massacre of General Custer's cavalry at the Battle of Little Big Horn. The second: the massacre of the Lakota at the Battle of Wounded Knee....
31 min
17: Life in Western Towns and Cities
Survey the five main types of towns that developed in the American West: Spanish towns, mining towns, farming towns, railroad towns, and the Pacific coast cities. Three cities you'll explore in depth are Salt Lake City, laid out in 1847; Chicago, the central metropolis of the West; and the great port city of San Francisco....
30 min
18: John Wesley Powell and the Desert Southwest
Twenty years after the end of the Mexican War, thousands of square miles of desert land the U.S. received had yet to be mapped and settled. That's where John Wesley Powell came in, whose report on these arid regions sparked the rise of irrigation farming techniques that would lead to unimaginable bounty....
30 min
19: Women in the Wild West
What was life like for everyday women in the American West? Some were prostitutes. Others were missionaries. Others still were working- and middle-class women trying to recreate their lives back East. Ultimately, as you'll discover, the experience, while enlarging women's sphere of influence, was nevertheless a conservative one: to create a stable home....
30 min
20: From Territories to Western States
Imperfect and violent-two words to describe how Western territories were created and then transformed into states. In this lecture, go inside this intriguing, often misunderstood process, from the role of influential businesspeople to the copying of other state constitutions to the efforts to give women the right to vote.
29 min
21: Western Violence, Law, and Order
There is no doubt that the American West was a violent place. Why was this so? What kept the region from chaos and civil war? Professor Allitt's brief survey of violence explores the rise of vigilante justice, race riots against Mexicans and Chinese, and class conflict at coalmines....
30 min
22: Protecting Yellowstone and Yosemite
The American West is home to a magnificent series of national parks, two of the earliest of which (and, arguably, the greatest) are Yellowstone and Yosemite. Discover through these case studies how the idea of a park system came into existence through government action and the dedication of conservationists....
29 min
23: Mythology of the American West
Go inside the mythology of the American West, which kept the frontier alive after the U.S. Census Bureau declared in 1890 that it had disappeared. Examine historian Frederick Jackson Turner's influential "frontier thesis." Learn about the contributions of novelist Owen Wister and painter Frederic Remington. Also, explore the main categories of Western movies....
30 min
24: Winning the West?
When thinking about the American West, Professor Allitt stresses a balanced view that encompasses both the achievements and the sufferings of this period in American history. It's an insightful conclusion to the grand, fascinating, sometimes troubling story of how exactly America became a vast nation stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific in just a century....
32 min
