"The American Frontier" provides a detailed and richly illustrated overview of the westward expansion of colonial and post-colonial America through diplomacy, war, wanderlust, and grit. The frontier is defined and demythologized as Hollywood's stereotypical portrayals are replaced with factual yet no less fascinating and lively depictions of pioneer life. Daniel Boone, the Louisiana Purchase, the explorations of Lewis and Clark, the subjugation of the Indians, the Mexican-American War, and the building of the transcontinental railroad are among the events and personalities vividly described.Challenging review questions encourage meaningful reflection and historical analysis. Maps, tests, answer key, and extensive bibliography included.

Contents: The American Frontier: An Introduction; The Moveable Frontier; Two Great Frontiers; Early Native American Trails; Carving New Trails West; West to the Piedmont; Frontier Protection; The Ohio Valley Rivalries; The Fight for the Ohio; Pontiac's War; Into the Trans-Appalachian West; Early Land Speculation; Daniel Boone's Early Years; The Kentucky Trailblazer; The Watauga Settlements; Test I; Treaties and Warfare; New Trails Across the Frontier; The Conestoga Wagon; Essential Frontier Tools; Daily Frontier Life; Building a Log Cabin; Inside the Log Cabin; Frontier Alliances, Frontier Wars; The Frontier Revolution; The Post-Revolutionary Frontier; Organizing the Northwest Territory; Indian Campaigns in Ohio; Opening the Way West; The Russian Frontier; The Spanish West; Test II; Frontier Cincinnati; The National Road; River Highways West; Western Rivercraft; Building the Erie Canal; West by Steamboat; Early Railroads; The Louisiana Purchase; The Corps of Discovery; Taking the Expedition West; Ascending the Missouri River; "One of the Fairest Portions of the Globe"; Across the Continental Divide; Pike on the Mississippi; Escorted to Santa Fe; Test III; Tecumseh and the Prophet; Defeat in the Old Southwest; A West in Transition; Upheaval in the Gulf Plains; The Cherokee Fight for Survival; The Indian Removal; Moving Across the South; New Agriculture on the Frontier; Trade Along the Santa Fe Trail; The Western Fur Trade; Americans and Manifest Destiny; The Opening of Texas; Revolution Comes to Texas; The Texans Defend Themselves; The Siege at the Alamo; Houston Leads the Texans to Victory; The Republic of Texas; Test IV; The Oregon Country; Wagons on the Oregon Trail; Preparing for the Way West; Marking the Oregon Trail; Days on the Wagon Trains West; Death on the Trail; The Mormons Move West; Texas Dispute Leads to War; The Mexican-American War; The Bear Flag Revolt; The California Gold Rush; Mining Across the West; Western Transportaion Systems; Test V; The Western Stagecoach; Indian Resettlement; Indian Warfare on the Plains; Clashes on the Great Plains; Subjugating the Plains Indians; The Transcontinental Railroad; Completing the Western Rails; The Western Cattle Industry; The Myth of the Cowboy; The Homestead Act; Immigration to the Great Plains; The Bounteous Plains; The Making of the Frontier Myth; The Closing of the Frontier; Test VI; Map: The United States, 1783-1802; Map: Westward Advance, 1818-1836; Map: Westward Advance, 1849-1860; Map: Trans-Mississippi, 1861-1865; Answer Key; Bibliography