Promised Lands: Promotion, Memory, and the Creation of the American West

by Wrobel, David M.

• ISBN13: 9780700612048
• ISBN10: 0700612041
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-10-01
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas

Summary

In the era Wrobel examines, promoters painted the future of each western place as if it were already present, while the old-timers preserved the past as if it were still present. But, as he also demonstrates, that West has not really changed much: promoters still tout its promise, while old-timers still try to preserve their selective memories. Even relatively recent western residents still tap into the region's mythic pioneer heritage as they form their attachments to place. Promised Lands shows us that the West may well move into the twenty-first century, but our images of it are forever rooted in the nineteenth.

Author Biography

David M. Wrobel is associate professor of history at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Imagining and Remembering	p. 1
Promises
Promotional Contours and Claims	p. 19
The Second Boosterist Phase	p. 51
Photo Essay, Imagined Wests	p. 75
Memories
Remembered Journeys	p. 95
Organizing Memories	p. 121
Photo Essay, Remembered Wests	p. 146
Legacies
Promotion, Reminiscence, and Race	p. 157
The Ghosts of Western Future and Past	p. 181
Notes	p. 201
Selected Bibliography	p. 271
Index	p. 311
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