Dreams of El Dorado : a history of the American West

by H. W. Brands

Hardcover, 2019

Status

Available

Genres

Publication

New York : Basic Books, Hachette Book Group, 2019.

Description

Brands tells the thrilling, panoramic story of the settling of the American West. He takes readers from John Jacob Astor's fur trading outpost in Oregon to the Texas Revolution, from the California gold rush to the Oklahoma land rush.

User reviews

LibraryThing member jmarchetti

Brand's work is a great introduction to American Western history for the general reader. The book is arranged in thematic parts, with individual chapters acting as vignetts to tell the story. Brand identifies a number of themes that run through the West: the evoking and shattering of dreams,

violence against the Plains indians, and Irony as well. Especially important is his ability to draw aside the curtain on the individualistic West and notes how vital Federal support for the west was. Whether it was the Homestead Act, railroad land grants, or military power, Brands is correct to note that "federal power was essential to the development of the West.

The book covers the period from the Lewis and Clark Expedition to the closing of the Frontier in the early twentieth century. The book is well written, and an enjoyable read. Specialists will probably not find much new here, but this is a great starting point for those who have an interest in the subject

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LibraryThing member santhony

Many years ago, I read a non-fiction book whose subject was a history of the Mediterranean world. I think most people would agree that this would be a subject hard to cover in a single book. Consider, we are dealing with Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, the Italian Renaissance, the

Middle Ages, the Crusades, the Muslim Conquest, World War II, just to name a few.

The book was a mess. How do you cover Ancient Egypt in 14 pages? The Roman Empire got a whole chapter. It had no value whatsoever for even the most cursory review of the history of the region. I felt much the same, though to a lesser degree about this book.

There is a chapter on the Lewis and Clark Expedition; a chapter on the transcontinental railroad; one on the California Gold Rush; a couple of chapters on the Native American population; a chapter on Texas cattle drives and one on Texas Independence. You get the idea, far too little exposure to far too important topics.

Instead of reading this book, read Stephen Ambrose’s Undaunted Courage, a comprehensive treatment of the Lewis and Clark Voyage of Discovery. Read Ambrose’s Nothing Like it in the World, an outstanding book on the building of the transcontinental railroad. Read Lonesome Dove, though fictional, the best novel I’ve ever read, which paints a portrait of a Texas cattle drive and interaction between white settlers and Plains Indians. Read James Michener’s Texas if you want to know everything there is to know about that state (again historical fiction).

The point is, these subjects are deserving of a deeper treatment than afforded by a book of this type. I would not even recommend it for a beginner, as such a cursory examination cannot possibly give a reader any understanding of the subject. The author, H. W. Brand, has written many fine biographies and histories. In this case, his mistake was on the scope of the subject matter.

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LibraryThing member Tuke15

This book seemed like a good thing. It gave some of the history of the America West. It just jumped around too much for me.

I received this book from Goodreads and was under no obligation to leave a review.

LibraryThing member nova_mjohnson

It’s full of well-written, easily read prose that doesn’t strike out too much new territory or get too particularly in-depth, but it’s still an enjoyable narrative that covers a wide range of the issues that make up the history of the American West quite well.

LibraryThing member Daniel.Estes

I've read enough history of the American West that I now expect the differing periods and events to overlap. What I didn't expect was how much I actually enjoy hearing the same stories retold but from different perspectives, or maybe different historians referencing the same sources.

I visualize

all of history as a giant tapestry in my mind and I'm systematically filling in the gaps of my knowledge. Hearing the story of Lewis and Clark again, for example, only reinforces how important their contribution was, and with every retelling I come away with an even better understanding, usually because I think about that event in the context of something new.

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