From: firstinitiallastname@texas.net   
      
   Clem Mattis wrote:   
   > In article , abc@123.net says...   
   >   
   >>Almost anything by Robert M. Utley or Paul A. Hutton. The current deans of   
   >   
   > weste   
   >   
   >>rn   
   >>history, in my estimation.   
   >>--   
   >>Todd   
   >   
   >   
   > I'll toss the names of Sonnichsen and Metz into the soup.   
   > I think the problem with singling out authors is that   
   > it fails the test of giving a "general overview" of   
   > the Old West for someone just wanting to get their feet   
   > wet - and especially if that someone is foreign to the USA.   
   >   
   > That's why I mentioned the Time/Life Library of the Old West.   
   > For a single volume that does the same, Commager's The West,   
   > an Illustrated History, is also a good beginning point, IMO.   
   >   
   >   
   Beebe and Clegg's "The American West" provides a wonderfully wild view   
   of the West, largely from the perspective of eastern periodicals.   
   Someone new to exploration of the old west must read the accompanying   
   text carefully, since the 1,000 or so illustrations are from a mixed bag   
   of artists, some of whom went west and some of whom stayed close to the   
   Atlantic and imagined. The editors do a fair job of pointing out which   
   are overly fanciful, either through the artist's ignorance or through   
   the desire to thrill. But, as one commentator said, he might have paid   
   more attention in American History, had this been one of the texts.   
      
   --   
                          Gerald Clough   
       "Nothing has any value, unless you know you can give it up."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)