American Frontiers

"Clear and persuasive . . . Frontier history has broken free of the ethnocentric mindsets of founding figures like Frederick Jackson Turner and Ray Allen Billington. The measure of its liberation is that it now has its new canon nailed into place . . . Readable and succinct, this book might well be the most workable place to begin, for readers who have sat out the more energetic and agitated exchanges in the field of Western and frontier history . . . Readers who will ask their own questions and offer their own challenges will find many thought-provoking mysteries hidden just below the surface of the text."—Patricia Nelson Limerick, The New York Times Book Review

"Balanced, beautifully written, and provocative . . . A very valuable contribution to the evolving conception of American continental growth."—Jay Freeman, Booklist

"While Nobles is properly critical of [Frederick Jackson] Turner's frontier thesis (which has many grievous faults), his book also pays tribute to the enduring validity of Turner's great theme. [He] writes graceful, even elegant prose."—Wilfred M. McClay, The Wilson Quarterly

"Gregory Nobles makes a powerfully persuasive case for the continuing importance of frontier history to anyone who wishes to understand the complex cultural encounters among diverse peoples that have shaped the American past. Readers wishing a guide to the latest scholarship on this subject need look no further than this elegant and masterful synthesis."—William Cronon, author of Nature's Metropolis and Changes in the Land