Description
Book SynopsisFor over 35 years, the dominant histories of the American West have been narratives of horrific conflicts. As dark and as bloody as western grounds have often been however, there were also important episodes of concord, instances of barriers breached, accords reached, and of people overcoming their differences as opposed to being overcome by them. Peace and Friendship highlights the instances of cohabitation, deepening our understanding of how the West cameto be: through colonization, violence, misunderstanding, and, surprisingly, at times, peace.
Trade ReviewIs the story of the American West inevitably a tale of violence and exploitation? Well, mostly, but not always, and the exceptions matter. In Peace and Friendship, Stephen Aron explores fascinating historical interludes of accommodation, convergence, and harmony among people at odds. Familiar characters and places, from Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark to the Oregon Trail and Dodge City, are here, but we will never again see them the same way. Arons unconventional view of the Western past may even help us imagine our way to a less traumatic future. * Virginia Scharff, Distinguished Professor of History Emerita, University of New Mexico *
Peace and Friendship is a brave book that stands apart in its focus on those moments of frontier compromise and comity (however fleeting) that have typically been overlooked or dismissed, especially since the emergence of the New Western History of the 1980s.Steve Aron has deftly gathered a handful of famous and unfamiliar episodesspanning an enormous stretch of time and space, from the Ohio Valley to the Great Plains to the Pacific Northwestto tell a story that is more layered and complex than the now-standard narrative emphasizing relentless conquest and decline. * Andrew R. Graybill, Professor of History and Director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies, Southern Methodist University *
Democracy, as Aron puts it, made demography destiny. This gives his fine book a melancholy tone, a sense both of what might have been and of why it was unlikely to be. * Elliott West, University of Arkansas *
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Chillicothe - Forget What Happened Chapter Two: Apple Creek -- Rising Chapter Three: Fort Clatsop - A Pacific Coast Chapter Four: Apple Creek - Falling Chapter Five: Chimney Rock - Uncircle the Wagons Chapter Six: Dodge City - Don't Shoot First Final Lessons Notes Bibliography Index
