Eyewitness to the American West: From the Aztec Empire to the Digital Frontier in the Words of Those Who Saw it Happen

By David Colbert

Book Overview

In this collection of letters, diaries, interviews, and public writings from people who were "in the right place at the right time," David Colbert gives us a history of the American West, "but not the one we usually encounter and expect" ( Dallas Morning News ).Spanning 500 years from the Aztecs' first encounter with Spanish conquistadors to the explosion of technology in Silicon Valley today, vivid episodes swirl together, revealing patterns that link early Kentuckians and Asian immigrants, Mormons and black "Buffalo Soldiers," the first Los Angeles smog and an 1811 earthquake that reversed the Mississippi's flow, the Trail of Tears and the Summer of Love, Georgia O'Keefe at Taos, the origin of Levi's, and the eruption of culture in the contemporary Northwest. David Colbert's kaleidoscope of the American experience invites readers to delve into any moment in the history of the West, offering clear themes that will satisfy history buffs, and enough entertaining surprises to delight the casual reader.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0140280545
• ISBN13: 9780140280548
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 1.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Great reading on the American West!

This is a wonderful book for anybody interested in the history of the American West. The book contains short vignettes of what the author calls "firsthand history", i.e., contemporaneously written letters, journals, newspaper articles, etc. all the way from Cortez' conquest of the Aztecs through modern day Silicon Valley. Along the way, you learn that Levi Strauss did not invent Levi's (he sold the fabric to the man who did; the inventor couldn't afford the $65 for the patent filing fee and Levi Strauss got in the deal that way), and lots of other interesting points of history on the American West. They're all authentic and all contemporaraneous with the subject about which they're written. A great read!

Totally RAD!!

As a student in high school who basically gets her fill of history in class everyday, I wasn't expecting to like the book that my grandmother placed in my hand. But when I sat down to read it, I realized that it had just as many fun stories as the magazines and novels I read every day. I loved learning about the early movies and early developments. I recommend this book to everyone, history-lover or not.