History of Wyoming (Second Edition)

by T.A. Larson

Book Overview

Reviewers hailed the original edition of T.A. Larson's History of Wyoming (Winner of an Award of Merit of the American Association for State and Local History) as "a refreshing new look at the most western of the Western States," "an excellent model of what a state history should be." In that first comprehensive, critical history of Wyoming, the author was not concerned to recapitulate the familiar tales of fast guns and renegades associated with...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803228511
• ISBN13: 9780803228511
• Release Date: November 1978
• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Length: 663 Pages
• Weight: 2.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

History of Wyoming

This is a superb single volume on the history of the State of Wyoming. I have not had the time to finish it yet, it's a large book, but I can't put it down. This is a must for anyone researching American history and I can recommend it.

An academic history, not a tourist guide

T.A. Larson -- known in fine Western fashion by his initials -- has written the official, scholarly history of Wyoming filling a huge gap in published literature about the state. Primary source material about Wyoming abounds, but few of us have the time or training to find it and then plow through it to make sense of it. Anecdotal information and imagined histories are also widely available, but few of those are reliable if you want accuracy or even the slightest bit of objectivity. Places built on myth -- and Wyoming was born of a number of them -- are wonderful, but they shouldn't be exempt from a more scholarly treatment like this. There are plenty of guidebooks, such as "The Wyoming Handbook" in the series published by Moon, that give you historical "color". But for a fuller, more realistic picture of this fascinating place, Larson is definitive.

Thorough And Entertaining Reading of Wild West State

I could not disagree more with the other reviewer who opined that it was encyclopedic but not exciting reading.Larson certainly has researched his subject very well and could easily be stated as the Dean Of Wyo History. As this is a comprehensive history up to the Post WWII era, the author by necessity touches on every area, yet leaves some at the macro stage where one wishes for more. This is well supplemented with a thorough annotated bibliographic section for further research.From its frontier routes with the Natives and mountain men to the explorers and natural resource, railroad and ranching industries which comprise this land, Larson weaves a tale which engages the interested reader and keeps your interest growing.The book is equally divided from its beginnings and overall description and then section two of the 19th C. on.A treasure of a state history. It must be added also that the line drawings by Brodie are very nice!

Wild Wild Wyoming

I've lived in Wyoming for 13 years and even I was interested in the detailed discription of Wyoming, I learned alot more about Wyoming than I thought I could know. I recammend this book to anyone, who lives in Wyoming or just wants to know more about this untamed wilderness we call wyoming.