Histories tend to emphasize conquest by Anglo-Americans as the driving force behind the development of the American West. In this fresh interpretation, Jay Gitlin argues that the activities of the French are crucial to understanding the phenomenon of westward expansion. The Seven Years War brought an end to the French colonial enterprise in North America, but the French in towns such as New Orleans, St. Louis, and Detroit survived the transition to American rule. French traders from Mid-America such as the Chouteaus and Robidouxs of St. Louis then became agents of change in the West, perfecting a strategy of “middle grounding” by pursuing alliances within Indian and Mexican communities in advance of American settlement and re-investing fur trade profits in land, town sites, banks, and transportation. The Bourgeois Frontier provides the missing French connection between the urban Midwest and western expansion.

Macau, New Orleans, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and San Francisco. All of these metropolitan centers were once frontier cities, urban areas irrevocably shaped by cross-cultural borderland beginnings. Spanning a wide range of periods and locations, and including stories of eighteenth-century Detroit, nineteenth-century Seattle, and twentieth-century Los Angeles, Frontier Cities recovers the history of these urban places and shows how, from the start, natives and newcomers alike shared streets, buildings, and interwoven lives. Not only do frontier cities embody the earliest matrix of the American urban experience; they also testify to the intersections of colonial, urban, western, and global history. The twelve essays in this collection paint compelling portraits of frontier cities and their inhabitants: the French traders who bypassed imperial regulations by throwing casks of brandy over the wall to Indian customers in eighteenth-century Montreal; Isaac Friedlander, San Francisco's "Grain King"; and Adrien de Pauger, who designed the Vieux Carré in New Orleans. Exploring the economic and political networks, imperial ambitions, and personal intimacies of frontier city development, this collection demonstrates that these cities followed no mythic line of settlement, nor did they move lockstep through a certain pace or pattern of evolution. An introduction puts the collection in historical context, and the epilogue ponders the future of frontier cities in the midst of contemporary globalization. With innovative concepts and a rich selection of maps and images, Frontier Cities imparts a crucial untold chapter in the construction of urban history and place.

Faith is neither static nor instantaneous. It is not something we stumble upon and instantly understand. Neither is it a monolithic, one-dimensional, singular entity that has but one face, one color, one fragrance. It is many-faceted, multi-dimensional, and appears differently depending on one's angle to the Son. In Finding Faith in Slow Motion, Damon Gray examines faith from myriad angles and through gut-wrenching life experiences, as he asks regarding faith, "What is that stuff?" Spanning the emotional gamut from laughter to tears, Gray challenges us to define our faith and redefine it, to look at it from a multitude of perspectives and define it again. The writing is intentionally evocative and playful, offering the reader the ability to identify with Gray as he wrestles with the weighty subject matter of finding faith.

The story of one man's journey westward in the 1850s, leaving behind his family in the east. For ten years he explores the frontier, relying on his hunting scouting skills.

The study of Assamese literature has so far been in terms of the history of the Assamese language. This book is a history of the narratives written in Assamese language and its relation to the process of region formation. The literature dealt with ranges from pre-colonial chronicles, ballads and drama to modern genres of fiction and critical writing in Assamese language. Taking the Brahmaputra valley and Assamese literature as case studies, the author attempts to link literature, its nature and use, to processes of region formation, arguing that such a study needs to take the context of historical geography into consideration. The book views region formation in north-east India as a dialectical process, that is, the dialectic between the shared and the distinct in inter-group and community relations. It borrows an anthropological approach to study written narratives and cultures so as to locate such narratives in specific processes of region formation.

By the turn of the millennium, the East Mediterranean region had become a place of foreigners to Latin Christians living in Western Europe. Nevertheless, in the eleventh century numerous Latin Christian pilgrims streamed toward the East and Jerusalem in anticipation of the end times. The Apocalypse did not materialize as some had anticipated, but instead over the course of the next few centuries an expansion of Latin Christendom did. This expansion would transform the political, economic, and cultural landscape of both East and West and alter the course of Mediterranean history. This volume presents 22 critical studies on this crucial period (1000-1500) in the development of the Western expansion into the Eastern Mediterranean. These works deal with economy and trade, migration and colonization, crusade and conquest, military orders, as well as religious diversity and cross-cultural interaction. It includes a bibliography of important works published in Western languages together with an introduction by the editor.

History, Romance, & Destiny... Daring Pioneers Tame the Frontier is an exquisite saga of Dr. Jean (John) Baptiste Elzar Burels lifelong desire to cross the Atlantic Ocean to the beckoning new America. With his naval surgeon license in one hand and his medical chest in the other, he followed Marquis de Lafayette to Colonial America during the Revolutionary War. During the war he fell passionately in love and married a beautiful Acadian French woman in Philadelphia. After the war they made plans to return to his home at Ollioules, France. Homeward bound, the bourgeois doctor boarded the ship in Philadelphia with his new bride and their few belongings. There on deck he was unexpectedly forced to choose between his beloved homeland and family in France and his wife with child. Disembarking the ship with grave disappointment, John knowingly forfeited his inheritance as sole heir. Struggling to survive in Philadelphia, oftentimes John sat quietly admiring the beautiful woman who owned his heart as he secretly yearned for his prominent family and lifestyle on the Mediterranean Coast of France. Standing on the threshold of the newly independent America, the young doctor decided to take his wife and infant son and pioneer down the Great Wagon Road into the raw frontier of South Carolina. Believing he would build a new and prosperous life, he settled at Goshen Hill between the Tyger and Enoree Rivers within the lawless backcountry of South Carolina. Fighting the dangers and hardships of the frontier, and the recurring restlessness to return to France, John and his family carved out a simple life. Although disappointed at times, within the walls of his log home the enduring love and warmth of his wife and six children transcended adversity and hardships of the outside world. The heartwarming story is filled with humanity as John faced his inevitable destiny. The first novel in the trilogy closes with Dr. Burels widow standing helplessly in her front yard watching the wagon train take her spirited children and grandchildren west in search of richer land and prosperity. It was dj vu!

Winner of the 1993 Western Heritage Award given by the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, here is a definitive history of the Spanish colonial period in North America. Authoritative and colorful, the volume focuses on both the Spaniards' impact on Native Americans and the effect of North Americans on Spanish settlers. "Splendid".--New York Times Book Review.

Detroit’s industrial health has long been crucial to the American economy. Today’s troubles notwithstanding, Detroit has experienced multiple periods of prosperity, particularly in the second half of the eighteenth century, when the city was the center of the thriving fur trade. Its proximity to the West as well as its access to the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River positioned this new metropolis at the intersection of the fur-rich frontier and the Atlantic trade routes. In Frontier Seaport, Catherine Cangany details this seldom-discussed chapter of Detroit’s history. She argues that by the time of the American Revolution, Detroit functioned much like a coastal town as a result of the prosperous fur trade, serving as a critical link in a commercial chain that stretched all the way to Russia and China—thus opening Detroit’s shores for eastern merchants and other transplants. This influx of newcomers brought its own transatlantic networks and fed residents’ desires for popular culture and manufactured merchandise. Detroit began to be both a frontier town and seaport city—a mixed identity, Cangany argues, that hindered it from becoming a thoroughly “American” metropolis.

In 'Beyond the Old Frontier: Adventures of Indian-Fighters, Hunters, and Fur-Traders' by George Bird Grinnell, readers are presented with a collection of thrilling adventures that provide insight into the interactions between European settlers and Native American tribes in the American frontier. Grinnell's detailed accounts of daring exploits, close encounters with wildlife, and complex relationships with indigenous peoples are written in a descriptive and engaging style that brings the rugged landscape of the frontier to life. This book is a valuable primary source for understanding the challenges and opportunities that shaped the history of the American West in the 19th century, offering a unique perspective on the often romanticized frontier experience. The stories contained within the pages of this book shed light on the complexities of colonization, resource exploitation, and cultural exchange that defined this pivotal period in American history.