3-4 Credits
TR 11:50-1:05 - Professor Creech
(Cross-listed with HIST 390-AX/590-AX)

This course examines the history of the "West"--the continental U.S. between the Pacific Ocean and the 100th meridian (including Alaska and Hawaii)--from the Louisiana Purchase up through contemporary debates on public land use, regulation of extraction industries, environmentalism, water use, etc. It will also examine the "West" of the first half of the 19th century--Chicago and the surrounding areas. The primary historical lens will be environmental; we will examine how the physical environment has been an historical actor in shaping the West, paying special attention to how western aridity, soils, landscape, flora, mineral and petroleum deposits, fauna, climate, etc., have impacted the cultural, social, and historical aspects of this region. Topics include: Rocky Mountain exploration and the fur trade; the "Oregon Trail"; the Mormon settlement of Utah; mining and metal "rushes"; the demise of the buffalo and the rise of cattle ranching (and cowboys); farming on land that should never have been farmed (the dust bowl); California; transportation (wagons, horses, railroads, LA freeway); tourism; public works projects; conservation, wilderness protection, and environmentalism; western cities, including Chicago; the western environment in art, literature, and myth, and western public land and the military-industrial-research complex, and related topics. In focusing on the environment as an historical actor, we will also raise questions about how we understand "environment" and its role in history: to what extent does environment determine history; can environments be produced by humans; what constitutes "wilderness" or a "pastoral" environment; to what extent are environments mental constructions; how do economic markets interact with physical environments; do environments reach ecological stasis--if so, what does that mean and can humans be involved; what makes an environment "pristine"; are humans part of an environment or do environments constitute something distinctly non-human (how is a canal different from a river, are farms part of the environment or "nature" in a way cities are not?), and many others.

Assignments will include weekly readings from primary and secondary sources (a mix of articles, books, and documents), class discussions of the readings, two 10-15 minute class presentations, three brief, 3-4 page analysis papers, and one 20-page research paper.