The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy Audiobook By Patrick N. Allitt, The Great Courses cover art

The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy

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The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy

By: Patrick N. Allitt, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Patrick N. Allitt
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About this listen

Our understanding of the American West has moved far beyond pop culture in recent years. The legendary people and events we associate with the Wild West - the last stand at the Alamo, the Battle of Little Bighorn, the exploits of Calamity Jane, the hardships of the Oregon Trail - are even more fascinating once the historical realities have been separated from the myths.

Designed to shine a light on the American frontier, these 24 lectures are a way for you to experience the grit and grandeur of an epic period in American history. Professor Allitt uncovers new historical angles and perspectives about events and themes ranging from the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Indian Removal Act to the creation America's first national parks.

You'll cover more than 200 years of history and the most important events, themes, and ideas that form the backbone of the frontier's reality - and legend. Among these: the Transcontinental Railroad, the idea of Manifest Destiny, the Gold Rush, the Trail of Tears, and (yes) cowboys. You'll also learn how popular culture - novels like Little House on the Prairie, paintings by artists like Frederic Remington, and decades of Western films - can actually clue us in to the intimate details of life for everyday men and women.

Saddle up for an exciting adventure in learning.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©2017 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2017 The Great Courses
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What listeners say about The American West: History, Myth, and Legacy

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Another interesting course by Patrick Allitt

I've always enjoyed the courses by Patrick Allitt, and this one is no exception. He has a way of making a subject interesting by presenting it in a manner which shows how one thing (an idea, attitude, belief, action, etc.) logically leads to the resulting actions and consequences which make up history. Everything logically flows together and makes sense. You realize not just what happened, but also how and why it happened, and it all makes sense - almost as if it couldn't have been otherwise.

As a transplant from Britain, he isn't prejudiced by having grown up with the American concept of American history, yet he understands that concept and can explain & present it from the point of view of a neutral observer. Plus, I like his accent. The one thing I did find somewhat annoying, however, was his mispronunciation of place names, which could easily have been avoided with a bit of research. The most glaring (and oft-repeated) example is his mispronunciation of "Los Angeles" as "Los Angeleeze". That annoyance aside, however, I found this to be a very engaging and interesting course.

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5 people found this helpful

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Best great courses lecture of the series

Educational, entertaining, and evocative; it introduced me to a different world and it made me think.

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2 people found this helpful

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Very Interesting

Wonderful and extremely interesting history of the west. The professor is from England and, I believe, that his perspective of looking at the history of the west as an individual who did not grow up in our school system and fed our "correct" history provides a very perceptive and realistic view of the history of the west. His lectures are engaging. His narration is very clear and easy to listen to. Overall an excellent presentation and I would love to listen to more of his lectures.

In the past I have purchased other Great Courses narrations. Some have been excellent but others dry and brain-numbing.
Dr. Allitt does a wonderful job and I highly recommend this course.

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One of the best so far.

I have purchased 6 or 7 of these courses over the years. The subject matter, the material, and the professor makes this one the best experience that I have had with The Great Courses.

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Very informative

I listened to this book on my two hour commute. I found it to be interesting and informative on many aspects of the American west providing enough information to peak interest on subjects for further listening and being diverse enough to keep attention. If you enjoy the history of the American west, you will find this interesting.

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Very good synopsis of the West

A solid and balance report of the genesis of the US West through the 19th Century

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entertaining, impartial, and intriguing!

first and foremost the lecturer's British accent makes this lecture series very entertaining. there's something about hearing American history being told by a British accent that makes it better. that aspect aside the series doesn't wonderful job of covering all categories of American Western history from political scientific to technological and emotional. he does a phenomenal job cleaning the history of cartography exploration and the design of western expansion. he does a wonderful job of explaining the advancement of sciences in the American West from geology to chemistry. as the lecture series wraps up he does a phenomenal job explaining the lasting effect of Western culture and how the arts in print and film have managed to preserve the American West both accurately and fictionally. in short I highly recommend this series to anyone with any level of historical interest in the American past and especially to those who enjoy a diverse approach to any subject

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Well balanced

A well balanced course about the American West. It covered much more than Cowboys and Indians. It pointed out how the expansion of the West made the country stronger but also that the Westward expansion would not have been successful without help from the Federal Government and the eastern financiers.
Concerning native Americans they were often times victims but were not perfect. They lacked cohesive leadership and the drive to evolve which made them vulnerable. Such is World History. Their story needs to be told but also their weaknesses need to be acknowledged.
Good book.

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Interesting for the lay person

Don't listen to the reviewers who are critical of this audio book.

As a individual who loves who history, the author does a good job of exploring topics that are interesting and are, perhaps, not well known in his lecture series.

The narrator is British, but it doesn't detract one iota from his presentation. Some of his pronunciations of American geography are different, but his information is solid. Historically it seems to fall in line, fact wise, with similar works I've read. I recommend this audio book even if I would have liked the author to delve a bit deeper into his subject matter.

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Throughly enjoyed this.

I enjoyed this a lot. I agree with a lot of what he days and he seems to understand what he is talking about. I saw some comments about a "foreigner" telling about this, the history professor "not pronouncing things correctly", and the professor "criticizing the USA". I have a few thoughts.
1. He may be a foreigner but he does state that he came to the USA and went to school here to specificly learn about this. He loved this part of our history and watched many wild west movies as a child.
2. Of course he isn't going to pronounce things exactly how someone from that area of the USA would pronounce them. Even people from other parts of the USA may pronounce it differently. Accents are a reality and criticizing them does not show much intelligence on the commentor's part.
3. Of course he criticized what people of the USA did to the Indigenous population here. I love in the "Wild west" area and what he says is true. Just because you don't like being criticized; it does not make it any less true. This is not the "greatest country in the world" as some living here like to believe. We have made terrible mistakes in our history, just like any other country, and we are working on making it a great country. I agree with a lot of his criticism.

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2 people found this helpful