This book appears at a time of radical reassessment of what settling the West has meant in American history. Amidst questions now being asked about violence and exploitation as leitmotifs in western history, it is more important than ever to understand historians and their biases. In this interpretive synthesis, a major historian argues that the visions of the West held by successive generations of historians were as important as the historical record in shaping their writings. - Jacket flap.