In the fifty years since its inception in 1961, the Bison Books imprint at the University of Nebraska Press has published some of the best historical, literary, and original western literature. The Golden West celebrates that continuing mission, bringing together some of the most beloved and iconic stories of the American West. Here, readers will find the classic West: from the adventures of the Corps of Discovery to the trials of the Oregon Trail, from the diverse landscapes of the Great Plains to the rugged Rocky Mountains and the Willamette Valley, from traditional Sioux culture to Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and from the cowboys, ranchers, farmers, and mountaineers who often make up our western mythology to their American Indian counterpoints in stories about tribal society, monumental battles, and interaction with white settlers. The Golden West holds something for every reader-fiction, poetry, memoir, folklore, firsthand accounts, and all the shades of gray in between.
Alicia Christensen is the Bison Books editor at the University of Nebraska Press and the editor of American Lives: A Reader (available in a Bison Books edition). David Wrobel is a professor and chair of the Department of History at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the author of Promised Lands: Promotion, Memory, and the Creation of the American West.