Rereading Frederick Jackson Turner: "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" and Other Essays

by Frederick Jackson Turner, John Mack Faragher (Commentator & Afterword)

“The best assembly of Turner’s essays now available. Faragher’s introductory and concluding commentaries add considerably to the import of the book.”—Stephen Aron, University of California, Los Angeles

 

“Still ranks as the most influential piece of writing on American history.”—Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer, A Notable Book of 1994

 

“Faragher’s invaluable afterword . . . provides a judicious introduction to the issues that divide the revisionist New Western Historians from Turner and his disciples.”—Michael Kammen, FanFare

 

Frederick Jackson Turner is often considered to be the most influential American historian of the century, and his views continue to shape the controversial field of Western American history. In this book, John Mack Faragher introduces and comments on ten of Turner’s most significant essays, concluding with a comment on the recent debate over Turner’s legacy and his effect on Americans’ understanding of their national character.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Essays, American History

267 pages, paper

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Frederick Jackson Turner was an American historian in the early 20th century, based at the University of Wisconsin until 1910, and then at Harvard. He was primarily known for his “Frontier Thesis.” He trained many PhDs who came to occupy prominent places in the history profession. He promoted interdisciplinary and quantitative methods, often with a focus on the Midwest. He is best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", whose ideas formed the Frontier Thesis. He argued that the moving western frontier shaped American democracy and the American character from the colonial era until 1890. He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism. In recent years historians and academics have argued strenuously over Turner's work; all agree that the Frontier Thesis has had an enormous impact on historical scholarship and the American soul.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a professor of literature, I arrived at Frederick Jackson Turner by way of researching a couple of classic novels that deal with American myths - The Martian Chronicles and The Wizard of Oz, specifically. Both these books explore American hopes, American ideals, and American fears, and in preparing the lectures for these two novels, I came across the name Frederick Jackson Turner, and his famous and influential essay on the American frontier. That essay opens this collection, and it must be read by anyone interested in the iconic America myth of the Old West, the Pioneers, the Frontier, that persistent and compelling (semi-)fiction about how America was formed by individualist cowboys heading West to find and establish a new world.

That first essay is the only essential part of the book. The rest of the collection contains variations on a theme, and while they are interesting, everything Turner wants to say can be found in that first essay. The essay forwards his "Frontier Thesis," the thesis being that the current American character of courage and practicality and rugged individualism (also a semi-fiction) stems from the origin of the country itself. Those dreams of trekking out into the unknown and finding new land, building a farm, making a life out in the middle of nowhere, all those fantasies that led to some of America's most prized archetypes - the Western, the cowboy, the Indians, the wagon train - all that American mythology finds its source in the first essay of this collection. Read that essay. Then, if you love it, read the rest. They were written over the next 20 years or so of his life, and they each add a slightly new angle to the discussion.

[Humphrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've already reviewed Turner's collection The Significance of the Frontier elsewhere. This edition, the only proper edition of Turner currently in print, includes the best essays from that volume along with some of Turner's better later work on sectionalism. A good collection.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Wisconsin history major I "missed" reading this in college. As I come back to it in light of current "imperial" presidents it helps to add perspective on the ideas behind our current actions.

[S · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading for class.

[Brendan Steinhauser · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a good re-introduction to the ideas of the great American historian Frederick Jackson Turner. I give it 3 stars.

[Rey Dekker · Rating 3 out of 5]

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