The Frontier Thesis: Valid Interpretation of American History?

by Ray Allen Billington (Editor)

This book is concerned with the significance of the frontier as an influence on American democracy and the American character. Frederick J. Turner's statement of his frontier thesis opens the book, followed by the views of other prominent historians in agreement or disagreement with it.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

122 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1966

About the author

Ray Allen Billington was an American historian focusing his work on the history of the American frontier and the American West, becoming one of the leading defenders of Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis" from the 1950s to the 1970s, expanding the field of the history of the American West. He was a co-founder of the Western History Association in 1961.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a helpful back-and-forth on the merits of Frederick Jackson Turner's "Frontier Thesis," the argument – briefly described then continuously modified – that the frontier is why American history and religion have diverged so sharply from the flavors we see elsewhere in the world. On the one hand, that seems like a no-brainer; on the other, the ways in which it's been argued has seemed to leave out other factors, such as Puritanism, or migration, or warfare, or any number of things, all of which it can then be argued were also affected by or part of the frontier at some point or other, and so it goes around and around.

These essays provide a good overview of the debates that raged among historians through the middle of the 20th century – maybe too much of an overview, as it gets pretty repetitive toward the end. I think the anti-frontierists carry the day. Of course, the frontier was important. But so were European influences. So was immigration. So was slavery (which barely gets mentioned). As usual, with these debates where people dig into their trenches and take potshots at the other side, the answer is more complex than simply which side is correct. They both have good arguments; they're both right, boring as that is.