History of the Westward Movement by Frederick Merk 1st Edition Illustrated with over 100 Maps Vintage Hardcover in Original Dust Jacket 1978

History of the Westward Movement by Frederick Merk 1st Edition Illustrated with over 100 Maps Vintage Hardcover in Original Dust Jacket 1978

<Condition is Very Good as Pictured> (normal wear, some markings)

-> The History of the Westward Movement is the culminating achievement of the long and distinguished career of the late Frederick Merk of Harvard University. The book is a legacy that grew out of his celebrated course on the Westward Movement, and from a lifetime of research and writing that made him a leading authority in this important phase of American history.

After an archaeologically oriented introduction to the American Indians, Professor Merk describes the arrival of the English in 17th century Virginia as the beginning of the "greatest migration of people in recorded history." He then tells of colonial relations with the Indians and of the expansion of French and British interests that resulted in the British victory in the French and Indian War. He stresses the importance of land speculators, always a jump ahead of the ordinary settler, before and after the American Revolution. He shows how sectional differences developed in the first half of the 19th century over primarily economic issues. He depicts the enormous growth that took place in the same half-century, as the United States absorbed the territory west of the Mississippi River and became a transcontinental nation. Emphasis is given to the intensification of sectional problems, especially slavery, which accompanied the annexation of Texas and the Mexican cession. And the author traces the events following the Kansas-Nebraska Act that led to further national disunity and eventually to the Civil War.

The Westward Movement also meant the acquisition of vast natural resources, rich farmlands, natural transportation routes, forests, grasslands, and mineral deposits. Professor Merk explains how in the 20th century semi-arid regions were developed through dry farming, and describes the utilization of drought-resistant, hybridized grains and methods of cultivation that maintain moisture in the soil. He discusses the new techniques for exploiting both metallic and fuel minerals, the construction of multipurpose river basins, and the emergence of land-use planning. At the same time he points to the damage the United States has suffered because of its rapid expansion, including the impoverishment and even the destruction of the soil by wind and water.

Professor Merk's book gores well beyond his famous lectures. The diplomacy and politics of the acquisitions west of the Mississippi are drawn more sharply here, while the mainly economic 20th-century topics are enlarged and extended through the mid-1970's. The author demonstrates how geography, economics, politics, diplomacy, science, and technology interact in the history of the Westward Movement and its place in the conversion of a raw wilderness into a world power.

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