The American West in 2000: Essays in Honor of Gerald D. Nash PDF
Preview The American West in 2000: Essays in Honor of Gerald D. Nash
Etulain AmericAn West & e Szasz The contributors include Margaret the mphasizing social and cul- t a w Connell-Szasz, Arthur R. Gómez, he ten original essays com- “During his long, distinguished merican est tural developments, the essays draw tt Donald J. Pisani, Marjorie Bell missioned for this book focus career, Gerald D. Nash made hh on methodologies and topics from ee on historical subjects in the several major contributions to the 2000 comparative history, environmental Chambers, Carol Lynn MacGregor, in aa post-World War ii American study of modern American and history, urban history, and political Christopher J. Huggard, Roger W. mm West. The late Gerald Nash, western American history. This history. The authors write on sub- Lotchin, and Gene M. Gressley, as well as Nash and the volume edi- in whose honor the essays collection of essays on the recent ininee jects ranging from women’s rights to rr American West testifies to the urban sprawl, from organized religion were written, made major tors. 22ii cc contributions to the study of extensive impact that he has had 00 to tourism, from mining to American 00aa on shaping the contours of these Indian culture. An autobiographical modern American and west- 00 nn historical fields.” essay by Nash himself situates his RiCHARD W. ETuLAiN is pro- ern American history, and fessor emeritus of history at the —Richard W. Etulain, ww life’s work in the context of two for- his impact on those fields is essays in honor of university of New Mexico, and from the Preface GerAld d. nAsh mative experiences: his intellectual demonstrated in these essays ee FERENC MoRToN SzASz is a development as a German refugee ss professor in the same department. by several generations of his tt arriving in New York in the late Etulain lives in Portland, oregon, students and colleagues. and Szasz in Albuquerque. 1930s and his commitment to the study of the American West when he began graduate school. Published in cooperation with the Center for the Southwest at the University of New Mexico. ISBN 0-8263-2943-8 ™xHSKIMGy329431zv*:+:!:+:! Jacket photograph: West Temple and University of New Mexico Press Towers of the Virgin, zion National Park, unmpress.com utah, © 2003 Eyewire, inc. Edited by 1-800-249-7737 Jacket design: Melissa Tandysh RICHARD W. ETULAIN y FERENC M. SZASZ 00 AmerWest i-viii 1/24/03 9:52 AM Page i The American West in 00 AmerWest i-viii 1/24/03 9:52 AM Page ii 00 AmerWest i-viii 2/10/03 1:38 PM Page iii The American West in Essays in Honor of Gerald D.Nash Edited by RICHARDW.ETULAIN and FERENC MORTON SZASZ Published in cooperation with the Center for the Southwest University of New Mexico University of New Mexico Press Albuquerque 00 AmerWest i-viii 1/24/03 9:52 AM Page iv © by Richard W.Etulain and Ferenc Morton Szasz All rights reserved. First Edition Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The American West in :essays in honor of Gerald D.Nash / edited by Richard W.Etulain and Ferenc Morton Szasz.— st ed. p. cm. Includes index. --- (cloth :alk.paper) .West (U.S.)—Civilization—th century. .West (U.S.)—History—– .Nash,Gerald D. I.Etulain,Richard W. II.Szasz,Ferenc Morton,– . .—dc 00 AmerWest i-viii 1/24/03 9:52 AM Page v Contents (cid:2) Preface | vii Richard W. Etulain Introduction | Ferenc M. Szasz Autobiography:Roads to the West | Gerald D. Nash The Cultural Renaissance in Native American and Celtic Worlds,– | Margaret Connell-Szasz Will the Circle Be Unbroken?:Tourism and the National Park System in the Twenty-First-Century West | Arthur R. Gómez The Bureau of Reclamation and the West,– | Donald J. Pisani Activist Women in the West and Their Fight for Political Equity,– | Marjorie Bell Chambers The Cultural Life of Boise,Idaho,– | Carol Lynn MacGregor “Squeezing Out the Profits”:Mining and the Environment in the U.S.West,– | Christopher J. Huggard v 00 AmerWest i-viii 1/24/03 9:52 AM Page vi Organized Religion and the Search for Community in the Modern American West | Ferenc M. Szasz Angels and Apples:The Late-Twentieth-Century Western City, Urban Sprawl,and the Illusion of Urban Exceptionalism | Roger W. Lotchin The American West,the World,and the Twenty-First-Century | Gene M. Gressley Gerald D.Nash and the Twentieth-Century American West | Richard W. Etulain Contributors | Index | vi | CONTENTS 00 AmerWest i-viii 1/24/03 9:52 AM Page vii Preface (cid:2) After Gerald D.Nash retired in the mid-s from full-time teaching at the University of New Mexico,he returned occasionally to campus to chat with his longtime colleagues in the Department of History.Frequently these conversa- tions turned to classic and new historical writings about the recent United States and the American West and sometimes,at our instigation,to Nash’s shaping role in those fields.Historiography,historical methods,and philosophies of history always intrigued him.On one occasion,as we chatted about these subjects,we asked Nash if he would allow us to celebrate his academic contributions— through a scholarship,a research fellowship,or a collection of essays in his honor. Two years before his untimely death in November , Nash expressed his preference for a festschrift. This volume follows Nash’s wishes.After eliciting a list of potential contrib- utors from Nash,we wrote to several colleagues,at the University of New Mexico and elsewhere,and to his former students to ask if they might contribute to this volume.Following Nash’s suggestion,we requested that all contributors focus their articles on historical subjects in the post–World War II American West.Here is the result.Taken together,these essays provide a valuable overview of impor- tant topics in recent western American history. The introduction to this collection,by Nash’s longtime colleague Ferenc M. Szasz,illustrates the wide,clear impact that Nash’s ideas have had on his colleagues and students.Then follows Nash’s brief but illuminating autobiographical piece, which traces his life from his natal Germany through his years of academic train- ing and on into his lengthy career of research and teaching.Next Margaret Connell- Szasz,a former student and later Nash’s colleague at the University of New Mexico, contributes an interest-whetting sample of her comparative work on Native Amer- ican and Celtic cultures.Another of Nash’s students,Arthur Gómez,draws on his experience in the national park system to provide a valuable essay on tourism and the national parks,past and future.The next essay,on the Bureau of Reclamation, vii 00 AmerWest i-viii 1/24/03 9:52 AM Page viii is by long-term friend Donald J.Pisani,a leading authority on water and irrigation policies in the American West. The following three articles are contributions by Nash’s students.One of his doctoral students,Marjorie Bell Chambers,herself a political activist,provides an overview of western women rallying for their political rights in the years since .Then Carol Lynn MacGregor extracts information from her recently com- pleted dissertation to furnish an illuminating summary of cultural life in Boise, Idaho,from to .Another of Nash’s doctoral students,Christopher J. Huggard,supplies a rewarding discussion of conflicts between mining develop- ments and environmental policies in the recent West. The final four essays are from Nash’s colleagues.The first,by Ferenc Szasz, building on his extensive studies of religion in the United States and the American West,analyzes several major trends in organized religion in the recent West.Roger W.Lotchin follows with a probing discussion of urban sprawl in late-twentieth- century western cities.Moving outward,Gene M.Gressley,perhaps Nash’s clos- est professional colleague,contributes a sweeping,provocative overview of the contemporary West in world perspective.The final essay,by coeditor Richard W. Etulain,surveys the impact of Nash’s scholarly publications,especially those in the field of twentieth-century American western history. During his long,distinguished career,Gerald D.Nash made several major con- tributions to the study of modern American and western American history.This collection of essays on the recent American West testifies to the extensive impact that he has had on shaping the contours of these historical fields. —Richard W.Etulain viii | PREFACE 01 AmerWest 1-5 1/24/03 10:04 AM Page 1 Introduction (cid:2) A s noted in Richard W.Etulain’s preface,this book of essays on the American West since is dedicated to the memory of University of New Mexico his- torian Gerald D.Nash (–).During his thirty-four-year career at the university—–—Nash taught more than , undergraduate students. In addition,he directed scores of master’s theses and doctoral dissertations on var- ious aspects of American history,especially the history of the American West. Along the way he chaired the History Department from to and edited The Historian, the journal of Phi Alpha Theta,from to .He attended virtually all the Western History Association gatherings and served as the WHA’s twenty-eighth president in –.His inaugural address was titled “The Great Adventure:Western History,–.” While donning and doffing these historical hats,Gerald Nash also found time to write or edit more than fifteen books on a variety of themes.He penned stud- ies on national oil policy, California bureaucracy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and American economics—to name just a few—but he is probably best known for his work on the twentieth-century American West.Indeed,he pioneered in the creation of the modern West as a distinct field of academic study.His The American West in the Twentieth Century () provided the first overview, and in The American West Transformed:The Impact of the Second World War() and World War II and the West:Reshaping the Economy() he continued to argue for the impor- tance of the federal government and various levels of bureaucracy as crucial shapers of the modern western landscape.The Nash thesis—the idea that ever since World War II the American West has served as the nation’s “cultural pace- setter”—still engenders lively debate.He considered the excesses of the New Western History as his particular bête noire.A prodigious scholar,Nash remained exceptionally active during his retirement years.His The Federal Landscape:An Economic History of the Twentieth-Century Westwas published in ,whereas his final book,A Brief History of the American West Since appeared in September
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