Quest West

"Few spaces remain as central to American consciousness as the western frontier. The vast territory, which for generations fueled the desires and conquests of artists, philosophers, and politicians alike, now offers new discoveries in Richard Lehan's Quest West. Through an intellectual and cultural history of the frontier experience, Lehan details the transformations of ideas and literary forms that occurred as the country expanded to the west and demonstrates how the wilderness and the urban frontier represent an ideological summary of the nation itself. His study involves the foundations of belief and the realms of evolving interpretations. In both instances, the desire is to find meaning in the lost past"--Jacket.