THE LAST AMERICAN FRONTIER: The History of the ‘Far West’, Trials of the Trailblazers and the Battles with Native Americans - Frederic L. Paxson Audiobook

Written by Frederic L. Paxson
Read by Joseph Tabler
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 64 Kbps

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History

For many years, a single volume covering the “History of the West” did not exist. Paxson’s masterwork rectifies this problem – offering an essential, sweeping account of the American West and westward expansion from 1763-1893.

The American pioneer is followed to every frontier for nearly 150 years across fifty-nine chapters. Full of world-class insight, Paxson masterfully paints a picture of how the land mass of the United States was settled – starting with English settlers in New England to the wayward expansion across the continent and ending with the sunny shores of California.

Paxson’s literary genius does not shine in quotations from secondary and source material; he has made his material a part of himself. Indeed, rather than conforming to a social history, Paxson takes a historical, geographic, and pragmatic view of Westward expansion. He masterfully covers American history from the War for Independence to the Louisiana Purchase, conflicts with Native Americans and Civil War, Presidential edicts from Washington to Roosevelt, and even offers keen insight into the little-studied intricacies of frontier finance and the inside workings of canal and railroad corporations.

“Future historians will gratefully remember Mr. Paxson for essaying a task which others had either shirked or felt themselves incompetent to perform.”

This is a must-read for any student of American history.

About the Author: Frederic Logan Paxson was an American historian, President of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, and possessed undergraduate and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a master’s from Harvard University. As a historian, he was an authority on the American frontier and won the 1925 Pulitzer Prize for this work.