Atlas of the New West: Portrait of a Changing Region - Hardcover

University Of Colorado, Boulder Center Of The American West

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393045501 ISBN 13: 9780393045505

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1997

Synopsis

Forty-six full-color, three-dimensional, computer-generated maps, along with essays by historians Patricia Limerick and Charles Wilkinson, informative sidebars, and dozens of charts and graphs illustrate the progressive urbanization and commercialization of the West. Tour.

About this title

Review:

The American West looms large in the national imagination as a place of coyotes, cowboys, and wide-open spaces. But with more Americans moving there each year than to any other region of the U.S., the reality of the new West has become somewhat different. What happens when the West of loggers, miners, grizzly bears, and greasy spoons gives way to that of "extreme" recreation, telecommuting, psychic vortexes, and espresso? A group of historians, geographers, and other intellectuals at Boulder's Center of the American West maps these and other transformations in the Atlas of the New West, a stunningly comprehensive look at a region in the grip of tumultuous change.

From irrigation to infrastructure, lifestyle to literature, the Atlas of the New West considers almost every aspect of life in the intermountain West, uncovering some surprising facts along the way. Who would have dreamed, for instance, that a higher percentage of westerners than northeasterners live in cities--or that, if evenly distributed, each resident of Nevada's Eureka County would stand alone on 3.5 square miles of land? Statistics like these come paired with essays, photographs, and beautiful full-color maps depicting everything from brewpub distribution to water consumption to Superfund sites. This handsome and thoughtful book is of vital interest to anyone who cares about this beautiful, fragile, and complex region of the United States.

From Library Journal:

Though some may quibble with the exclusion of chunks of the Pacific coast states beyond the Sierras and Cascades in the editors' definition of the core West, it makes sense. The core region is the Rocky Mountain West, arguably the region the most affected in recent years by technological and social change. The land and culture there is not recognizable to those who have spent 20 years away. Editor Riebsame and Director of Cartography Robb, under the auspices of the University of Colorado's Center for the American West, have hit all the appropriate issues here: nuclear waste, growth of technological firms, and cultural blossoming. Clearly, this collaborative effort had input from planners, historians, and sociologists. Filled with maps and illuminating sidebar items, this attractive book will appeal to scholars and the general public alike and belongs in most reference collections.?David S. Azzolina, Univ. of Pennsylvania Libs., Philadelphia
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0393045501
• ISBN 13: 9780393045505
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192
• Editor: Riebsame William E., Robb James J.