Robert G. Athearn's Books

Union Pacific Country

By: Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

No one has done before what Athearn has done in this volume. He has utilized company records and a variety of other sources to write a very attractive and readable, but scholarly account of the impact of the Union Pacific and its branch line son the country it served from the 1860s to the 1890s. . . . Everyone from railroad buffs to Western history scholars will like the book."--Choice. "This highly readable book is an excellent history of the heart-breaking efforts to build the Union Pacific into a viable enterprise before the end of the nineteenth century. . . . Throughout this attractive reprint edition, Athearn provides insights and fresh perspectives not only on the Union Pacific but on other railroads in the West and their significance in frontier America."--David Dary, Overland Journal. "A superb contribution by a master historian, Union Pacific Country is a model chapter in the epic story of how the American West was penetrated, settled, and developed with the aid of steam and iron. The research is massive; the writing style is inviting; the photographs, maps, and documents are helpful; and the story is compelling."--Journal of the West. The Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad: Rebel of the Rockies by Robert G. Athearn is also available.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

486

Publisher

U of Nebraska Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0803258291

ISBN 13

9780803258297

In Search of Canaan

Black Migration to Kansas, 1879–80

By: Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

In Search of Canaan

Black Migration to Kansas, 1879–80

By: Robert G. Athearn

Word spread across the southern farm country, and into the minds of those who labored over cotton or sugar crops, that the day of reckoning was near at hand, that the Lord hand answered black prayers with the offer of deliverance in a western Eden. In this vast state where Brown had caused blood to flow in his righteous wrath, there was said to be land for all, and land especially for poor blacks who for so long had cherished the thought of a tiny patch of America that they could call their own. The soil was said to be free for the taking, and even better, passage to the prairie Canaan was rumored to be available to all. . . . Thus began a pell-mell land rush to Kansas, an unreasoned, almost mindless exodus from the South toward some vague ideal, some western paradise, where all cares would vanish. In a vigorous, reasoned style, Robert G. Athearn tells the story of the Black migration from areas of the South to Kansas and other midwestern and western states that occurred soon after the end of Reconstruction. Working almost entirely from primary sources—letters of some of the Black migrants, government investigative reports, and Black newspapers—he describes and explains the “Exoduster” movement and sets it into perspective as a phenomenon in frontier history. The book begins with details of the Exodusters on the move. Athearn then fills in the background of why they were moving; relates how other people—Black and white, Northern and Southern—felt about the movement; examines political considerations; and finally, evaluates the episode and provides an explanation as to why it failed. According to Athearn, the exodus spoke in a narrower sense of Black emigrants who sought frontier farms, but in the main it told more about a nation whose wounds had been bound but had not yet healed. The Republicans, without any issues of consequence in 1880, gave the flight national importance in the hope that it would gain votes for them and, at the same time, reduce the South’s population and hence its representation in Congress. Thousands of Black Americans, many of them former slaves, were deluded by false promises made by individual interests. As the hawkers of glad tidings beckoned to the easily convinced, the word “Kansas” became equated with the word “freedom.” Emotional, often biblical, overtones gave the movement millenarian flavor, and Kansas became the unwilling focus of a revitalized national campaign for Black rights. Athearn describes the social, political, economic, and even agricultural difficulties that blacks had in adapting to white culture. He evaluates the activities of black leaders such as Benjamin “Pap” Singleton, northern politicians such as Kansas Governor John P. St. John, and refugee aid organizations such as the Kansas Freedmen’s Relief Association. He tells the Exoduster story not just as a southern story—the turmoil in Dixie and flight from the scenes of a struggle—but especially as a western story, a meaningful segment of the history of a frontier state. His remarkably objective, as well as suspenseful, account of this unusual episodes contributes significantly to Kansas history, to western history, and to the history of Black people in America.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

360

Publisher

University Press of Kansas

Published Date

ISBN 10

0700631364

ISBN 13

9780700631360

High Country Empire

The High Plains and Rockies

By: Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

High Country Empire

The High Plains and Rockies

By: Robert G. Athearn

The first adequate history of the High Country Empire I have ever found. . . . This is vivid, vigorous history, rich with incident, solid with research, firm with informed opinion. . . . On total score this is an outstanding book."--Hal Borland, Saturday Review. "It will make excellent supplementary reading for students of the American West, complementing the work of Bernard De Voto and Carl F. Kraenzel."--Walter Prescott Webb, New York Times Book Review. "Mr. Athearn is not only a good historian, he is an exceptionally able writer. His sparkling narrative--filled with quotable anecdotes and general perceptive insights--is a delight to read."--Gene M. Gressley, Library Journal. "This is a complex, many-sided story, and the author . . . somehow manages to hold it down to reasonable length and at the same time retain much of the variety and color inherent in his theme."--Oscar Lewis, New York Herald Tribune Book Review. "A very great mass of scholarly knowledge expands, illuminates, and makes all alive within the major framework, and Dr. Athearn writes with power and charm and is never pedestrian or pedantic."--San Francisco Chronicle. "Professor Athearn's depth of historical knowledge and perspective ties the story of this high country empire together so that it is socially and economically meaningful and at the same time entertaining."--Harlan Trott, Christian Science Monitor.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

392

Publisher

U of Nebraska Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0803250088

ISBN 13

9780803250086

William Tecumseh Sherman and the Settlement of the West

By: Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

William Tecumseh Sherman and the Settlement of the West

By: Robert G. Athearn

William Tecumseh Sherman is known primarily for having cut a swath of destruction through Georgia and the Carolinas during the Civil War. From the fame of these years, however, he moved into an eighteen-year phase of “insuring the tranquility” of the vast region of the American West. As commander of the Division of the Missouri from 1865 to 1869 and General of the Army of the United States under President Grant from 1869 to 1883, Sherman facilitated expansion and settlement in the West while suppressing the raids of the Cheyenne, Arapahoe, Kiowa, Comanche, and Crow Indians. Robert G. Athearn explores Sherman’s and his army’s roles in the settling of the West, especially within the broad framework of railroad construction, Indian policy, political infighting, and popular opinion.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

404

Publisher

University of Oklahoma Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0806127694

ISBN 13

9780806127699

Forts of the Upper Missouri

By: Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Forts of the Upper Missouri

By: Robert G. Athearn

This book brings to life one of the most exciting eras in American history. In late 1819 Colonel Henry Atkinson led an expedition to explore the wilderness of the Upper Missouri and establish sites for a string of military posts, which would extend successful contacts with the Indians as well as exploit trade with British companies. The result of his efforts was a fort system which played a dramatic and significant role in the opening of the territories of the upper plains and the Rockies.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

380

Publisher

U of Nebraska Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0803257627

ISBN 13

9780803257627

The Railroad and the State

War, Politics, and Technology in Nineteenth-Century America

By: Robert G. Angevine

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Railroad and the State

War, Politics, and Technology in Nineteenth-Century America

By: Robert G. Angevine

This book examines the complex and changing relationship between the U.S. Army and American railroads during the nineteenth century.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

388

Publisher

Stanford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0804742391

ISBN 13

9780804742399

The American West

A New Interpretive History

By: Robert V. Hine,John Mack Faragher

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The American West

A New Interpretive History

By: Robert V. Hine,John Mack Faragher

Two historians, Robert V. Hine and John Mack Faragher, present the American West as both frontier and region, real and imagined, old and new, and they show how men and women of all ethnic groups were affected when different cultures met and clashed. Their concise and engaging survey of frontier history traces the story from the first Columbian contacts between Indians and Europeans to the multicultural encounters of the modern Southwest. Profusely illustrated with contemporary drawings, posters, and photographs and written in lively and accessible prose, the book not only presents a panoramic view of historical events and characters but also provides fascinating details about such topics as western landscapes, environmental movements, literature, visual arts, and film.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

628

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300078331

ISBN 13

9780300078336

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 18

America Today 1976-1988

By: American Heritage,Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 18

America Today 1976-1988

By: American Heritage,Robert G. Athearn

An eighteen-volume history of the United States, each volume dealing with a particular era and having a dictionary-encyclopedia of people, places, and events mentioned in that volume.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

136

Published Date

ISBN 10

0945260180

ISBN 13

9780945260189

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 17

Vietnam Era

By: Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 17

Vietnam Era

By: Robert G. Athearn

This is a war that began as a struggle to preserve a government in Southeast Asia and ended with our own nation torn by internal strife. The men on the moon.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

140

Published Date

ISBN 10

0945260172

ISBN 13

9780945260172

Frontier Regulars

The United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891

By: Robert Marshall Utley

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Frontier Regulars

The United States Army and the Indian, 1866-1891

By: Robert Marshall Utley

Details the U.S. Army's campaign in the years following the Civil War to contain the American Indian and promote Western expansion

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

514

Publisher

U of Nebraska Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0803295510

ISBN 13

9780803295513

The Indian Frontier 1846-1890

By: Robert M. Utley

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Indian Frontier 1846-1890

By: Robert M. Utley

First published in 1984, Robert Utley's The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890, is considered a classic for both students and scholars. For this revision, Utley includes scholarship and research that has become available in recent years. What they said about the first edition: "[The Indian Frontier of the American West, 1846-1890] provides an excellent synthesis of Indian-white relations in the trans-Mississippi West during the last half-century of the frontier period." - Journal of American History "The Indian Frontier of the American West combines good writing, solid research, and penetrating interpretations. The result is a fresh and welcome study that departs from the soldier-chases-Indian approach that is all too typical of other books on the topic." - Minnesota History "[Robert M. Utley] has carefully eschewed sensationalism and glib oversimplification in favor of critical appraisal, and his firm command of some of the best published research of others provides a solid foundation for his basic argument that Indian hostility in the half century following the Mexican War was directed less at the white man per se than at the hated reservation system itself." - Pacific Historical Review Choice Magazine Outstanding Selection

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

347

Publisher

UNM Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0826354149

ISBN 13

9780826354143

Fierce Patriot

The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman

By: Robert L. O'Connell

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Fierce Patriot

The Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman

By: Robert L. O'Connell

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • William Tecumseh Sherman was more than just one of our greatest generals. Fierce Patriot is a bold, revisionist portrait of how this iconic and enigmatic figure exerted an outsize impact on the American landscape—and the American character. America’s first “celebrity” general, William Tecumseh Sherman was a man of many faces. Some were exalted in the public eye, others known only to his intimates. In this bold, revisionist portrait, Robert L. O’Connell captures the man in full for the first time. From his early exploits in Florida, through his brilliant but tempestuous generalship during the Civil War, to his postwar career as a key player in the building of the transcontinental railroad, Sherman was, as O’Connell puts it, the “human embodiment of Manifest Destiny.” Here is Sherman the military strategist, a master of logistics with an uncanny grasp of terrain and brilliant sense of timing. Then there is “Uncle Billy,” Sherman’s public persona, a charismatic hero to his troops and quotable catnip to the newspaper writers of his day. Here, too, is the private Sherman, whose appetite for women, parties, and the high life of the New York theater complicated his already turbulent marriage. Warrior, family man, American icon, William Tecumseh Sherman has finally found a biographer worthy of his protean gifts. A masterful character study whose myriad insights are leavened with its author’s trademark wit, Fierce Patriot will stand as the essential book on Sherman for decades to come. Praise for Fierce Patriot “A superb examination of the many facets of the iconic Union general.”—General David Petraeus “Sherman’s standing in American history is formidable. . . . It is hard to imagine any other biography capturing it all in such a concise and enlightening fashion.”—National Review “A sharply drawn and propulsive march through the tortured psyche of the man.”—The Wall Street Journal “[O’Connell’s] narrative of the March to the Sea is perhaps the best I have ever read.”—Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post “A surprising, clever, wise, and powerful book.”—Evan Thomas, author of Ike’s Bluff

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

434

Publisher

Random House Trade Paperbacks

Published Date

ISBN 10

0812982126

ISBN 13

9780812982121

In Search of Canaan

Black Migration to Kansas, 1879–80

By: Robert G. Athearn

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

In Search of Canaan

Black Migration to Kansas, 1879–80

By: Robert G. Athearn

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

360

Publisher

University Press of Kansas

Published Date

ISBN 10

0700631364

ISBN 13

9780700631360

Book's by Robert G. Athearn

Union Pacific Country

Union Pacific Country

In Search of Canaan

In Search of Canaan

High Country Empire

High Country Empire

William Tecumseh Sherman and the Settlement of the West

William Tecumseh Sherman and the Settlement of the West

Forts of the Upper Missouri

Forts of the Upper Missouri

The Railroad and the State

The Railroad and the State

The American West

The American West

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 18

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 18

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 17

American Heritage Illustrated History of the United States Vol. 17

Frontier Regulars

Frontier Regulars

The Indian Frontier 1846-1890

The Indian Frontier 1846-1890

Fierce Patriot

Fierce Patriot

In Search of Canaan

In Search of Canaan

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email