Table Of ContentEtulain
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
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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
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contributions to the study of extensive impact that he has had 00 to tourism, from mining to American
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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
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© 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
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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
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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
