Throughout the history of the United States, the concepts of “land” and “the West” have fired the American imagination and fueled controversy. The essays in Land in the American West deal with complex, troublesome, and interrelated questions regarding land: Who owns it? Who has access to it? What happens when private rights infringe upon the public good, or when one ethnic group is pitted against another, or when there is a conflict between economic and environmental values? Many of these questions have deep historical roots. They all have special significance in the modern American West, where natural resources are still abundant and large areas of land are federally owned.
Table of Content
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: In Search of Western Lands – William Robbins
PART I: Three Perspectives on Property Rights
Private Property and the Public Interest: Land in the American Idea – Daniel Bromley
Property Rights, Freedom, and Evolving Social Order – Bruce Yandle
New Property Rights Debates: The Dialectics of Naming, Blaming, and Claiming – Sarah Pralle & Michael Mc Cann
PART II: Urban and Rural Vantage Points on Property
Land for Cities, Scenery for City People: Managing Urbanization in the American Grain – Carl Abbott
From Open Range to Closed Range on the Public Lands – William Rowle
y
PART III: Three Case Studies of Land Use
Dividing the Land: The Taylor Ranch and the Case for Preserving the Limited Access Commons – Maria Montoya
Public Lands and Public Sentiment: A Comparative Look at national Parks – Arthur Gomez
Owning It All in Alaska: The Political Power of a Rhetorical Paradigm – Stephan Haycox
Epilogue
Contested Terrain: The Business of Land in the American West – Richard White
Contributors
Index
About the author
Robbins is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of History at Oregon State University. He has published eight books on the Pacific Northwest, including Hard Times In Paradise: Coos Bay, Oregon (Washington), Landscapes of Conflict: The Oregon Story, 1940-2000 (Washington), and Landscapes of Promise: The Oregon Story, 1800-1940 (Washington).
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