Review of Under an Open Sky: Rethinking America\u27s Western Past.

The influence of Frederick Jackson Turner\u27s conception of the Western frontier can be measured by the efforts taken to refute him. The contributors to this volume have found him an imposing figure to contend with. As a result, Turner hovers behind almost every page and footnote. In their introduction, however, editors Cronon, Miles, and Gitlin argue that there is a need to set Turner aside in favor of a Western history that is based on a community focus rather than the achievements of individual men. Following this approach, essays by Gitlin, John Mack Faragher, Sarah Deutsch, Katherine Morrissey, and Cronon (on Kennecott, Alaska) investigate the societies, races, and classes of the West, as well as relationships between the sexes