Review of \u3ci\u3eAfter Lewis & Clark: The Forces of Change, 1806-1871.\u3c/i\u3e By Gary Allen Hood

In the late 1940s, the wealthy Tulsa oilman Thomas Gilcrease collected western art he believed best told the story of America. His unwavering determination led him to collect more than 100,000 objects, which became the founding collection of the Gilcrease Museum. This beautifully designed volume, which accompanied an exhibition at the Gilcrease in 2006, features the work from the museum\u27s collection by well-known and lesser-known artists who were lured west following Lewis and Clark\u27s epochal expedition, eager to portray the land and peoples of the exotic terra incognita that was now in America. While this story of exploration and discovery is not new, the strength-and appeal-of this volume is in author Gary Allen Hood\u27s fresh and engaging discussion of the ability of early western art to both aesthetically and historically describe the time in which it was created, a tribute to Gilcrease\u27s belief in western art\u27s quintessentially American story while showing how the art has shaped fundamental ideas about America