ITD The West Summer 2008 Readings

"Introduction to the West"

Required Reading
  1. William Kittredge (ed.) "Introduction" to The Portable Western Reader
    2. (will be referenced by Nichols and Cheney)

Recommended Readings

  1.  W.H. Auden, "The West from the Air," pg. 300
  2.  Thomas McGrath, "Legends, Heroes, ..." pg. 330
  3.  Maps of the West

"Religion in the American West"

The West is home to one of the most successful American religions--Mormonism. The West is also the region of the greatest variety of religions and of the fewest church goers in the U.S.-- Kathryn L. MacKay, Weber State University

Required Reading

  1. David Roberts,"The Brink of War" Smithsonian Magazine, June 2008
  2. Maps of religious diversity

“Water in the West”

The American West is justly famed for its sunshine and wide skies. However, there is a potent combination of low rainfall and growing population in the West that ensures that water, or the lack of it, will remain another well-known feature of the region. --Justina Parsons-Bernstein, Education Specialist, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area

Recommended Reading

  1. Donald Worster, "The Challenge of the Arid West," available from: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntwilderness/essays/aridwest.htm

"The West: Everybody’s Moving Here"

This presentation will focus on Utah's place in the macro-demographics of the U.S. in the 20th Century. --Pamela Perlich, PhD, Senior Research Economist, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, David Eccles School of Business, University of Utah

Required Readings

  1. March/April 2006 - Volume 66, Numbers 3 and 4
    "Utah's Place in the Macro-Demographics of the U.S. in the 20th Century"
    Pamela S. Perlich, Senior Research Economist
  2. May/June 2004 - Volume 64, Numbers 4 and 6
    "Immigrants Transform Utah: Entering a New Era of Diversity"
    Pamela S. Perlich, Senior Research Economist

Optional readings:

  1. September/October 2006 and November/December 2006
    Volume 66, Numbers 9 through 12
    "Salt Lake County's Distinctive Demographics: Implications for the Future"
    Pamela S. Perlich, Senior Research Economist
  2. Utah Minorities: The Story Told by 150 Years of Census Data (pdf) 
    October 2002, by Pamela S. Perlich
  3. Maps showing economic data
     

“Literature of the American West”

A discussion of how contemporary Western writers transcend Western mythologies and stereotypes.--Jean Cheney, Assistant Director, Utah Humanities Council

Required Readings -- all in The Portable Western Reader

  1. Joy Harjo, "Deer Dancer," pg. 73
  2. Norman McLean, from A River Runs Through It, pg. 221
  3. Gretel Ehrlich, "On Water," from The Solace of Open Space, pgs. 464-472
  4. Richard Hugo, "Driving Montana," pg. 349
  5. James Galvin, from The Meadow, pgs. 543-545,
  6. Terry Tempest Williams, "The Clan of One-Breasted Women," pgs. 545-553

"The Cowboy and the Images of the West"

A presentation (on the bus) about the cowboy -- a western image that continues to inform American culture. --David Stanley, Westminster College

Required Readings -- all in The Portable Western Reader

  1. Sherman Alexie, "My Heroes Have Never Been Cowboys," pgs. 580-583
  2. Larry McMurtry, Take My Saddle from the Wall: A Valediction," pgs. 259-283
  3. "Why the West Still Needs the Cowboy" High Country News (handout to be available)